Indiana Fever Postgame Media Availability (at Minnesota Lynx) | August 24, 2024

Head Coach Christie Sides you um start that is a really good basketball team that is a really good basketball team to beat Vegas twice and then come in here and play the way they did hit the shots they hit on a backtack um just a just a really good basketball team you know there's some things that we've been really working on um that we weren't our best at tonight was is transition defense I don't think we got back in transition D very well gave them some open looks early um got to do better with that but that's also starts with taking care of the basketball I think we had 16 turnovers for 16 points we the two games at home this last weekend I think we had 10 or 11 turnovers um so just you know again that's a really good basketball team we are trying to to get to who they are so with that in mind are there you kind of could take some weird positives out of this in the sense that you did you were down what one and half time one and a half yeah brought it back from 16 or 13 I can't remember 15 fought back play some really good defense in the second quarter I think we had some some players in there who really got up and pressure the basketball and then that allowed us to get out in transition when we got those stops um but just to start just didn't get those stops and they were able to get on transition get some buckets and the same in the third qut um tamy obviously 16 minutes I think the return just what did you like about her today yeah her energy you know she's she hadn't been with us in a while we we're doing some things differently so so we just got to get her you know she just practiced for the first time this week so just got to get her some practice time get her some reps um so that way we're all on the same page on both ends of the floor but I mean she's she's energy I mean she's she's speed she was trying to set a drag a couple times early and I said no you you run to the rim that other post is gonna set those SC and it looked like you kind of experimented with a couple different rotations obviously ab and dtis and then Hemi and dtis as well just what were you trying like what were you trying to do with like the new rotations yeah just kind of was going well for us when Dantes went in and you know when things are going well you want to just kind of keep it the same you know ab and D play well together um they can you know I think AB started guard CER a little bit which was good I thought she did a great job onor um but those two are just you know they make smart basketball reads Dantes can can post you up she has some great post moves when she caught it she can also stretch the defense we just having those two out there um but that veteran D Springs a veteran um presence out there on both ends of the I think that Minnesota is a really great Kelsey Mitchell basketball team and I think that they are what you consider a playoff team um and I think if you want to be the best or compete with being the best that's what it looks like and I think that we got some work to do so it was a it was a look in the face for us but it was also a gr moment for us so we could let it look at it both ways but we definitely got some work to do yeah I thought we did some we had some moments where we Caitlin Clark were really good and we had some moments where we weren't as good um and a team like this that's not going to you're not going to be able to win the game I thought fee was really good we struggled to kind of find an answer for her and you know she's one of the best players in the league and arguably one of like the best um so I think it's just continuing to get better um I think we could have executed a little bit better on offense but they're a really good defensive team so uh we got a little stagnant we didn't get out in transition probably as much as we would have liked but um we did some good things but also some some things we can learn from that second quarter was was some of you guys run all the way back you within one you could have been the lead right I mean that's the positive I guess you take from this for sure I think that's that you saw in the second quarter if we could piece it it together for longer stretches I mean that would be ideal 100% else in room what was the crowd atmosphere like out there it felt like there wasn't really a home team sometimes with the reactions everyone was oh girl C Square she's cute you know um I think she does a really great job of like you know I think kayin specifically as a household name and I think that she's going to continue to you know bring in the arena and kind kind of like put us in POS position to have all the fans in the world so I mean I obviously hats off to her but you know I give her grace because it's it's a it's a lot to take on I think she's doing a really good job with you yeah I mean I think obviously a lot of people here that wear fever stuff or wear you know Caitlyn Clark shirt whatever but at the same time they understand really good basketball and they can appreciate what the links did and who the links are um and also their history like they know who I moris they know you know she's one of the best of all time so they're here to celebrate her and appreciate her too and um yeah I mean I think you definitely have those loyal link bans you heard them sometimes too and then you certainly heard a crowd that just loves basketball and was there to celebrate it and honestly it was a great game like the offense was great it was up and down both teams were tired um so I think it was just a great display of women's basketball honestly it be here on the night where they're celebrating my war after how much to you it's it's it's awesome it's cool um you know I think it's it's a great environment for her she definitely deserves it and obviously they had tremendous crowds when she was here playing um and they won the finals a few times and um you know it's cool to play in front of her like she's court side and you look over like that's your childhood Idol so you got to pinch yourself a little bit at times and you know be thankful for the moment and enjoy it and still compete and be lucky that you get to do this at the highest level uh fee was out last time you guys played had 31 points tonight just how did that how did her being in the lineup change thanks for you guys I mean she she's the the big staple of their team like she does so much for their team you know there was a few times she made a few shots and I caught myself like dang like can't guard that like and I don't really do that often but she there was a few times where she made like she made a tough Runner I think on the left side there in the second half off the off the glass outside the paint and ab played really good defense there's nothing you can do but take the ball out and go down the other way and tell her good job like you know there's moments like that in the game and I thought you know she had quite a few of those tonight but she's been playing really well um and you know there were still some things where we could have done a little bit better job on other people when we did take take her away in the half court that kind of killed us go last one on Zoom Mike Vel go ahead yeah this is for um for Caitlyn you and Kelsey obviously been scoring the ball really well um really since the The Break um and you guys have been rebounding well you guys I think won the rebounding battle by 13 is the is the post scoring something you feel like can um can come a little bit more or do you also sort of balance the fact that I mean you're playing the hottest team I think right now in the league I I just wonder what thoughts definitely playing the hottest team in the league um I thought that AB was working really hard on defense especially when they changed the matchup to her guarding fee and that can take a lot out of you um so I thought that times that probably you know maybe made her a little tired um that's how much attention fee demands but also AB is you know a corner piece of our offense we have to find a way to get her some easy looks like we just we didn't go to her enough honestly and I thought even in the fourth quarter we we turned away from her um that's who we need to go to um but she was really good seven seven o boards 15 rebounds total I thought she played really good defense um but when she's you know having to exert herself so much on somebody that's you know one of the best players in our league we have to find a way to get her a few more easy looks um I thought we could have done a little bit better better job there but but um one of our keys you know to the game tonight was to play inside out I think at halftime we had 26 paint points I don't know what we finished with um but I thought we could have got it in there a little more specifically AB