Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides after win over Sun, says she's never been more proud of a group

well we asked about it before the game but to beat that team that I don't think the fever beaten since 2021 and to have it be like that with that kind of atmosphere what did this would mean to you in this team I think for me just the maturity and the toughness that my players showed tonight was just incredible I mean we're watching them just grow up right like from where we started to where we are now just the way they've just consider consistently improveed that 1% so for me proud proud for the win Connecticut is an incredible team so proud of these these players kelse is the first player in this franchise history with five straight games of 20 plus points what did she change something what has led to this stretch from her and why why do you think she's been doing it for since before the Olympic break now yeah I just Kelsey Mitchell is special she's a special player that um now with you know the players that she has around her give her an opportunity to get freed up a lot more than she has in the past it's just created and she's playing with such confidence and I mean she's a great shooter you have to guard her a certain way because she can put it on the floor she's I think she's the fastest player in the league downhill um so I mean you have to be a really good Defender to stop her to the rim but then you also have to be up right on top of her to keep her from shooting a three and she's just shooting the hell out of it we go then we go James coach uh Kelsey said it was important not to get bullied this game game and to kind of stand up for you know you guys as a team just the toughness that they showed and again to not back down from The Challenge that the sun left put put up today what does it say about the team just like I said at the beginning just maturity maturity and toughness today um we told them I mean you know they had us three games um they're they're the best defensive team in the league and they just are going to make everything really hard and be very physical and you can't let that get to you thought the game got real chippy there for a little while and I just I think I C A time out just to make sure that we just kept our composure um didn't need to let that get to us just keep doing what we were doing go James and we go Brad on the left chrisy obviously Kelsey's been through a lot throughout the season personally off the court things like that how much does her character as a human being add to what we see as a player that is a great question Kelsey Mitchell is just the most unbelievable professional athlete that I might have ever been around she might not be happy all the time about certain things but Kelsey Mitchell is going to show up every single day and she's going to do the work every single day and do whatever our team needs um for us to be successful every single day I mean that shows so much about who she is and I told her the other day I was talking to her after practice and I just said you're dad is smiling down on you right now he is he is so proud of you and she just was like I hope so coach but that man is so proud of her I'm sure her entire family is Brad and we go Christine we knew TB was a Difference Maker for this team on a night when she doesn't score a point but a plus 18 where did she matter most for this group defensively defensively defense and rebound won us this game and you know we've talked about how you know our defense and how much that we needed to improve and and we have they have locked in especially during the break and they have locked in and just worked to get better and then to me if you want to ask what won this game defense and rebounding I wouldn't have been able to say that in the past but that we we did a hell of a job we had five stops to end the game last 2 minutes and 50 seconds they did not score that's incredible that is a great team um so just you know just how they locked in and and took pride on that end of the floor is just making a difference for go Christine that's Scott Christie when you think of the the start this season and the dark days and all the criticism and everyone doubting is there even a I mean you look obviously very happy and even a little emotional about what's happening but is there a particular joy that you can describe with knowing how hard it was at the beginning of the season to see what you're doing now I think the word joy that you just used is something that we couldn't find a lot of early and I I have preached that from the beginning that you've got to have fun playing this game and you've got to have that Joy is so important and when we came out of the Olympic break and won those two games it was a different feel out there and that's what we talked about that we you know there's this Joy there's this excitement and it's it's it's created this new just this this different feeling around our team a lot of it I think really has to do with their relationships and how that's grown um and just the the the comfort that they have with each other yeah there were some dark days early and a lot of doubters but again the maturity and the toughness they kept showing up they kept showing up and they kept improving in areas that we needed to improve on and it it showed up tonight big time just I don't know if I've ever been more proud of a group of people in my life Scott CL has Lexi kind of the epitome of what you're just talking about defense rebounding the hustle she kind of the epitome of what you want to see out there and and then more to that um how much have you seen her embrace you know going from out of the rotation to now a a instrumental part of what you're doing yeah you know Lexi stayed locked in and ready to go when her number was called and she's just she's just done everything that we needed to do um to to get these wins and to be successful um you know tonight she came got got the star and got the call to start um had confidence in her shot she had that crazy three right in front of our bench that was just with the shot clock going out but that's just where her confidence level is um she's got her feet ready she's got her hands ready she's got great players around her that are creating all kinds of actions and she's standing over there and when when that ball gets her hands and she's got a wide open look she's knocking it down and then on the defensive end you know she's drawing their best player now she's communicating with people she's locked into the schemes along with everyone else because it's not just that like everyone has to be locked in and on the same page and um she's just done a great job for us since the Break um even before the break but she's just been um also as with Kelsey an unbelievable professional who just kept showing up and waiting on her opportunity go chlo I'm go Matt yeah you talked a lot last year and at the beginning of this year about being able to close out games just how much confidence does it give you especially after the Olympic break you've been consistently able to do that I mean that's that's M that's the maturation process that we've been going through I mean that that's all I can say about we've had those experiences last year we had some early it didn't go our way but just being able to have those same um POS situations that we've gone again and ran in practice the same situations in games early we would we would go in and practice and work on those same and that's that's paying off for us now and they have confidence in what we're doing just like in the Atlanta game we were able to double team a lot of of the post actions and some of the Guard actions when we hadn't done that very much and we've just been able to get do do that job do that initial job scramble out of it when a lot of times when we would not do what we were supposed to do we would pause and we would not keep playing now we are scrambling and we are playing one through five so just the maturation process for me is just what's because of that chlo go mat then we got two ons yeah it seems like Aaliyah has been battling every single night she was able to P her own tonight against three veterans I guess how much does she set the tone physically in the first quarter where at the next three it seems like everybody's diing for a loose ball yeah you know ab's that that that dominant post player down there that kind of gets everything um loosened up for the outside because you know if we get her touches they're they're going to collapse on her um and if they don't great that's that's great for her that's great for us she's going to go and she's going to make a move but even when she catches in the hot post I mean she had eight assists tonight right she had eight assists because when she caught at the hot post if cayin was getting double team she caught at the high post and everybody was spaced and everybody on the court can make shots so they can't just collapse on us so she was able wherever they decided to come from that's she was able to make that pass so she's able to also play make as Al you know as well as if she's isolated down on the post go to work um but she's holding it down defensively as well she's doing a great job um match it up to some of the best post players in the league and last two uh George and we go Willie George go ahead coach congrats on the win how important is it for your team to have games like these because we see it in sports every year high seeds get bounced early because they don't get Battle test in the regular season and they don't grind out wins like you guys did tonight yeah you know they you know they're a playoff team second best team in the league right now um for us to to grind that out and get that win from them is just it's just helping us for where we want to be in the future we want to be where the Connecticut Sun where they are where the New York Liberty is and where the Las Vegas Aces Seattle like that's who we're we're trying to be there and we're making baby steps um to get there and all these experiences are helping us prepare us for whatever comes but for us right now the next thing is the Cho Scot and that is uh Friday night and that's what we've got to take care of to keep this momentum going last one finish up with Willie hi Christy um you talked about the growth and the maturity and and how all the players bought in and just kept showing up and then and you tie that in with you know your praise for Kelsey I'm wondering if there was a point early in the season where you know you were talking to the to the girls but where Kelsey came to you and there was a moment where she let you know hey we got you and how that ties into being an extension of the coaching staff and how you rely on her in that manner yeah you know when I when I talk about them keep showing up you know that was the challenge for us coaches um from the from the beginning with such a young inexperienced team you know it could have it could have gone a different direction but I you know you talked about character and and we're really lucky to have a great group of not just good basketball players Young basketball players but great people in that locker room and that is what Lyn done and I stried to make sure you know that's who we want in our locker room and that's who we have and and they just feed off us and we feed off them and I think they trust us you know to make sure we keep putting them in positions to be successful um but they they keep doing things to make me look like a really good coach and our staff and Jesse Miller who had a great Scout tonight and Paul Miller who had a great Scout against Atlanta um Jared and kareim has got the Scout against Chicago with with t you know we're just we're just all on the same page and it's just a great place to be right now and you can just feel it um in our locker room and that's just where we try to keep everything CU that's the most important thing everything in that locker room is the is the most important thing keeping it there