	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

WNBA FINALS: DREAM v LYNX

October 5, 2011

Lindsay Whalen

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Game Two

Minnesota: 101
Atlanta: 95

THE MODERATOR: Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus. Questions for the ladies.

Q. Seimone, to the very end you looked extremely exhausted.
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: I was. I was very exhausted, but nothing was going to stop us from getting this win, I knew my teammates would come in and do everything they could, and if I had to do that, so be it.

Q. Seimone, can you talk about what you were able to fight through tonight and what you were able to get through?
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: Nothing, why? Did Coach tell you all that? Nothing important, just some swelling in the knee, the knee I had surgery on, but it wasn't going to stop me from playing.
I don't know why she brought it up, but it is what it is.

Q. Seimone, one of my colleagues talked about your legacy, king of building earlier this season. After tonight's game how do you see yourself and knowing that your team is now one game away from winning its first title?
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: Still got some work to do. We got one more game left. The legacy isn't complete until you're holding that trophy. Along the way we're doing some amazing things, I'm doing some amazing things, but it doesn't matter unless you have that ring or you have that trophy.

Q. Lindsay, I know you wanted to have a better first three quarters tonight but the fact that you -- both these games you guys have played as well as you have in the fourth quarter, what do you attribute that to?
LINDSAY WHALEN: It's been big, just -- I don't know, we just -- it feels like at that point we get stops and then we are able to run and get some momentum going and we just came together a couple of different times in the third and the fourth and we knew we weren't playing our best game but we knew there was a lot of time and we had to stay together and continue to move the ball and, you know, just play hard defense.
And I think we picked up our defense there in the second half, that was a big key, along with Seimone making some crazy, tough shots, you know, those were huge keys to the game for us.

Q. Lindsay, Candice was speaking in the locker room that it's been rare for the Lynx throughout the year even with the record how it's been, how the playoffs have gone that you guys have put together forty minutes straight. How do you do that going to Atlanta with the crowd and the Dream in that situation?
LINDSAY WHALEN: It's going to be tough. They're a great team. They do things that put pressure on our defense and they're active on their defensive end.
You have to give 'em credit for playing well and, you know, I think we've just been -- we've had tough will and fortunate to make good runs at the end, and like I said earlier we have stuck together and made plays when we need to do make 'em.

Q. Lindsay, how do you think all the fouls that were called affected the game? Did that help you guys maybe more than it hurt as far as getting to the free-throw line more?
LINDSAY WHALEN: I think in the fourth quarter when we got in the bonus that was big because we were able to shoot some free-throws there, however the game is called you have to play through it and whatever the refs are calling, that's what they see and you have to move on.
That's what we -- they shot a lot of free-throws in the third, we shot a lot in the fourth, that's the way it was.

Q. Seimone, the last two minutes every time you went to the free-throw line, the crowd started yelling "M.V.P." How does that feel for you knowing that you have the accolades and the appreciation?
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: I'm just glad the people are in here. For them to chant that, we all know who the M.V.P. is, it's Tamika Catchings, who is a wonderful person, she is a wonderful player, I just want to get the title. M.V.P. award is over and done. You can talk about the WNBA Finals M.V.P. but I want the title; that's it.

Q. Lynx early on took some heat for their inconsistent free-throw shooting. How does tonight address those concerns?
LINDSAY WHALEN: Well, I think we've worked hard all season in making free-throws, and we knew it's been something that was -- something that was a concern all year, not making your free-throws, but I think everyone has taken it upon themselves to get in the gym, shoot extra free-throws, knowing that in the finals you're going to need to step up and make those shots, and tonight we made almost all of 'em, and that was a key for us.

Q. Ladies, I was talking with your teammates inside the locker room. Can you comment on the chemistry that you women have on this team and how it's carried this franchise to a new level?
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: Everyone says our team reminds them a lot of a college team where you eat together, you travel together, you watch movies together and do all that and it is that way.
We enjoy being around each other and when you're talking about professional sports, individuals tend to go different ways, everybody has a different life, but for some reason this team has embraced each other. Where we don't want to be without each other, we want to go through every process together, whether it's a personal issue, that's off the court or whether it's on the court.
It's definitely helped to bond us, you know, where we feel stronger. When we are on the court we got each other's back, without a doubt we're going to be there and off the court it's the same way, so if it's anything, that's why the team is close or as tight as it is, because we know we are there for each other and we have that energy.

Q. Lindsay, Coach Reeve said when Seimone is locked in she tries to stay out of her way on the floor, as teammates what do you guys do?
LINDSAY WHALEN: When someone has it going like Seimone has had it goin' tonight and this whole season, you just -- you want to get her the ball and get her the ball in situations and at the same time we know that she is going to need some help.
I think at halftime that's what we call kinda -- she carried us there for the second quarter and we knew we had 20 minutes to play, we had to step up. Taj was going to have to make plays, I was going to have to make plays, Rebekkah needed to make plays. We knew we had to make shots, get possessions, and then we did a couple of things and said let's go back to Mo and get a play for her. And as a point guard you have that feel, and when it's time to keep feedin' her when she is hot, you want to keep going to that hot hand, and at the same time you know that she needs help out there. So it's a balance act and she was unbelievable tonight.

Q. Seimone, you guarded Angel part of the time. She didn't miss in the first half, she had 8 of 9. What can you say about her performance and did you think you would have to score 36 to win this? Did you think you needed a big game to keep your team up to them?
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: No, I didn't think I had to match Angel point-for-point; it just happened that way. We had players in foul trouble and some of the scoring load had to be placed upon me, and we had players that were struggling offensively as well, so it wasn't that she scored 38, I needed to do score 36. Angel, oh my God, every defender we threw at her did a great job of trying to get a hand in her face and even with that she made tough shots, and that's all that you can ask for is to get a hand up and contest each shot.
Everybody did an amazing job, she just had better offense. Kudos to her, she had a wonderful game but at the end we got the victory.

Q. Can you guys discuss the play of your teammate, Jessica Adair with 13 points, 9 for 11 from the free-throw line? Seemed to be a big game from the bench.
LINDSAY WHALEN: Jess was awesome off the bench tonight. Free-throws, defense, rebounding, I think her and Amber coming in -- Amber hit that 3, Jess was -- Jess had a great -- she got that confidence the second half of the year, great playoffs, she has been someone we've gone to and looked for and she did another great job tonight.
THE MODERATOR: Seimone and Lindsay, thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297