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WNBA FINALS: FEVER v LYNXOctober 17, 2012Cheryl ReeveMINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Game Two MINNESOTA 66 COACH REEVE: Well, we did what we were supposed to do, which was win a home game. Not easy by any stretch. Obviously very challenging for us on the offensive side of things early in the game. Thought we stuck with it and once we turned up our defense, we started getting easy opportunities which was nice. A hard‑fought game. Obviously Indiana came in here two times with great crowd, great environment, and you know, just competed really hard with us, but we were fortunate to turn them over 24 times. We were able to get them on the glass, so I don't have to hear you guys talk about Erlana Larkins anymore, until the next game, so that will be a nice change. Obviously we owned them on the glass, and that's who the Minnesota Lynx is, and we were excited to get that part of the game done. But a hard game. Q. Is removing your jacket going to be kind of the new tactic? After that the Lynx were fired up and made that final push to force the split. COACH REEVE: Is there a question in there? Are you saying is the jacket a new tactic? Q. The Lynx caught fire after that point. COACH REEVE: I threw my shoulder out in the meantime. I need to see a trainer this evening. You know, I don't know. I don't know‑‑ you know, we've got a lot of league people here. It's the WNBA Finals. So we are going to have to be really, really careful in the things that we have to say. Clearly I wasn't happy in that moment. I'm not happy about how the game was officiated, period. But that's all I'm going to say about it. Q. One of your players said just a moment ago, and I've heard other people say this, and your opposing coach said, as well; a game like, this she had never seen in her 40‑some odd years of coaching. I've never seen a game like this and I can't even use words to express it and I have to do that in like 20 minutes. How did this game feel? COACH REEVE: You know, I can use‑‑ I said when the game was done, I need a drink. I can tell what you Jim Peterson said. Jim is my NBA guy, and he said‑‑ and I shouldn't say what he said. It's kind of putting him out there. But it's exciting, is what he said. This is really, really exciting. We love going to our phones and checking our texts and listening to all of the things that were said about this game. This is what the WNBA Finals should be about. I think if we can clean some things up all around, both teams, officiating, everything, you're going to get an even better series. These are two teams that, No.1, have a lot of respect for each other, and No. 2, that are playing it all out there on the line, and our fans laid it out there on the line. I mean, they were amazing tonight. And we are going to go down to Indy and it's going to be the same way, their fans are going to be passionate. So it was hard. It was really, really hard. But you feel so accomplished at the end of the day obviously when you win the game. Q. Are you going to be able to carry this momentum to Indiana? COACH REEVE: I have no idea. We have to try to get home‑court advantage back, and so that's obviously the mission when we go to Indy. We have got one of the best road teams in the league and I think it was us and Connecticut were the two top road teams. So we have great confidence going down to Indy. You know, coaches are going to make tweaks. We are going to do our things. Players are going to hoop it up like they did. Tamika Catchings is a heck of a player. And obviously we don't have too many bad players on our team with Seimone and Maya coming up huge for us, we are going to get even more contribution I think when we go down there. This was a big game for us to get through, because I just really thought that‑‑ you know, we struggled. We really struggled. And I think kind of getting through that, I thought our bench changed the game, and they only scored four points. But I told them, their value in this game was just tremendous. Monica Wright changed the game for us, changed the game. And Wiggins, somehow, over 6‑5 Jessica Davenport gets a huge, huge steal. So yeah, momentum, I don't know. Obviously it would be a great time to go on a win streak, but, you know, who knows. Q. Seimone had four points at halftime, I believe, finished with 27. What happens to her in the second half? It's the second or third time in the playoffs she's had big third quarters and this game she even had a big fourth quarter? COACH REEVE: Seimone Augustus has the recognition she has to do that. If you have Tamika Catchings doing it, we have to do it. All of Seimone's shots are hard. I have never seen a player get contested‑‑ Mon goes to the paint and shoots two free throws, two free throws. So she's in there competing physically and taking the hit and still making plays. I think Roman, you and I were talking about, she has to have MVP‑like performances in order for us to have a chance to be successful, and we saw that tonight. Q. Tamika Catchings said when Monica came in and picked up five steals for the night, that's when the Lynx put the pressure on defensively. COACH REEVE: That's what I said. She changed the game. She changed the game. We were struggling to score. The game was slow. It was a grind‑it‑out, and she got in there and from a defensive standpoint, really increased the pressure. Our entire team fed off that and we got up and were in our full court pressure mode, and you know, she was a big part of why we were able to turn them over 24 times because she set the tone. I told Mon, I was just really, really happy with her and fed off of her energy. So we needed that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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