Becky Hammon Discusses A'ja Wilson's WNBA Record & Win | DESERVES to win both the MVP and DPOY |2024

late but not it was pretty much the same throughout the entire how who asked the question how did that get it was it it started just generically like Asia started and then Alicia of course they started organically these girls don't know any other way everything is organic with them Nas why don't we start with you on a basketball Centric question I would assume uh yeah I will try my best on that front uh congrats on the win coach uh two questions if that's okay one on the offense it felt like a whole lot of staggers or a whole lot of things out of the Stagger setup tonight what did you like about that setup um what were you trying to poke at with Indiana's defense just trying to make the defense work fight through screens um get some movement that was off the ball make him guard on ball stuff um just trying to mix it up a little bit um I mean we do a lot of that stuff uh you know everybody knows our way series but in the away series there's so many calls and reads and there's got to be about 15 play calls out of just our away Series so um we're looking to exploit different things um sometimes certain play calls lead to other certain play calls we'll run one thing and then you know run something else um that we think might counter it but um really tonight what we wanted was just the cutting um we know when we get Cutters we get um bodies moving we get ball movement and uh that's kind of when we're at our best but um that's not what w us our you know the game tonight it was our defense holding that team in the 70s is a really tough tough task um so I was just super pleased with our defense more than our offense um on the defense it feels like the switching in particular has gotten so much better over this recent stretch of games um I guess beyond that what it stood out to you about this six or seven game stretch I think you now have the best defensive rating in the league over that stretch I mean the attention to detail you know we're we're locked in we're doing our base well and when you do your base well and you're locked in on the base we know certain things are no Nos and when we do those things we we tend to be on the same page and we can get multiple stops in a row which gives our offense obviously uh multiple opportunities and and that's the whole goal is to you know obviously limit their opportunities but also um not having to go against a set defense uh the whole time because you're taking it out of the net and your inefficiency offensively so I've really liked where we've been the last five to six games defensively even with New York no Rim protection you know W with Asia being out I thought Kia played great I thought our like that team the both these teams really have uh multiple three level scores um they're just super super dangerous both the teams obviously we came up a little short in New York um but um we're figuring it out on the defensive end you thank you Jennifer Jennifer Porte from let talk woman at basketball podcast another yes let talk woman in basketball podcast yes I got you what another game against the fevers coming up what adjustment do you plan on making for the next matchup well I'm not sure I'd tell you if I knew right off the top of my head but I figure we're going to try to do more of the same um definitely some things we can clean up offensively but defensively that's a hell of a job um I thought Jackie was was great um on Caitlyn tonight just making her life tough um even said when she got in you know picking her up 94 feet just making her making everything difficult and as the game progressed you know they they she played almost you know a full game you know your legs start to wear all that stuff is has a buildup Factor even though she's young um it's exhausting to have Jackie young guarding you all night it just is um as well as everybody you know um so it's it's really a team effort you know to try to contain a player like that but everybody you know the main thing was the main thing um I thought you know our bigs doing a great job on their post players um obviously helped and then the boards so I just go back to defensively we just got to be solid in areas that that we know um we need to be solid in and you know the offense will come Nick with all the ABS and flows of the season and we see we witnessing greatness in Asia Wilson what are a couple of areas where you've seen her grow throughout the course of the season on and off the floor um well you look at her again tonight I mean first of all every year she comes back better um we really starting to see like a really really gifted woman come into this like maturity stage of her not only uh life but like basketball career like she's she's um as you can see she's not just the best player in the world she might be the most loved and adored by her teammates I mean this woman is special I I don't know how else to put it to you she emits love she emits Joy like and it's contagious and she cares about her teammates and she cares about her teammates doing well um but you know we've added a three ball to it um is year even though she didn't shoot any tonight we've added a three ball but her ball handling I go back to as many double teams as she sees as much as she's getting hit and bodies thrown at her zero turnovers tonight she is all state you're in good hands she has that ball and it's just really hard to get it out of her hands she knows how to get to her spots if you're bigger than her she's faster than you if you're smaller than her she's bigger than you um and just a really unbelievable skill set in feel for the game um I don't know I've kind of run out of adjectives but this is one of the most lovely human beings you'll ever meet and uh her teammates you can feel that I mean you can feel it if you're around our team um and then you know she goes out there and kills you on the court she's she's a tough guard all right a couple more cie uh coach I'm not trying to get you in trouble or kill the vibe but I just wanted to ask about that technical foul that you got it's your fifth of the season and I'm just curious kind of what you saw that led to that moment they were delaying the game they were trying to look on the replay to see if they should challenge it and they were delaying the game and it's not right I was trying to get them the officials to pass my player the ball so they could shoot their free throw and while they're doing a long substitution and jabbing in and out of the you can go look at it Kelly tell me tell me how many seconds burnt off while they were deciding as a team whether to challenge the call um that's what I was upset about that's what I voed to them it's not managing the game well and so that's what I was letting him hear right last one K and I fully deserved a tech K what um not to take us away from basketball again I guess but um just you got at it in terms of just the love that a experiences from her teammates um there's a lot of emotion in this room tonight I from your perspective just what does it mean to you to kind of witness your players just love on each other um In This Moment especially with the kind of up and down season all that I mean as a leader um you have to care about the people that you're leading espe in a team setting you know it's not like you're a COO and you're over 300 people this is a a tight flock um and you want everybody to do well but I just know that like a happy players make better basketball players I was one for 16 years so I know when it's a feel-good game it's a confidence game it's a a game of energy it's a game of love runs and when you have contagious Good Vibes that tends to bode well for basketball players and basketball teams um but of course for me you know you obviously are are building relationships these are all just about building relationships and building trust and I'm trying to get to where every one of my players feels empowered um encouraged supported validated all the things both on and off the court um and if you don't care about people don't get into coaching because that that's the whole thing with coaching you know when I was going back and forth between should I do TV or should I coach I'm like you know what I want to be in the battle I want to be in the fight these are the people that have always influenced me which were coaches and teammates um you know it's uh it's crazy it's 911 I was I think I was 24 when that happened I was in New York City I was there and you just see all these Generations come through and so um to see a generational talent and like I said I've been in this league or in the NBA whichever for 25 years now is a lot of I've watched a lot of basketball and to see someone's greatness like this on full display night in and night out and then how she carries herself and how she treats her teammates is I said I don't have any adjectives for it but the way she loves on her teammates um if you don't care about the people you're journeying with like get off the trail because on a journey you guys are always helping encouraging them to take the next step to go the extra climb like you keep pushing them but uh you can push harder when when when people know you care thanks a lot coach we'll see every body back here in 48 out