Caitlin Clark, Christie Sides pregame before Indiana Fever host Minnesota Lynx

K when it comes to your passing sometimes you'll throw a pass and I'm like where does this come from how do you think of this so how much is imagination and just trying stuff a big part of your development yeah I mean I've always said like I'm not a very creative person but I feel like I'm creative on the basketball that's about the only time you see it in other parts of my life like I'm not very creative so um I don't know like I like to have fun like I don't know make exciting plays I think it times like I'm definitely a a highrisk high reward person for sure and um I don't know I mean it's not something like you're planning out as you're dribbling up the court it kind of just happens naturally um as as it's flowing like you know you're trying to use your eyes to mess up the defender and what they're thinking too so um I think I'm I'm definitely creative on the basketball floor and you know I always try to try some new things I think it's finding a balance of like when it's okay to do that and during the games and when not I think there were time times versus LA like I know there was a behind the back pass early or in the first or second quarter where we had already had a lot of turnovers so just knowing you know we got to take care of the ball there so just finding that balance too and then one followup about PC Kier you go from growing up watching her to now being like a peer what has that been like for you and just seeing what she's been to the league and how great she's played so far yeah I have a ton of respects for her and what she's been able to do and she's obviously had a tremendous season and um not only like I've been able to get to know her a little bit over the course of the last year year two or two um I think she's just really hard to guard she has every guard skill but at the same time has a lot of post skills so that presents a a problem for us I mean I remember many times in the game at Minnesota obviously she didn't play the first time we were there but the second time we were there or she just made some shots that you just have to live with there's there aren't ways that you can guard that um you have to give her credit I mean she makes some tough ones she makes them she can shoot the three she can stretch the floor so like do we guard her with our four do we guard her with our five um she definitely presents a matchup issue but um I think she just plays the game the right way you can totally tell that she's their leader she's kind of who they look to um and she's she's had that team you know have a tremendous year go Matt and Christine yeah hi kayin um a few weeks ago you were saying that it was an unspoken goal in the locker room to get to the playoffs yesterday you said that there's still a lot more to prove um so is it vocal now in the locker room of maybe you know there's there's still more teams that we can chase to get better seating or is that still kind of unspoken yeah I don't think that's something we really talk about honestly like I feel like it's still one game at a time and just approaching the next match up that we have I don't think we were too I wouldn't say like we were upset with how we played vers laa but we still felt like we could have played a lot better um so I felt like there was a lot of things we could go back and learn from um and I think tonight coming out from the start um and setting the tone taking care of the ball getting a good start will be huge for us because I thought versus LA like we kind of had a careless start like we had some turnovers we just weren't crisp and I thought that kind of carried through throughout the game and obviously we found a way to win but I thought it could have been a lot better for us so I think for us is the main focus is just every game right in front of us I think that's kind of been what christe has been preaching too is um every single game matters every single game we want to improve um and I think everybody's done a really good job of approaching it that way too well Christine the pat you mentioned you know every game you look at and and you try to just take that game but is this one a little bigger because you beat them there of course even though without Coler and then of course what was that a week or two ago um and you made face them in the playoffs and just the fact that this is such a great team and I think as Christie said they they like you are the only teams that have not only lost one game since the Olympic break is so is this a little bit bigger uh I wouldn't say it's a little bit bigger I think I mean it's tough like I think this is obviously probably a very highly anticipated match up from the standpoint I think we're both 7even to1 since the Break um like you said the potential of us matching up in the first round of playoffs is very very high so I think for us coming out and executing our schemes is going to be very important because this is the game you're going to go back and watch if that match up does occur in the first round of you know what what did we execute what didn't we execute um what will we want to take away and use once we get to get to that point but at the same time like you're playing to win this game and win these 40 minutes so I think that's kind of been the balance of of that and but at the same time like for us I think everybody in the locker room would say like this is one of the hardest teams in the league to guard with the amount of movement they have with the way they shoot the ball um with the pace they play with um so I think for us it's just uh I don't think it it's anything different but at the same time everybody kind of knows the circumstance um but you know you kind of want to win the series I think that's another little caveat to it too is like we we split so far and this is the last matchup so you want to go out there Wi on your home court too we got Pat them we go Mike whether it's just general ball movement or for example Kelsey pulling out that behind the back in Dallas do you feel like pass the passing has become contagious a little bit with this team I mean I don't think I've ever seen Kelsey try to pull that out in previous years and and the ball movement just seems to be really good right now yeah I think like we're just trying to play with a lot of pace and honestly like that doesn't mean just sprinting back and forth in Just In transition like I think that means executing in the half court and playing with good Tempo like if you don't have something move it to teammate cut you know move get open and I think we're doing that a lot better I think at the beginning of the year the ball just stuck like it's stuck in people's hands we're playing one-onone like it just wasn't crisp clean it wasn't executed well in the half court so um I think people are setting their teammates up for Success a little bit better I think kelse is just she has that Knack too she understands the game of basketball really well her I was really high um and I think she knew like once I made that pass to her in Dallas she like there was really no way she could have probably got the shot off just from the angle that she was and L was kind of trailing behind so it just worked out well so I think we moved the ball really well I think that's why you see our assist numbers are so high um you know a lot of assist on made on High made field goals that's exactly what you want um but I think overall is just you know moving the ball and not letting it stick I think we've done a lot better job that last one go with Mike Kaitlyn you go from guards are literally your best friends you've known for four years to the nature of the WBA hey here's your new teammate did you and and Kelsey Mitchell have sort of an icebreaker moment where it was suddenly like you you sort of understood each other a little better and I don't know even if it was like uh Ohio State Iowa trash talking or something but do you remember that maybe that first few weeks or so that you guys kind of have that um that's tough honestly I think it definitely took us some time to like build our relationship and trust with one another um obviously like she's been you know the main focus of this organization for however long and you know me coming in here and getting the keys to the offense and you know trying to make sure that works for everyone at the same time whether that's AB whether that's Liz whether that's her you know trying to get everybody involved while continue to keep myself involved I think was something I had to navigate early on um but I think you know once we started playing a little bit better together and she saw the pace that we could play with um how I could set her up for success I think that kind of naturally just built our relationship and made it a better but also I think looking back at even training camp obviously she wasn't able to participate in that just due to an ankle injury like she was always right there on the sidelines and somebody that I tried to go up to and go out of my way to listen and take advice from her not only because she has it has it but because like that's going to help us build our relationship so I think that mixed with just getting the experience of playing with one another has really helped us develop a great relationship and I think we both know like we both have each other's best best interests um at heart and it's been a lot of fun for me to play with her so yeah hi Christin was just wondering if it with with tamy if it was kind of the same scenario tonight where you know she's questionable but you're going to rest her for precaution I guess what's what's the update on that yeah no she's gonna be she's good to go tonight Chris okay um the um uh when you after the Olympic break obviously it was kind of like reset and you guys just you know launched yourselves into a whole another conversation in in sports and what have you is tonight almost like a second wave of that next step for this team yeah you know I think a lot of it has to do with who were're playing tonight for that reason um you know we're the two teams left in the WNBA with only one loss since the allstar Break um and so you know and they're a possible match up for us in the you know in the playoffs so you know they're really good team on both sides of the ball and so you know when you look at our team and we we talk about like where we're trying to go like some of the things that they do and who they are is like where we want to is who we want to be um I just told our guys the other night like we're you know we're not trying to prove anymore we just have to keep improving and um that's what we have to focus on tonight is doing that against a really good Team Jacob comee you mentioned this was a possible playoff match up now that you're actually in the playoffs do you view a game like this differently now knowing that you could be playing them again in a couple weeks you know no because of the message that we just keep you know trying to be consistent with that's our one of our main words is just consistency and that's just us just trying to make sure that we're getting 1% better um it's going to be a challenge tonight against a really good team um but yeah just always trying to just make it about us when we can Chrissy obviously Caitlyn's come changed a lot of different things for this team but with Aaliyah how have you seen her Embrace her role which seems to mour from night to night and Thrive whether it's passing scoring rebounding defending and accepting that when last year everything went through her yeah you know I think for me Aaliyah's uh she's been so good defensively for us um that's been the consistent thing with her just her defense you know um and then I know she hadn't put up as many points up until the other night um you know but that that's something that she's not concerned with because her teammates were shooting the hell out of the basketball you know and so um just really happy that she is you know when she recognizes that I mean how many times did she catched the ball at the free throw line in a pick and roll situation and she was hitting those Shooters you know when she could that's a shot that I've never want her to turn down that free throw line jumper um but she's just whatever the team needs in that moment and her defense and her rebounding for me are just have been just consistent and and huge and um we're going to keep going through Aaliyah I I I say that all the time I mean we are going to keep playing through her through our posts through the paint because that just keeps everything open on the outside Mike welcome hey thank you Christie um I mean Kelsey's been good a long time but this is the first time she's been in a real playoff race and it seems like a lot of people are like really embracing her game I know almost after every press conference she says it's same I'm just a Hooper whatever but as as her coach what's it been like to see I mean it's been a while coming but but to see sort of the attention that she's getting Nationwide yeah she she deserves every bit of it and more um I'm say that again she deserves every bit of it and more that's just how solid Kelsey Mitchell has been for us um on both ends of the floor you know Kelsey's Kelsey's drawing the best offensive player for the opposing team a lot of nights and she's able I swear her engine just gets it just gets stronger and faster as the game goes I mean she's she's such an athlete um you know her downhill attacks are the same as they are in the in first as they are in the fourth quarter after Garden you know um whoever it is that we put her on that she's chasing all around so um she's just playing at a different level um and then also just the teammates that she has around her now um she doesn't feel she has to do it all anymore and so that's just made her have a lot more um it it's just not you know she's getting wide open looks or having the opportunity to just get downhill when her teammates are drawing a lot of that attention um but yeah every you know that was for me making the playoffs this year with her and her you know I was here when when we drafted her um and she's been you know just just here being solid and now it's it's paying off for her which is you know that just makes my heart so happy you finish up matth and James uh before the break you go to Minnesota you win next time Coler comes back scores 31 which just curious what do you think has to go different tonight in preventing her you found somebody who can stop her um and guard her a little bit yeah she's she's a talent I mean she's definitely one of the you know possibly MVP I mean she's she's that good I mean she just makes them run um and it's going to be a group effort you know she can play the three she can play the four so that changes schemes for us um on how we guard certain things um but you know you just have to make her uh you know give her an opportunity she'll get hot you so you can't just you know close out on her as a a sh make her you know make her drive it but um I just I just think it's going to be a group effort um a lot of communication from our our team on the defense in on who's Gardener and if we're switching if we're not or if we're in you know whatever scheme we are um either on the side or up top um but I mean she's a talent she's going to get hers we just have to make sure people like Courtney Williams um and McBride don't um you know have really hot nights James last one one more on fee you've been around League a long time have you seen her grow from entering the league with high expectations and kind of delivering these last few years and really showing to one best way in the world yeah I think for me what I see and it's just um the the things as a head coach that you pay attention to especially when like culture is a huge piece for us like I think I think fee is a great leader I think she is what makes those guys run I think she keeps them um focused and determined I mean you hear her talking all the time I read all the you know articles um that when she has you know comments she she's their leader and they and they just um as she goes they go and that's that's that's a good one to have um run in that locker room you VI like CC kind of like that like just cut from that same like how we go as how she goes or um she's young I'm just curious yeah uh I that would be something I could probably answer in a couple years that's a tough one to answer right now I mean but you know Caitlyn being our point guard you know she's she's our engine right and she's the one who's pushing the ball she's the reason we're getting the transition points that we're getting a lot of times by her pass ahe heads um so yeah I mean you know she's got um you know a lot you know fe's got several years on her and and Caitlyn's still learning a lot especially as it relates to her teammates still and and the locker room as well