Eric Thibault REACTS to the Mystics UPSETTING the Sky in Chicago [POSTGAME]

rough third quarter and what was what was the message after that third quarter um dribble a little bit less you know it's partly credit to Chicago's defense you know I thought they made us be a little stagnant for um a stretch of that third quarter I just didn't think we got enough good looks at The Rim um in some ways I was more disappointed with the second quarter even though we won it we had our lead and then I thought we didn't close the quarter well MH um but this team's you know getting pretty resilient and finding ways to to dig a little deeper and um come back and hold them to 12 in the fourth quarter and take pretty good care of the ball is you know this year next year Beyond Road wins are great Habit to get into true um lots of you talk pregame um about different lineups and things like that saw a lot of different combinations and and uh con got there also uh what did you like as you kind of was to experiment a little bit there I just thought everybody came in and played hard you know not everybody played great U some people trying to get a rhythm again like Carly and Emily I thought was really really solid again she got good minutes everybody that played contributed and I thought Sea's energy was Sensational she was the the hard hat winner this evening um and then you know Aaliyah who's still one of our youngest ones was having a little bit of a rough game offensively and just kept defending her ass off and blocking out every possession and bothering you know out or entry passes and then her offense came a little bit and she made a couple plays and came up with huge defensive plays you know it's it's a good lesson for a young player that apparently she doesn't need she she already knows it which is just like just keep playing play through everything uh you're not defined by one part of your game just the last one um you know want it with defense down the stretch stops for the um shot clock violation um what you like most uh on that side as well I think we've turned into one of the you know one of the best defensive teams in the league uh since the break especially if you want to throw out that 99er we gave up to uh to Minnesota so if you take that one out we really look good but um just digging I thought I thought we started the game well and finished the game well defensively and and kind of got back to what we were doing early which was helping each other and getting into bodies and making it tough for their ball handlers and you know that's that's what we hang our hat on Deadline hey Eric um you know picking up on on Aaliyah for a second on the defensive end you know I I know when when she came in you were already you know liking her defense from the beginning of the season um but where do you think she's she's gotten better on that end um up till now well we're playing teams second third fourth time and so I think as you go through the league uh you start to pick up Personnel Tendencies she's getting more comfortable I think in our schemes you know I think it even took her a couple games after the Break um to kind of get back in the rhythm of help you know helps side rules and stuff like that thought she did a great job tonight making making it tough to enter the ball to uh angel or Camila or whoever she was guarding and you know just learning playing teams multiple times what they're trying to run what they're trying to do where they're trying to go I think it's it's great that she can you know she's showing she can process that and retain that and then apply it when she plays and how much does does what she's doing on the defensive end uh I don't know um impact her teammates or or set aone back there do you think I think it's great I mean she she is one of those bigs who can apply pressure high on the floor um and I think that's you know unique skill it compliments Steph really well I think it's why the two of them have been successful together it compliment Shakira really well you've seen Emily and seea both pick up pressure and and I think when you have your guards feel like their bigs are right behind them uh it gives a sense of security kind of to everybody on the court and last one for me I was just going to touch on Steph um you know against a team in Chicago that's known for being you know that that tough interior presence how important was it to you know have Steph s have you know such an impactful offensive game in particular yeah it was a little I think maybe a little bit of throwback step tonight like didn't didn't uh didn't have her jumper going I still would have liked her to shoot a couple more um but had great times to flash and duck in and a little post fade away it was nice to see that one come out of the bag flashing at the right times made some great decisions late in the game with the ball in her hands and um she gives us a sense of calm offensively just you know kind of when were little scrambled throw it to Steph and start cutting thank you Tyler hey ER Ariel tonight seemed to have a real kind of aggressive game and one of the more aggressive games we've seen from her with the I don't want to say full compliment of players but particularly with slim being back too what what did you see from her on her aggressiveness and being able to kind of help in more than one ways in the offense tonight she just looked um she looked really poised you know she looked just under control I think we've said before that you know when it gets a little physical and stuff that doesn't really bother her it just kind of maybe helps her focus in or you know just lock into what she needs to do she made open shots she made a tough uh couple tough pull-ups as a hell of a finish in front of our bench with her left hand reaching back behind her um and I thought she make good reads with the ball in her hands too I mean what she have five assists tonight just steady steady Eddy as usual and then 132 run to close the game uh what do you think contributed the most to that run and what were you guys able to lock in on there down the stretch um I can't remember exactly what the score was at the last uh there's a time out with three something to go and we just said hey when we if we rebound we have a chance to go and you know I think it's important against Chicago always to block them out but sometimes that's the best way to get a run go instead of having to be perfect on offense you know we executed out a couple timeouts and then we got uh couple chances to attack them while they were scrambled so you get stops down the stretch of the game you'll get your chances to score my last one's on SAA she looked like she was playing real loose out there she had some fun what up and unders there to score uh what you like about her game tonight he's got some skill I mean she got a little more game than I thought to be honest with you um she moves she gets out of screens quick you know she's her and Aaliyah one came in for the other and right away denying elbows and uh taking away high lows and stuff like that she's active she's just active we can get her to her in space she had a couple nice finishes and you know maybe you guys haven't seen it yet but she got a pretty good shooting touch too so another one who's 22 years old and just going to get better if she keeps working thanks Eric congrats thank you wait