Indiana Fever: Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Christie Sides speak with reporters after practice 9.10

it seems like a different Squad yeah I think it's definitely good to see some resilience um I don't think that was something that we had early in the year but at the same time like we can't have quarters where we dig ourselves to um obviously that was our problem Minnesota and the team was really away we do that so um I think there's definitely a positive from it but at the same time like it's not something that we can you know get used to get yourself like that get down 16 and then hope our offense can save us so I think defensively improved get back to how we started the second half really good defense um and then I think our offense has always been pretty consistent minus one quarter versus Minnesota um and once we're put the two together I think we pretty good you when you talked about Brazilians especially where you guys came from how did that build I guess yeah I mean I think that's probably what I'm most proud of is like we start one and eight and that really stinks but nobody you know nobody ever quit like we came in here every single day and continue to work and we knew we had a hard schedule to start we had a young group um but at the same time I thought there was a few games even within that time we went one and8 where we could have easily won as well the people just weren't executing we weren't really on the same page we weren't playing the same way that we are now so um I'm proud of our group like we just continued to work and get better and be positive um that's that's probably you know easy with a young group like obviously we got the new players but our vets were really good too like Kel and UB just keeping us motivated and being for being there for us so um honestly proud of those player like Chelsea how would you describe her impact on as well as on the Poli position as a whole yeah I mean obviously one of the best guards um in our league one of the best play guards have play and she just sees everything before it happens one of the best passers um you know she demands so much attention that you know you know she's going to put the ball in little windows that other people can't see like that's that's a thing that can't really be taught it's just something something that comes with IQ playing basketball for a really long time so um it puts your defense in a tough position when she's throwing no little pass behind the back passes and you know if it's person guarding her can't see the person that's guarding their post players can't see um so I think her passing is definitely sets her apart and just the way their team relies on her orchestrate everything you can tell they're just more comfortable with her out there on the floor so um I think that's what what makes it so want to talk about Pace with this team is it suchal thing is too fast no I like f how much have you been looking forward to hosting P for this week basically yeah I mean I it's definitely fun for us it's fun for a lot of fans in the midwest that you know cheered us on um when we were in college um I don't know it's cool like getting to see one of your best friends live out her dream and then play against each other but at the same time it's definitely pretty weird for the two of us like we were teammates for four years you know we got very used to that and now going against each other you don't like you love it you joke about it but like at the same time it is takes some getting used to so um I know a lot of our coaches will be here on Wednesday night um so it's like a fun thing for all of them to be able to get to do too and sharing that that memory and that Joy with us um but I'm just super proud of her and happy for her and um she's one of the the hardest workers a great teammate great leader one of the best teammates I've ever had so um it's fun getting getting to watch her have some success you mentioned the tough start uh from the scheduling and how difficult that was are there lessons that you guys can take away from that now that you're on the other side of it and you've punched your ticket to the postseason um I mean I think just like I said earlier resilience like everyday is going to be perfect um I think we found a way to battle when things don't go our way like I said earlier in the year like you get down 15 for us that balloon to 30 um earlier in the year you saw that multiple times but I think now we can like really nael down and focus on areas where we have to improve within the game um stop the bleeding um and be able to respond I think that's an area that we really had to grow um but at the same time I still feel like there's so many areas we can continue to grow in um and that's what honestly excites me like I still feel like we can be so much better um I feel like our last two games haven't been exactly to the standard that we would want them to be in so um I think having these couple days rather than just the day of prep having a day where you can come in and and practice hard and get ready and get prepared for two really tough games in a row I think be good for us that's one Kaylin you grew up watching the league you're now a rookie in the league Las Vegas comes to town Wednesday what are your thoughts to the numbers that AJ Wilson has been putting on yeah she's pretty incredible I mean you watch her and it's just it's unguardable there's nothing anybody can do to stop it like she's just that dominant um whether it's her mid-range game uh she can put it on the floor um she's just so athletic um but also she affects the game on both ends like she's a really good defensive player great room protector just so athletic um and obviously she's been able to shoot the three pretty well this year too so um it's fun to watch it's I mean like I said like everybody in the league knows you can't guard it you basically just live with what she's going to do to you every single night it's just so you contain it as best you can and she's going to make some shots that are really tough and like I said like it's it's going to be a tall task to contain multiple people you just hope to contain it the best you can team has after what you able to do on Sunday yeah we have a lot of confidence ourselves I think just the way we play Just The Way We compete night in night out um we just know that no matter what like we're going to give it our all and I think when you see when we're able to play our game when we play fast and we get fast and we let that through our offense I mean we're a whole different team what's the approach to the next four games as you make yeah definitely to win put on strong think um just being able to have these games the next three at home um is going to be really important for us I think it's been a great home stand so far just make sure we come out we need to have some better starts um especially that first quarter especially the third quarter um just make sure we're coming out we're competing did this team need a game like that from Sunday does that kind of a test this late in the season I think so but I also think that we could have prevented that a little bit more just the way that we came out the way that um we guard a little bit make sure we get a little bit more stops andan when you look at the Box SC and they took almost 15 to 20 more shots than us like when you play a great team um that's hard to come back from and so just make sure that we see that be able to clean clean that up for our next few games team the ability to come back though it wasn't there maybe the first part of the Season how do that yeah definitely I mean you see it the first part of the season I mean when we were down we were down and it's just simple as that but now we're down we talk about what exactly we need to do whether that's clean up our offensive rebounds or clean up getting stops or making sure we're passing the ball more like that's stuff that we able to talk about and we're able to clean that up you've seen more of your game offensively as think the last couple weeks what are you feeling here in this stretch just seems to open it up I mean I'm just taking what the defense gives me just making sure I'm dominating each and every time even that doesn't mean taking a shot but just making the right pass I think I'm just trying to make sure that I'm just very aware of what I have to do on the field come and run this offense is since the passing has become contagious all the ball's just moves everywhere every five on the floor yeah I mean when the pace that we play at I think that's a big reason why I mean we're playing fast so making sure that we find the next person open and making that one more I think even in practice we work on one more making that extra pass good to great and so we do that games and we get wide open shots in what ways has all this this run of home games been helpful for you guys it's been great just to fuel us I mean if we were on the road down 16 we would not be hearing the crowd cheer us back into this um and so for us is just making sure that we one give our fans a great show we're competing and then we know that we have one more game that's going to be on the road and we just have to be prepared for that last year lot about considering the star you guys have so where you that from I guess collectively or even just I mean big part of that came from the beginning of the Season like coming into the locker room being one in eight um starting the season way we did like our our mindset was always we never stay down even if we get knocked down we never stay down and I think even at games you're able to see that us Turn the Page us play our type of basketball and it we just flow I you guys struggled so much in close games what's been important in flipping that this year um execution especially that fourth quarter I even think some games this season we've had that we kind of just gave it away in that fourth quarter and just being able to grow from that understand that EX extion is a big part especially when you're going up against Great teams making sure you can execute because when they come down on the other end that's their goal as well is there a confidence element to that you get a few under your belt you're like okay we can do this yeah and I think just having the team that we have around us I mean everyone feels confident to take that shot because we know that they're going to make it they're going to uh we trust each other to make that shot and I think that's a big part of it as well with this team is there such a thing is too fast you have to kind of find a sweet spot I mean maybe sometimes as long as we're taking care of the ball if we're not taking care of the ball obviously we know we might have to slow it down a little bit but I mean we like to play fast and sometimes yes stuff happens without whether it's a turnover but we know that's the PA we like to play at and I think just our progress throughout this whole season we've seen that that playing as fast as we do works for us alah this season you you guys broke the home attendance record so for somebody that didn't watch last season and only started watching this season what's been the difference playing in this building from last year to now this year I think just the continued um just crowd that we have I mean they come no matter what time the game is early game late game I mean they're there and I think that's great um for us because we use that energy we feel for that and it's always great to have those fans in the crowd you need a game like that on Sunday to just going to say hey we can do thisiss in this fashion this late the season yeah I think just you know our start wasn't great um our defense picked up in the third and fourth quarter which was the difference uh but just the gr to grind out a win like that was huge for our our young team think from the season when did you the identity of this team started to and yeah there's a board down in our our film room and you see all the losses at the beginning and then you see you know all the wins with losses prepered I think we only after that first bad run I think we've only had two losses in a row and after that we've been able to get a win um yeah that was a hard time and I I don't know if there's a a time where I know it kept getting better the more time we had with each other through those games but of course the Olympic break the Olympic break where we were able to get some rest and then also get some really good practice and just build that team comaraderie was huge did you feel it during the break like you start to yeah you know just when they started just relaxing around each other and just having fun with each other and you know the more talking they do outside of basketball it makes it for more talking on the court and just being comfortable with each other and and and having fun and that's what they were doing during the break working hard and having fun and I I really I think that was a huge t for us empty the tank the theme to the finishing the season you know this is just what we expect these guys to do empty the tank daily you know what don't don't leave anything out there if you if you do you can't ever get it back you can't get this date back ever and while wasting any time last year you talked about the the clutch struggles you guys had what you has been key about turning it around this year and being good better in those moments just experience just experience and having players that um are you know on both ends defensively it was a real problem for us getting those stops we did that in the fourth quarter and then in overtime um and then offensively we executed late I mean AB had a great fourth quarter Caitlyn you know got us into what we needed to um just stay poised and relaxed and executing did you change your late game execution or thinking at all between Seasons or has it just been that just execution it's really just that being in those moments those pressure moments and being a to have the boys to finish those games that's that's really what it is what do you like about these two game series that kind of gives you a play off feeli a week ahead of time yeah that was that was kind of part of my buildup for this week at first it was just you know this is a playoff situation you know we're going to play the same team twice um but then just wanted to keep then I just thought about it like we just want to keep doing what we've been doing just getting ready for the next the next game the next day not talk about this being a series you know just do what we have to do to take care of tomorrow this feel like a semester exam almost kind of the progress see where we are heading into this final week yeah I mean Vegas is one of the top teams in the league and um they're going to be a huge challenge for us um just yeah to see where we are against them we had them early on a back to back and uh so they didn't get our best either so now where we are we're just a totally different team than we were got two more as somebody who's been preaching defense from the beginning kind of losing the voice about it now they're really showing that how proud are you as a coach who was really hired to bring that in yeah just you know the the fact that they're buying into it I mean we have some great offensive players I mean the our shooting percentage the points we're putting up I mean we are they are very very gifted offensive players and just for them to buy in more Cassie Mitchell has bought into into the defensive side of the floor and she's really her teammates have kind of just taken that from her as well cuz she's really like guys you know she's always talking about thrusted bands it's about getting stops you guys broke the uh home attendance this season all time um so for somebody that just started watching the fever this season how would you kind of describe the difference between last year in this building and now this year yeah I mean just in the game in general the WBA in general and and where attendances I mean it's just night day I mean the atmosphere is incredible sellout crowds every night including you know the preseason games I mean it's just been like that from day one for us so it's just kind of I think that's another way that we we're preparing for the playoffs and what that's going to feel like