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WNBA FINALS: DREAM v STORM

September 12, 2010

Brian Agler

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: Game One

STORM Â– 79
DREAM - 77

BRIAN AGLER: I thought it was an extremely competitive game, not surprising at all to me. Atlanta has been playing well down the stretch, they put lineups on the floor big and small and they challenge you. I thought our team competed hard. I don't think our team is satisfied on how they played, though, and our job is to enjoy this for about, well, until we finish eating dinner tonight, and then they're going to be ready for Tuesday.

Q. Coach, can you go through last time with Phoenix you had plays sitting there waiting and you just needed to talk about them with the team. Can you go through the final time-out with the final 2.6 seconds and what you told the team?
BRIAN AGLER: Well, we executed what we wanted to run, except Sue -- not that she questioned anything, she wanted to be more in the shooting spot than have the ball in her hands, and I think the way the game was being played tonight and who was on the floor and making the good decisions and those things, we wanted to put the ball in Sue's hands this time, not have her come off a screen but have it in her hands and have her make the decision.
They played it one way for her all night long and she read it and went back and got her shot.

Q. (Away from mic.)
BRIAN AGLER: Yeah, it was a little fast, and we started playing pretty well early, started throwing the ball away a little bit and, you know, they scored some transition baskets off our turnovers, and there were a little too many. They're going to get baskets from transitions, but you don't want it from a turnover standpoint because it's hard to get your defense set at that point.
Obviously with the game in the 70s, it's probably a little more built for us, but I would expect just like we will do, they will make adjustments and they'll try to be more creative on how they can get out and run. I thought they did a great job of keeping pressure on the basketball and they got up into Sue and Tanisha all night long.

Q. Talk about the personalities, someone like Sue who wants the ball in her hands in big moments and always seems to come through.
BRIAN AGLER: I think Sue really has a calm disposition and it helps in tight situations, you know, she's the one who has the ability to be in the fray and keep an open mind and take what's given to her. I think a lot of times people -- most people in those situations, they get one thing in their mind and they're going to do that no matter what happens instead of coming through, coming off the play and making a read.
It's not like you have a lot of time to make a read, but when you have the ability to play with an open mind like Sue does, usually you're going to make good decisions.

Q. (Away from mic.)
BRIAN AGLER: Well, I coached Kay Smith, she was a hell of a player, and she could read positions and play within situations in that way, and I was at Phoenix when Diana Taurasi came into the league, and Diana is like that as well. And Lauren is like that, she plays at a fast pace, she plays quick and fast, and that's why she is so tough to compete with, but she also can play and make decisions.

Q. As far as you're concerned, did you need to get Lauren more involved in the second half?
BRIAN AGLER: Yeah, we talked about at halftime, we wanted to go play through her even though she may not score, she would get the basketball more, so I believe she got more multiple touches in the second half than the first, and we made a run there and shot ourselves in the foot by turning it over a couple of times, but a lot of that was Lauren shooting a couple of three's and hitting the rim.

Q. Can you talk about what you drew up in the 2.6 seconds left on the clock?
BRIAN AGLER: We ran a good pick-and-roll there for Sue and Lauren. We were going to read how they defended it, basically, if they were going to switch we were going to take Lauren down to the rim. If they were going to trap we were ready for that. We were just going to let Sue be Sue and, you know, if she were to turn the corner then we had Tanisha in the shooting spot on the right corner. So you let your players make the decisions; you have to do that because you never know how they're going to defend things.

Q. Coach, this game was such a game of adjustments. Angel McCoughtry didn't play a normal number of minutes but they managed to stay close with you. Is that a concern going into game two?
BRIAN AGLER: Yeah, it's a concern (Away from mic.) This one was very important to us, but Angel is a great talent, no question, and they got the ball in her hands for that last shot, and it was a definitely doable shot.

End of FastScripts

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