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WNBA FINALS: DREAM v LYNX

October 7, 2011

Cheryl Reeve

ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Game Three

Minnesota: 73
Atlanta: 67

COACH REEVE: Come on, Roman.

Q. Were you surprised when it went to a full-court press?
COACH REEVE: Not at all, as a matter of fact, in that time-out before the two turnovers, we said they were going to trap us, we didn't respond very well in the way of our passing. Lindsey's pass to Maya wasn't that bad, and Maya had a rookie moment where she abandoned the ball and that's what makes the win so much sweeter, when you go through those difficulty times, they pulled within 1 with lots of time left and we were able to hang on.

Q. Cheryl, when did you know this team was a championship caliber team?
COACH REEVE: I always go back through time and as we move through the times, we had a great training camp, I've been a part of many of them, and the way they approach their daily practices and their time together was so impressive and I thought we had a chance to be good, I didn't know how good. Probably halfway through the season, just after all-star break, when we tried to prepare them for how hard it was going to get for us, we never talked about the things that the media was talking about.
The Minnesota Lynx was going to collapse, that sort of thing, we never focused on that, this group was on the day-to-day tasks, and so focused.
They didn't listen to anything externally, good or bad, so after the all-star break we talked about how much harder it was going to get and the teams were going to gun for us and probably in the next eight games when we responded, those two San Antonio games, last-second shots, go back and look at championship teams and how many times they won those in the games, it's very much, and we were that team.
I think I said to Lindsay, when we beat San Antonio for the second time, I said "This is what championship teams do."

Q. Coach, talk about the adjustments in bringing the game to Atlanta and particularly on the defense because Angel McCoughtry ultimately got her points but for three quarters she had probably one of the worst shooting nights of her season.
COACH REEVE: Honestly we didn't change anything game wise, we felt like game two wasn't a good game for us, no disrespect to Atlanta but we didn't play very well and with us it starts with defense. We felt like we didn't show them who we were defensively in those two games, so we tried to do everything better, exact same scheme, minor things, we started trapping Angel McCoughtry everywhere, instead of just in the middle of floor and we tried to make her touches more difficult, I thought Seimone did a great job of making it tougher for her, and she still got 25 shots and she's a great player.

Q. They get within 1 and Taj makes four free-throws, what can you say about her going out there and playing up how Sore her knee was, but what did that mean to your team and talk about the free-throws and how you got separation.
COACH REEVE: I don't think so they feel a thing, once you get in those moments. When you're in the close-out of WNBA Finals, I don't think they feel a thing and we didn't talk about anybody feeling anything. The reason we signed Taj is because she is so steady. It's probably wise not to run your 40 year old into the ground, she is steady. Her impact on this team, Roman, you know, because you covered the team, I don't remember a signing in an off-season that affected a team as much as she affected ours in a positive way. Being healthy helped, Maya Moore was okay, I just felt like Taj was so instrumental in this season.

Q. Are you going to get her back for next year?
COACH REEVE: We're going to start talking with her right now.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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