A'Ja Wilson Tiffany Hayes and HC Becky Hammon speak after the Aces vs Chicago Sky Game!! 07/16/24

Asia Wilson Tiffany Hayes and head coach Becky Hammond speak after the Las Vegas loss to the Chicago Sky check out the video tie a game at 77 heading into this break how important is it for this group to kind of have an energy boost like that to have others other than the core four to kind of lead that charge demonstr I mean our bench has has always been picking up a lot of slack that we as the starting five has been putting out there so um it's always been there but I think more so of just like the energy shift I think we kind of needed this uh to kind of wake us up a little bit to kind of tell us that no we have a lot more work to do because sometimes when you're winning games and you're streaking out a little bit things get lost in the sauce so when you have games like this uh where it's kind of like you get senioritis uh it's kind of helpful to kind of get punched in the mouth and I think we kind of did that today and so when I when it comes to our bench production they've always been probably the most consistent thing that we that we've been going through this season so we appreciate them and we lean on them a lot uh so all the threes the the things that do doesn't come by a surprise at us because that's who they are um so I guess it is an energy shift and it'll continue to be because that's what they're goingon to be but it's it's on us as well to not put them in that predicament uh we have to do a lot better job of being just locked in on both sides of the basketball but I am truly grateful for um I don't even want to call Y bench players because y'all aren't just the pros that we have that come in and get the job done and do their job the right way every time into 18 turnovers in that first half even when you 18 like or eight no 18 turnovers team turnover oh bet I thought you said 18 I like no wonder that we got our ass kick okay no 18 turnovers in that first half even when you guys made that 160 run in that second quarter did it feel like you guys were playing a little faster you guys typically went to uh I don't think so I just think we were trying to make make hero plays and we we didn't do the simple things right uh you can't you can't try to do those hero plays and as they pile on to each other that's where all the turnovers come we just needed to do the simple things uh stay down on defense get defensive stops and then let the offense come to us and that's where those turnovers came so like I said just keep it simple Asia last time he matched up against this team in Chicago uh you had three players yourself along with uh Jackie as well as uh three players over 20 points in that game can you pinpoint defensively what they were doing tonight that maybe was effective especially against Kelce when it came to uh the offensive output for your team um honestly I don't know that's probably a Kelsey question uh but I I think just coming from what I see it didn't really have much to do with their defense I think it just had a lot to do with our defense we everyone in this room we say it all the time we play out of our defense so when we look shitty on the defensive end we're going to look like pure garbage on the offensive end because that's just not that's just how the game pays us back um but I don't think anything defensively I feel like KP was getting to her spots and an amount of shots that she would knock down and I will Bank on her knock them down every single time but it's just I think when you're constantly taking the ball out of the hoop and it's just like it's just a mental thing like it it's hard on that when you want to get a stop and you can't get the stop or it's a bad bounce like the defensive side is somewhere that we really need to lock into because that's where we can fuel our offense in the system that we play so I don't think it was any scheme that Chicago was doing that was like oh my gosh I think it was just more so on us like it was just self-inflicted ch despite the L great game for you tonight what was working for you I'm sorry you said that fast sorry despite the loss game for you tonight what was working for you uh whatever they were giving me that's that's been my role all season and that's the role that I've I've been taking on and um just just finding the teams the open teams uh that left me wide open I knocked them down uh finding the seams driving and kicking that was working uh we just got to do a lot more of of that to uh make sure that we don't get down in the hole and like she said it starts some defense but for me I thrive off my defense so that's what kind of got me going today over here question for each of you that's okay tip came up liming towards the end of the fourth just a general how are you feeling right now I'm feeling great how you feeling she go back on the beach oh no you gotta go see you there girl and for Asia last year the aces were the best first quarter team in the league this year down to seventh right now that's not thought we from your point of view what did you see that's happening in these first quarters to these slow starts oh I mean teams are just coming out they want to punch Us in the mouth I mean I would want to do the same if I'm going against the defended Champs and I think we are Tuton excuse me yeah why would I cut ourselves short like that um but no they're just coming out I mean they're they're they're coming out with the first punch and so we have to understand that that's coming I think sometimes we get caught off guard and sometimes like aicle in some sense that we're like oh we're always going to be in the game because of the talent that we have but that not necessarily the point or or the case because this league is really really good obviously so I think we just really got to understand how to take that first punch and punch back um and not let us ridiculous I I can't remember the last time like that is that's awful but it's on us it's a lot of self-infliction that we have to overcome but I think the biggest thing is just we we are we aren't ready for People's First punch and we'll figure it out give us a couple weeks we'll figure um for you Asia when Kate Martin went down and the team kind of surrounded her just seemed instinctive you put a towel under her head can you kind of talk about that reaction in the moment and what goes into how you handled that situation yeah I mean I'mma take care of my rookie no matter what um it could be a knee scrub it could be anything like we're going to take care of her no matter what because uh she's she's one of us she's she's our sister um and someone that we're going to always depend on account on but at the same time cameras we getting in your business U and we don't want that we don't need that um so we try to protect her her peace her mental and just her emotion we shouldn't be afraid to show emotion because we're like oh my God we're going to turn into a meme we're like cameras just don't give us privacy and I get it that's their job to get the shot but I think for us it just kind of cut on that we're going to protect her at all costs because you never know uh what the internet or what people may do so my thing was making sure that she was just good and understood that we were there for her uh for both of you uh going forward just the what is the excitement and feelings on you know heading towards parisad oh my God um I got to give myself 24 hours soaking this loss but I'm not going to lose sight of how much of a blessing it is to be an Olympian um and just to say that I'm I'm two times at that that's that's truly a blessing and I'm just grateful for the moment uh I think I know it's going to be way different than Tokyo obviously because it's not Co anymore uh but no this is going to be a big moment I'm so glad that my teammates are going to be there as well to experience it because it's just big for us like I said they may not know as necessarily us as the aces but when you're saying your Olympian they're like oh you're pretty good at it so it's always good to have that on your resume and to go out there and just take care business and keep the main thing the main thing but also just like Becky was telling us enjoy the experience because they don't happen often so I'm I'm cool going to go to Phoenix and taco all but yeah once we get to London and Paris it should be fun same I'm grateful for it yeah thanks yall all right y'all what was your message to the team after the game I mean at no point in that game did we deserve to win good feel at the first I mean I called them time out with a minute 10 into the game because you could just feel uh they weren't in the gym well they weren't in the same gym I was in Becky eight eight and five at home this season six total home losses over the last two years are you noticing a shift in energy or or team style of play when they're playing at home this year to we're a little more selfish at home got our friends and family there everybody want to be the it girl man I mean I I the the first quarter especially um but I can name certain instances down the road where we have one one pass or no passes chucking up shots because everybody wants to be the one to get us back on like I need them to resist the urge to when they're like I got to do more I I I do less actually get off the ball and get your teammate a great look and there was none of that we had no intentions of getting anybody else a shot other than ourselves every time we got the ball we held it and looked for ourselves first and then if we were stopped we we used the pass as a last resort I don't think it was until about 4:40 in the second quarter that we actually looked somewhat like a team um we got a brief update on Kate Martin they just said lower right leg we know that she could come back to the game is there anything else you can say about her status and just kind of your message to her no you just told me more than I knew I haven't talked to the medical staff I know she's freaking tough so I don't know how bad it is uh but she's a tough cookie for her to not come back I I'm hoping for the best over here coach you mentioned the early time out in the first quarter there as for you what a better group like this you've won with this team how do you kind of balance those quick timeouts to hey wake up versus letting them work it out trust them figure it out um well with the first quarter specifically it's kind of becoming a thing for us to just be behind spot A Team 15 tonight 21 like those are hard holes to dig out of um and the lack of care the lack of professionalism the lack of want to and you all say you want to you're looking at me and you're saying yeah we want to but you're not doing the little things that show me you want to you know you fumble all the little things you're sure to Fumble the big things and um but we've we've had a trend in the first quarter and that trend is getting our asses handed to us and then having to dig out jump to zoom Matthew and then Jordan hey Becky I was wondering going into this break what are you looking what are you trying to do and look at to help to not only improve that first quarter but just improve the start of games and improve the mentalities that you can try to do differently or is it just they have to come in with a different mindset our mindset has been missing most of the year um I'm being honest um from training camp uh that being said you know we we we started to hit our stride a little bit um strung some some games together that we could feel good about um we still feel like we've had a lot even if we have won this game we still feel there's a lot of things that we can get better at um defensively especially especially um so you know unfortunately it's going to be a long break for us it's not the way you want us to start out but I cannot tell you and this doesn't matter if it's NBA W these last games before a break how many times a good team loses like they just i' just seen it on too many levels too many times um and we fail prey to uh checking out too early we didn't come in with the appropriate mindset at all Jordan hey coach so I know this isn't how you wanted to close out the first half of the season but going into the Olympic break and into the second half of the season first what are your specific plans for this break and secondly like kind of the similar question you said before like what is the G shows you're wanting to tackle to the second half of the season to get that momentum back Jordan you think I'm going to tell you what I'm doing um I'm going to spend time with my kids uh some family and uh be doing some work probably go back and look at every game we've played thus far go back to the drawing board um I'll go over to Paris for a bit to uh catch some games then we'll be back here but um obviously they're going to get some time off everybody will except for the Olympians um and then when they come back from Paris you know it's just going to be trying to get them on the right you know time zone that that you know it's not like they're going over there for 2 three days and you never really get adjusted they're going to be over there for 3 four weeks so um the jet leg aspect is going to be real and it's not like you know you're going back to New York where it's what like a 6- hour difference or something it's n it's pretty substantial difference so um as much as we can rest them obviously I think um you know I actually think our our bench were a little banged up we could actually use some rest um but then we'll get back in the gym and we're going to look we're going to do it basically like almost like a mini training camp um reboot uh Rec Calibur and more importantly reset the mind because the mindset has to be there in the second half where we're going nowhere thank you is it is it a good night be sure to like comment and subscribe see you in the next video hoop life family