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WNBA FINALS: FEVER v LYNXOctober 21, 2012Lin DunnINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Game Four Indiana – 85 LIN DUNN: Well, we won the boards. I've been telling y'all if we won the boards we'd win the game; if we win the game, we win the championship. So we won the boards. First let me say what a tremendous team Minnesota has. I'm so impressed with the talent, the leadership, and Cheryl has done a tremendous job. She's a great coach. Don't believe half of what you read in the media; we're best friends. I just thought we had a great effort tonight. We knew Katie really wasn't strong enough to come out there and play, but we were just going to go on and play for her with the bench that's been stepping in from the get‑go, and I just thought our effort, we battled, it was a tough game, it was a lot closer than this nine points indicates. And then of course the crowd. I can't say enough about the crowd. The sell‑out tonight, the sell‑out the other night, loud, crazy. When you talk about Hoosier basketball, this is exactly what you think of, and I'm just so thankful for our players that they've worked so hard. Jim Morris and the Simon family and Kelly Krauskopf and Rick Fuson, all the people that support us and give us an opportunity to be in this situation and bring a championship to Indianapolis. I really am glad that that crowd was there tonight to win it with us. Q. In this series, you put them in a hole by winning Game 1. You were ahead in most of the games at least to start or had a lead. How difficult do you think it made it for them by continually having them play from behind in one way or another? LIN DUNN: Well, I thought we always had to keep it close, and we had to keep attacking. We had to defend at a very high level. We probably don't have as much talent top to bottom as they do, so we had to win the old‑fashioned way, with great defense, with rebounding, with toughness. And then of course we had to use the bench as best we could. But we knew if we ever let them separate we'd be in trouble, and that's what happened to us in that third quarter, the crazy quarter with the flying jacket, that's what happened to us up there. They separated and then we never could overcome it. But tonight was a real battle. It seemed like it was 54‑50 forever or 52‑52 even. It just seemed like the clock would never go away and we'd never finish the game. You know, they were relentless and they were tough and they fought us to the bitter end. But I just thought Catchings and January and Larkins and Erin Phillips and Z, they just were on a mission, and I don't know if Katie being hurt further motivated them or not, but they were just amazing this whole series. Q. The last time you won a championship it was a different league in a different era. Can you talk about how that one felt and how this one feels? LIN DUNN: Which one are you talking about? Q. The American Basketball League. LIN DUNN: I didn't win a championship there, I won the conference championship there. The last something similar to this was going way back I was an assistant coach for the world championship gold medal team; I was an assistant Big Ten championships, been to the Final Four. But this is a significant moment in my career. You know, I've finished second a lot of times, and we've been to The Finals like we did in '09, but to take this team all the way to The Finals and finish it off with a trophy is really big. I wanted to win the American Basketball Conference, and I think if we wouldn't have folded we would have won it that year. Q. What did you think was the difference in this series? LIN DUNN: Well, on paper we're not supposed to win, it doesn't look like. You know what I'm saying? They had three Olympians and we had one, and they had a longer bench than we did. But only five people can be on the floor at one time, and I thought the people that we played were so focused in on winning a championship not only for themselves but for Catchings, for Douglas, for Sutton‑Brown. Everybody talks about the missing piece in Tamika Catchings' career, and our players took that personally. I really believe that was an incentive, and then when Katie went down they wanted to win it for her. A lot of emotional things came into play here that somehow overcame the talent. Q. I know everybody knows about Catchings and Zellous and January and Phillips and the crowd. What's the chances of winning this without the emergence of Erlana Larkins? LIN DUNN: Slim and none. You know, I've coached for 42 years and probably the best coaching adjustment I ever have made in my life was when I inserted Erlana Larkins into the starting lineup in the Atlanta series. I've been thinking about doing it but I loved her coming off the bench, I loved her energy, I loved her sixth man, but I didn't love how we were starting the game getting beat on the boards. So putting her in the lineup, telling her how important she was and what we needed her to do was huge, and we would not be here today if we hadn't done that, no doubt. Kudos to Larkins. How many did she get tonight? Only 13. Oh, shucks. Q. You also wouldn't be here tonight if Seimone Augustus had played at her usual level. Could you talk about how you managed to shut her down? LIN DUNN: Well, I think you've got to understand that Seimone Augustus is an unbelievable player. She is an awesome player. But Briann January is a first‑team all‑WNBA defensive player. She is tougher than nails on defense. And when you look at the games where ‑‑ the last two games where Augustus has struggled, let's give Briann January credit and let's give the rest of the team credit. When she got by Briann, somebody else was there. I really think our defense and our physical defense really bothered her. Q. Is there anything you can share about any conversation you had with Tamika or Katie after the game when you guys got to touch the trophy? LIN DUNN: Well, it was hard to talk because they were crying. They were very emotional, in particular Catchings. I was so glad that I had the opportunity to insert Katie there at the end of the game so the crowd could acknowledge her and the contributions that she's made. We really haven't had a chance to really talk about what just happened other than just to hug and say thank you and great and all that kind of stuff, and that'll come later. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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