Indiana Fever Media Availability | September 3, 2024

NaLyssa Smith that best Drive I think it's been great uh what better time to do it than now when we're trying to make a playoff push so just all of us playing our best basketball right now is going to help us get there how does this feel compared to the first couple years you had with this franchise all the winning and playoff wiing very oh winning is always fun so of course this year has been you know a lot more fun and a lot more enjoyable but I mean we haven't done nothing yet we still got to make the playoffs we still got to make a run make a push for it but it's been really fun this far watching Kelsey I mean they they've been going off ever since the start of the break so what's that like for you just you know the starting F to see that too oh it's great to see it you know it's great to see everybody on our team like I said finally coming together uh Kelsey's playing her best basketball she looks comfortable she's scoring a lot more efficient Caitlyn's being Caitlyn scoring passing the ball so she's doing great and how about that play in uh transition at Dallas is that something that you practiced with Kelsey that behind the back n that was crazy though I'm just glad made the layup a lot of pressure what's been key for you and your sort of Shifting roles you've had throughout the season to stay consistent in your production um just keeping the main thing the main thing you know just always knowing who I do it for always knowing why I play basketball for my family for everybody that I love so you know not wanting to let them down so I keep got to have them do what I do you feel like your strengths work with any front Court combo on this team um if I if I play how I know how to play then yeah you know it's just about adjusting seeing where I'm going to get the ball you know it's been different a lot the last three years so just adjusting of that and I feel like I'm finally F what does that adjustment take for you do you just figure it out over games with teammates is there a lot of conversations and film what what you feel like the thing that work for you yeah just continuing to play with them and just you see everywhere where you get the ball you see where you're not going to get the ball you know where to be on the floor so things like that just when it comes to the playoffs you guys could clinch as early as tonight just what would that mean to officially playoff yeah that' be huge I mean it's something this program hasn't done in a while so just to be a part of Alex you got anything for Nelissa play Under back how do you come to every yeah I'm just going out there knowing my match up knowing you know defense wins games just going out there and defending hard thank you good anything else Alex are all good why don't you you got to ask her the skip on the H question what is your favorite ice cream favorite ice cream probably vanilla with sprinkles and what's your favorite vanilla van me this hot stretch that you're in and Lexie Hull it seems like making all the shots do you do you hear from them all the time about it yeah I there they you know part of the game day routine or was text my mom and dad pregame and postgame so they're just a lot more excited Tex postgame these days so yeah it's been great their support really means the world to me to be in this organization uh for the last few years you know now now you're uh starting consistently and you're having a really big impact in the playoff what does that to you just kind of compressing your career and now coming to a head right yeah I think you know just trusting the process taking it day by day um you never know what you're going to get season through season so and game by game so just staying ready and making sure that I trusted you know the work that I put in so AR out there I can be confident can't really beat anything other than that with cheese and Mas I know look at him to ask a question empty Alex do you have anything for Lexi yeah I Haven been watching you since you're H you throughout your season how do you come every day I work so hard I think you know it's just that's part of who I am that's part of the player that I am that's part of the culture that we're building here in Indiana so it's easy to do that when we have crowds and you in the stands and you know a lot of just cheering fans it's easy to get motivated and and give everything we have one game at a time thank you anybody else anything for you fan of Ted Z question for Coach how do The Vibes and practice change when you're on this Head Coach Christie Sides stretch of Victories that you guys have been on since the break yeah I mean you know winning just you know makes everything a lot lighter and feel a lot better but they're still locked in and that's kind of what we talked about in film um you know they we talk about emptying our tank and we talk about like what that means and you know we do whatever we can to fill them back up you if you don't use it you lose it and we don't want to waste anything and you know these guys are put in the work and it's showing and so you know they're locked in um at practice and video um for the next which is tomorrow against La how do you feel positively about that knowing that you know we're not getting place at a time like this they're continuing to have the same attitude put forward yeah I mean we still haven't done any I mean we haven't done anything yet we want to you know picked up that 17th win um which was excellent but like that we're not we're not stopping there but we're not changing what we've been doing to get us to that point guess could clinch playoffs tonight if you thought about what that would mean to you yeah I'm not thinking about that right now word about La you guys you guys are in the driver seat after for the playoff push do you sense any pressure or a young group to actually get that done to actually quinch it you know I think it's Kelsey Mitchell that always says like you don't you know we can't get too low we can't get too high and and her kind of being more vocal um right now for us as a leader she kind of helping us keep that um not get too high not get too low keep just fighting for what we're trying to do next and um La is what's up next give the unique circumstance of all these days now at home how do you plan to utilize it or is it truly just day in and day out back to your routine yes I mean but we're three games in five days right so it's every other day so you really just got to keep you know our we're shooting the ball extreme you know pretty well and we just want to make sure that we keep doing that by getting reps um game like shots game reps um and just try to keep the momentum that we have going um and just the positive energy that I mean this team is playing with so much joy it's just they're really fun to watch right now Ka Lou kind of back to what she can be again ter of health illness all that yeah we're working her in and and she's kind of letting me know how she feels and we we're going you know from where she you know she kind of gives me the thumbs up or the thumbs down and that's how we're playing it unless his role changes even sometimes Within game what to you has been important for her to State assist she's playing with than what she's at you said Melissa yeah I I thought she's been excellent for us these last two games um she has been like she's had runs for us where she's scored you know couple possessions in a row she's she is just killing it on the boards I mean she is a she she can just get any rebound when she gets her body wide and like she's worked on you know finding that Defender somebody to box out and just not let anybody have an opportunity she's coming down with all these boards but like she's she is ready to do whatever we need her to do as well and um these last two games games early she was really good for us what was your immediate reaction to the Highlight fast break play that she finished him down wow yeah that was I was wanting to see it on Sports Center I don't know if it was or it wasn't but it was um maybe one of the best transition offensive moments I've ever seen you know Kelsey just hit her spot on in full stde behind the back for her left you know with her left hand it was that was a great moment how have you seen T kind of ingrate back into the rotation well yeah I mean Timmy's a veteran and she's been doing what she needed to do to get back and um be back with us and even though she's not been on the court with us she's been able you know she's been still around the team and and now just her her speed and her um ability to defend is really is really what we get from her that really helps us out from a coach's perspective what has stood out to you about what Kelsey has done the last couple weeks it's something like I've never seen before what she's I mean her ability to put the ball in the hole right now for us is just incredible she's playing with so much confidence um you know she's coming off screens she's coming off ball screens she's coming off pin down staggers she's turning the corner getting to the rim she's also spaced out where her Man's having to help and she's just knocking down the shots that we need to knock down she's just playing with so much confidence and I really like I'm hearing her so much more talking to the team and she was sitting in uh the coach's chair talking to the players during the game the other night which is something that is just you know that's some really good stuff for us when Kelsey Mitchell is doing that is there one particular thing sort of Point as to why you know he's a little bit more she kind of on this unreal stret you know I just keep calling her one of the best professional players I've ever been around she's just always consistent she's always consistent with showing up and getting her work in she's always consistent with getting her extra work in um and she's not going to leave here till she gets whatever she's trying to get done um You can count on that and so when people have that consistency that just you know that's just going to play out well for you for everybody and then just building the confidence that she's um brought on with how she's playing I think it's just adding more to her her bag as well after last kelse was like I've seen the bottom in everything when you whenever you do clinch will you think back to the lows of maybe the start of the season and getting past those challenges or will it go extending back to maybe when you were assistant just trying to get back to these winning waves yeah yeah I saw her say that and um that that broke my heart a little bit in a way but in a great you know it's a good thing for us but Kelsey you know I think for me you know when that moment happens for us um I really want to be able to see her face and see how she responds and reacts because she has she's been through a lot here um and she's stuck with it and like I said she's continued to be a true professional be consistent and I think she's now going to get to reap all that and and enjoy a moment that she's not had before Alex you got any questions for Coach hi I do I who and my question is what is your favorite memory about favorite memory about this team this season I think we played some games during the Olympic break and we played some baseball and we had some really fun moments where we were hitting the baseball and they were hitting home run derby um but just these guys having that chemistry during that break but I would think the Connecticut game the other night at home um the Connecticut game at home for us we had had beat Connecticut not one time last year we hadn't beaten them yet this year this was our last opportunity and they really stood really really took to that challenge and got us that win at home