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WNBA FINALS: SPARKS VS LYNXOctober 14, 2016Essence CarsonCandace ParkerMinneapolis, Minnesota Sparks - 92, Lynx - 75 Q. Candace, you seemed to be looking to score most every time you touched the ball early on. Was that just what -- was that a product of your Game 2 or the way you wanted to approach the game? CANDACE PARKER: That was a product of me being nonexistent in every game we played Minnesota this year. I went back and watched film, and my presence wasn't there. We had a game plan of just going to the basket and trying to be aggressive. I mean, I myself, my teammates played well in Game 1 and Game 2, and we were aggressive defensively, but I was just there. We've worked too hard to get to this point to just be there. I appreciate my coaches and my teammates challenging me, and now we're sitting here and going to Game 4. Q. Candace, you're a game away from completing what you've always been dreaming about. Can you tell me how tonight, this game, the way you guys played, how you think it will carry over to Game 4, and then talk about your team's defense as far as maturity, how you guys buckled but didn't bend? CANDACE PARKER: I think the biggest question is going to be are we satisfied in terms of you have that -- after you win a game, you have that high a little bit where you're confident, you're this, you're that. We had it a little after Game 1. They had it on the other end against us in Game 2, and I think they had it a little bit coming into Game 3, so how will we battle that as a team. Game 3, we did a good job, but now it's Game 4, and there's going to be things that we have to do differently. There's going to be -- we have to be aggressive, and we have to attack on the defensive end and offensively. I mean, defensively I think our team defense was pretty good, and it's been pretty solid for this whole series, it's just been our rebounding that has been terrible, and I think we kind of cleaned that up a little bit tonight. Q. Essence, you hit all four of your triples tonight, and the Sparks' offense as a whole really flowed in a way we haven't seen in this series. How do you think the play of Candace and Nneka helped out with that, and what did you sense on your end to chip in 16 points tonight? ESSENCE CARSON: Well, when you're playing with two great players that happen to be post players, they're going to draw a lot of attention, a lot of attention inside the paint, so that kick-out was going to be open. It's bound to be. They're just that great offensively that if you do play them one-on-one, they will make you pay for that. So I just have to be ready and make them pay on the other end. Q. Essence, collectively what did you all talk about as being the one thing you either had to improve or take away from them for this game? ESSENCE CARSON: Wow. Rebounding, if you want to talk kind of -- I guess you want to classify that as X's and O's, but also, on the other side, intangibles, handling ourselves, how do we come out in games, how aggressive are we, what kind of mindset and mentality do we have to establish throughout the game. But definitely we had to take care of rebounding, keep them off the boards. They're a great rebounding team. Q. How bad do you and this team want this championship? ESSENCE CARSON: We want it very badly. I think both teams want it very badly. But at the same time, we just have to worry about taking care of ourselves. We definitely are prepared going into each and every game, but it's about transferring that preparation into the game. When it's game time, when the lights come on, when it's show time, about making things happen, making plays, making defensive stops, putting it all together for an entire 40 minutes, and if it happens to go to overtime, 45. But we definitely do want it very badly. Q. Candace, you've been the face of the franchise here for a long time; how did it feel to finally get out there for a home game in the Finals? CANDACE PARKER: It's been a long time coming. We've said that this whole year, and it felt great to get out and to play. You know, I'm proud of our team and our mentality. Like E was talking about, just our mentality of we're going to play hard, we're going to play our game, and then we're going to live with the results. You know, I love the support that LA had for us tonight. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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