Teresa Weatherspoon and Sky LEADERS on losing to Mystics: "We're not DOWN & OUT." [POSTGAME]

um I think for us uh we just got a bit rattled um they came out pressured the ball they were aggressive they were assertive they were the aggressors and the game usually favors the aggressors um and we were just floppy with the ball which is unacceptable um so we just have to be better I think it starts with me as a point guard I have to take care of the ball better to start the game um and then it kind of spirals from there but uh yeah we were just too loose with it tonight then what did you Lindsay or Diamond what did you guys see on that last offensive possession with 30 seconds left um we were trying to get the ball into the post uh with Mick because she had a smaller guard on her um but the communication just wasn't there I think it's loud um I'm under the weather so I'm losing my voice so I'm trying to talk spoon is trying to talk from the sideline um so we just couldn't get that communication and then we're just trying to make something happen from there like ball screen stuff try to get downhill um just not enough time go to Stephen questions for players only uh two quick questions for Lindsay so it really feels like you've been kind of filling your way out in terms of scoring with the starting group on the Flor can you just kind of speak to what you're seeing and how you're finding your spots with that group um I think our bigs do a good job of setting screens and rolling hard um and so from there I'm just able to read the ball screens well whether I have um the pocket pass to the post or whether it's uh a jump shot for me um but just kind of trying to read the defense you know get the defense playing in rotation get them playing in Closeouts that's when we're at our best that's when every team is at their best honestly so if we can keep doing that um get the ball into the post they get doubled they kick it out we swing it Swing Swing whatever um just keep that in our offense kind of that's how we've been successful and that's how I've been successful now can you speak to what you've been seeing from Michaela with the starting group I think she had like a lot of opportunities as far as cut and post ups and quick touch passes can you just kind of speak to the addition that she's brought to that group yeah for sure um Mick just provides a lot of just everything for us um she's physical she's quick she's strong um she can guard one through four basically uh she can shoot the three she's strong enough to take the contact and finish sh contact getting to the basket um so she's really able to force the issue for us you know when we need to get downhill and get our feet uh dirty in the paint um so she's staying aggressive in that and obviously you know when we get to um our kickouts and our swing swings you know she's ready to shoot and she's ready to just read the game she's a smart basketball player as well but she's also just a great teammate like she wants what's best for everyone on this team um she doesn't care who's scoring she doesn't care what's going on she's going to play hard no matter what Julia on your right uh for either of you guys uh four of y'all's last five games have ended in the clutch what do you feel this team needs to do to be able to to execute and kind kind of grow in those moments grow up you know it's uh it's a it's a challenge that you will always face especially as a young team um being faced with multiple opportunities to to come down into the clutch moments of a game and you either find ways to win those games and grow and mature as a team or you don't and you just continue to learn and get ready for the next opportunity growing pain suck uh but it's part of the process we have a really young group um and so all we can do is continue to go back to the drawing board with Coach um learn from it watch film continue to develop continue to mature um you know and and prepare ourselves for the next opportunity because they'll continue to to come and present themselves and then Camila tonight led the team in assists and it seems like that high low game with her kind of passing out of the elbow is really developing uh just kind of what do either of y'all see in terms of her vision and how utilizing her at that spot can kind of open up the rest of the offense yeah um cam has great vision um you know it helps that she's 67 and can see over almost everyone but at the same time she's unselfish and she's willing to pass it back out and she's willing to look for the Cutters and look for the high low with angel or Izzy whoever it might be in the game at the time so um she's constantly looking for it and she's just trying to figure out get it feel for the game kind of read when she can take it 101 or when she can finish through or when like you know there's a guard cutting or there's a backside uh weak side that's open so um she's doing a great job at that um Diamond when you talk about the youthfulness of this team going back to 2018 your rookie year that was a year you guys failed to make the playoffs when you think about um that hurdle going from from that team and then the next season you guys do what's the Poise required in this moment late in the season um you have a handle on on the final playoff spot but but not by much what Poise is required right now yeah I mean to your point like I've been there you know um it sucks you know getting to the last few games of the season and knowing that you don't have a chance at all making playoffs playing those games is really hard you know so for us um I think it's all about perspective um and a lot of that you don't get without experience um so we're learning a lot of hard lessons right now um I try to do my best as a leader to come in and try and instill that on the locker room and on the team um but again some of that has to be learned through experience My Hope Is that we can get a grasp on it now um and continue to make a playoff push because we really do have a special group and I really do believe in what we're capable of if we do get to match up with some teams in the playoffs and it could be really exciting um but we have to we have to figure it out now hey Diamond uh despite the loss you guys as a team looked really good offensively during stretches overall as a team you shot above average on what you have in the season three-pointers were significantly above average and you yourself shot your highest season efficiency with how good the offense has looked at stretches what can you attribute to just being on the same page there and how do you kind of put that into the offense when it's maybe looking a little more lackluster yeah I mean um I just you know I found myself in a position throughout the year just trying to take advantage of the opportunities that are given um you know sometimes it's on the defensive end where I have to be more assertive um and tonight it was on the offensive end a bit more with Kennedy out um you know so just trying to do what the team needs from me honestly um you know I've been working on my game I've been in the gym um you know and U I'm still very confident in who I am as a player um so any opportunity I get to go out and show that you know I'm just trying to make use of it players this question is for Diamond um obviously during the championship season just a few years ago you know the team wasn't in the greatest position either during the regular season so how have you been able to vocalize the importance of like every game matters and just not giving up till the end yeah I mean again perspective I've been there um but sometimes you got to go through it to understand um and again we're feeling that right now um we have a young group that really wants to win um but winning in this league is something you have to learn how to do and something that you have to care about and sacrifice for each and every day um and yeah so just trying to get us to Rally around those themes um so that we can continue to make progress um it doesn't happen in one season takes time um we're we're right at the beginning of of something that could be really special um and again some really hard lessons are being learned early on which is preferred um but I still believe in this group and in our ability to to get into the playoffs and that's what we're striving for right now thank you players you guys question it's coach um just can you kind of speak to what you've been seeing I know we talked about Michaela a few times this season and you spoken into the the uh ancillary things but how she really just kind of U gave you all like an aggressive uh perspective on things and just really was able to kind of get her feet in the paint today Michaela yeah on oh yeah she's uh she's been playing well she's been putting a lot of work to uh come in and do the things that we're asking her to do offensively and defensively I said this from day one she's probably our most versatile basketball player due to what she can bring to us on this on the floor she's just taking full advantage of what she can do she can put the ball on the floor she can get to the rim she can post up uh she can fend she does a lot of things for us that is keeping us in this race uh it's just really good to see her playing with a tremendous amount of confidence now with Camila uh you always talk about how versatile she is and how it's kind of underrated on the offensive side um Julia spoke to her leading the team and assist can you just speak to her ability to really things and kind of play off the attention that she sees from the post well camil sees the floor well she sees the floor very well she's a willing passer you know a lot of times when you punch it into bigs everybody just thinks the big goes and scores she sees what's happening she sees what's coming at her and she tries to make the right play uh so she she's a willing passer and vision is good and she normally makes the correct play she wants to play the game the right way same thing that I asked the players but just kind of how do you see looking at these last four clutch games where do you want this team to grow the most in those moments well there's many areas to grow from when when you're in these moments uh these are Big moments to grow from uh you like the our players said this can be some painful things that you have to go through but there's many things that you can learn from and to grow from uh film tells you a lot especially what we do defensively and those miscues that I always talk about and how we can't have those how we got to have every glass board that comes off the glass we have to to have that crucial moments you got to do all the little things right how important details are how important your Scouting Report is how locked in are you on every little thing that's on the scatter report because it's done for you for a reason that's your cheat sheet so stay locked in on your cheat sheet and then offensively we're going to say this over and over again you cannot turn the ball over you simply cannot turn it over value every freaking possession when you look at those turnovers especially in those clutch moments where do you think kind of is there a through line in terms of consistent reason why those mistakes are happening no no we have to go back and see exactly why those turnovers were happening uh was lack of movement lack of getting open uh allowing them to push us out of where we want to run our offense so of course the ball was going in different areas and when we turn it over and they get steals they're very good uh so we knew it coming into this game we had to Value possessions and unfortunately we had 21 turnovers not very good coach spon just those last 90 seconds Mystics went on a 90 run I know film will show you a lot but what did what are some things that you saw outside of the turnovers that led to the downfall H just talked about it our defense you know we allowed him to get down heill um didn't switch what we should have switched then offensively you know we didn't get into the offense that we were trying to get into and then get into it quickly not getting down to the shot clock uh last 8 Seconds of the shot clock we we don't want to get there we want to make sure that we know exactly what we're trying to do and those last 90 seconds that you're speaking about we're not our great seconds in the game and then how do you mentally try and keep the team together especially after these four losses that have just come in the last few seconds and that can sometimes cause players to start to get in their emotions a little bit but how do you try and maintain their mentality as strong to end the season well leave you to loara next thing I said Is We Got to Now go back to the board you got all always go back and you got to go back with the amount of confidence you walk in here every day with um some of it can hurt yeah it really does if you love The Game enough it hurts it freaking hurts and you love it enough you know I got to get back to the to the drawing board we got to come back better that's the way our mentality is we're not down and out yeah we are not happy that we didn't win we're not down and out it's not over for US unless we say it's over so it's not over Coach Rachel started tonight again uh only put up two shots I know you know offenses kind of can kind of go either way at any certain point in time at any game should we expect to see some more shots from her I know you were definitely running a lot of offensive sets for her and a lot of others on the team definitely uh we have to have her ability to score she can score the ball can shoot the ball and we need that we need that in order for us to stretch our stretch the defense a little bit to even leave the lane open for our bigs to be able to go to work uh yeah we're we're we're looking to get her more shots open shots open looks uh so she can really gain her confidence cuz she she never lacks it at all but when that ball goes in for you quite a bit and you get some touches and you can see the rim it means a lot so we want to get her more involved because it's going to help us to be more successful thank you your left um there's been a lot of talk tonight about um Camila's assist but she only took four shots and I'm wondering what is your feeling about her overall kind of like offensive profile tonight uh she's playing with well do I want her to shoot more absolutely you hear me tell her that all the time dominate the paint Mill dominate the paint cuz I don't think there's very many people can defend her when she decides she wants to dominate the paint so I would like her to shoot the ball a little bit more down there be a little more aggressive she's doing a hell of a job for us believe that on Camila we spoke with her pregame and she talked about how she felt like she was playing a little bit almost scared the first 3 weeks that she came back from that shoulder injury how do you work with her when you talk about wanting her to dominate the paint how do you work with her on just kind of the mental side of a big getting in there and being able to physically dominate that space well it's not so much that you have to work with her you just show it to her you show it to her because she knows she knows how how uh we need her to be successful for us down there in the paint she gets it but like I said earlier she wants to play the game the right way she doesn't want to feel like she's the one taking all the shots but it's necessary for us to be successful down there when she gets it she goes to score we want that to be do you guys have any idea if Kennedy will be ready to go Friday uh I'm sure K be fine she'll be fine thank you appreciate you guys