"Feels Good To Win At Home." | Kayla McBride & Napheesa Collier Postgame Sound | 08.24.24

wow y'all ready ladies H y'all ready yes let's go all right all right I know it's been a long night um km just how did it feel to get back into that Groove tonight and you know see the threes go down and just just overall the the performance that you put out there tonight especially the hard work you put in better um it's been a little slow start after the All-Star break it's hard not playing after a month but uh you know just trying to do everything I can to to help the team win you know like even when shots aren't going going in um just trying to do more other things that I can do uh but you know it's always good to see the ball go in but most importantly you know we won in three games in four days is really hard uh so I'm just really proud of our toughness like overall just being physically and mentally tough I think that that's just kind of the name of who we've been so it just feels good to win at home um and finally get a little bit of rest how much do you pride yourself on the on both fans you know so many people talk about the offensive but you're running around guarding you know the other teams player majority of the time as well same as fee but just talk about you know how you bring it on the defensive end as well especially tonight there's a mindset just you know being that person that my teammates can rely on you know doesn't always go perfectly you doesn't go always you know as you plan but just trying to stay consistent and persistent uh and doing that night in night out and help my team in any way I can you know like there's amazing players in this league um so I take pride as being one that can guard all of them at the guard position and uh you know I enjoy the challenge even when it's hard so yeah and fee you played at the three tonight um just talk about how it was lining up with Maisha too you know playing The Bigs tonight against against Boston in the paint just how the how the three was different kind of from your original position too uh yeah the three is definitely a lot quicker um but I think we were trying to give breaks on guarding the post players so Ma's a great defender so it was nice to have her be able to come in and effect um right away like that um fee another 30-point game did it on mayore Jersey retirement night it's also 8:24 you've spoken about what Kobe's meant to you um I wonder if you could just speak on you know having these nights that are on kind of days that your role models are also being celebrated um I think it just happened that way I didn't go out and was like I need to show Maya that I love her and I'm doing this for her uh but I think just like doing whatever needs to be done to win the game that's my mindset every game um and it just happened tonight I've said this multiple times that any one of us could have 30 every night and that's the beauty of our team and how spread out our talent is so it's really fun to be able to do that so um again just a special night too with Maya and her retirement um she's such an icon to the game of basketball definitely to me as well I didn't even know it was 824 obviously I really look up to Kobe as well so having my two Idols I guess on a symbolic night was really fun um and just thanksa to for everything that she's done for the game and for um social justice as well and then three game games in four nights you've played over 30 minutes in each of those games really excelled in each of those games what is it about like your stamina your grit that allows you to just keep bringing it game after game even in these kind of tightened schedule crunches um I think you just do what you have to do like I definitely felt the fatigue but we have a game to when no one cares if you're tired you know that's there's not like an as strictness to you lost but it was our third game in four days uh so just giving it my all anytime I step on the court no matter how many games in a row it is or what night it is or whatever those circumstances are Fe you mentioned their post players and they were doing such a good job of getting offensive rebounds especially through the three quarters but they had one in the fourth what changed from the link standpoint in that final 10 minutes um just trying to box out as much as we can their post players are really strong so um really just trying to dig it out there the guards coming in helped a lot too um we had our hands full with the post players we couldn't really get the rebound just block them out and make sure they don't get it so I thought our guards did a good job of coming in and poking the ball out and getting those rebounds for us uh for both of you um you've gotten off to you know great starts uh in the third quarter in this stretch um Cheryl mentioned today that uh halftime was a little you know there's a lot of anger in the room about especially on on the defensive side of the ball in the first half but in each of these you know last four or five games it's been a quick run quick frustration timeout by the uh opposing team you know like what's been working early in third quarter is to help you guys sort of get that run in and really take control of uh these games I think we've just learned how to handle adversity in situations um that we've been together for for a while now um and I think we've been tested a lot early on this season middle of the season and now you know we just clinched the playoff spot we know what we're playing for but I think it's just a testament to our trust in each other um our belief in each other and just you know when we need to make adjustments we're not pointing fingers or anything like that we're just trying to figure out and problem solved collectively um especially at halftime yeah there was it was heated we knew we could be better and we just wanted to come third quarter I think that's what you've just been able to see is just kind kind of Us coming together problem solving and going out there and executing and that was loud sorry and fee uh the other day myisha talked to us about her being excited to play with you in particular after you guys won a championship together in France a few years ago um she was the only other player to play all 10 minutes of the fourth quarter tonight showed how you know Relentless she can be on defense and just how productive of a player she can be um how excited are you to get to you know play with her again and just how good of a fit has she been so far I'm really excited I've wanted to play with her here for years um she resigned to Washington I'm like why'd you do that I wanted you to come here uh but it worked out in the end so I'm really excited to have ma as a teammate again I think she's an extremely hard worker I think she fits into our team perfectly personality wise in the way that she's going to do whatever it takes to win um and yeah I think she's a force so I'm really happy that she's a linkx now and I hope we have many seasons together so it's both of you last time the fever came here they won on your home floor you had a hot streak going at the the time this time did you guys talk about that hey we don't want this to happen again kind of thing before the game I mean I think it's the same for every game we don't want to lose to anybody especially on our home court um obviously it was it was a tough one um losing to them at home the first time so we're definitely thinking about that but I think it's just we're just coming out trying to win every game um you know you don't want to put too much too much into you know that just coming out and being at our best especially wi three games in four days like at that point we're just locked in so um like I said I think it's just toughness and grit uh every night and that's what we showed again today uh Fe last one for me I think back to the first game you guys played against the aces where it was a loss at home and I believe you mentioned that you were happy to get this loss out of the way now because you can learn from it you know beating the aces back to back beating an indiat and team that's a lot bigger size-wise than the links just how valuable is that learning experience of those losses from earlier in the season now that we're getting to this point I think they were really valuable um it put us in those situations where we had time to fix it especially early in the season you're still like pretty malleable by this time in the season people are kind of who they are so having those um losses I think really taught us how we are in adversary adversary what to do when we get in those situations and what not to do um and it taught us how to come together so I actually am thankful for those games because I feel like it made us stronger uh for Kayla coach let us know uh the Milestone you eclipse tonight of 600 career threes and mentioned be getting there faster than anyone else not named Diana sasi or Katie Smith just what does that you know mean mean to you to hit to hit that Milestone and just sort of you know have your name you know uh up there um and you know with some of the greats of this league I mean when you mention those two names and then obviously being coached by Katie Smith every single day and just knowing what she's meant to me even over especially over these last four years I mean it's hon you know I just I love what what I do I love coming to work every day I love putting on the links Jersey and you know shooting and doing all those things and and helping my team win games so just a testament to that even when shots aren't falling you know it's frustrating it's a hard job as a shooter because everybody's like looking at you if you miss and looking at you if you make it you know but uh I enjoy it I enjoy the process I enjoy I enjoy that part of the game so um it's just Testament to that you know it's my 11th year in the league so um just to be you know mention with those two especially Katie it means a lot and