WNBA FINALS: PHOENIX VS. CHICAGO

October 10, 2021

Diana Taurasi

Brittney Griner

Brianna Turner

Phoenix Mercury

Game 1: Postgame

Sky 91, Mercury 77

Q. You guys wouldn't use this as an excuse, but a lot has happened in the last 40 hours. How big of a factor was that when they kind of got going in the second quarter and then were able to pretty much keep control of the game in the second half?

DIANA TAURASI: We thought we started the game really well. Focus, with a lot of energy, and then they just took it to a different level. That had nothing to do with us being tired. If you followed them for the last month, they were just playing at a different level. That's what they did today for 40 minutes. And we didn't. That was all for today.

Q. Brittney, you guys have led in every playoff game so far in the first quarter. After the second quarter, you guys had given the lead away, maybe more so than today. What's the difference as you get to the middle portions of the game for you guys even after you're starting pretty well?

BRITTNEY GRINER: Just withstanding that run. We know they're going to make runs. We know, we've seen how Chicago has been playing. When that does happen, when we do end up giving up the lead, we have to really buckle down at that moment and get it back or just play really good defense.

Tonight it didn't really go that way, so credit to them. We'll check it out and see what's going on and make some adjustments.

Q. Brittney, they threw a lot of different looks at you tonight. What was it about their defense that seemed to disrupt you on the offensive end?

BRITTNEY GRINER: Just with Vegas they did something a little different. Each team has a way of doing their defense, and we got to see that look tonight. It wasn't nothing that I've never seen before honestly, but just didn't really -- ball didn't really roll the way I wanted it to roll honestly.

Q. Diana, I know you're focused on this game, but you have had a pretty unbelievable last 48 hours, if you will. Can you share at all just some of the emotions you've gone through personally and at this point in your career with so many things going on.

DIANA TAURASI: Yeah, it's been a pretty eventful last two days. I'm just really proud of this group. What we got done in Vegas was no easy feat. That was a very difficult game that we found ourselves winning and then obviously flying home and getting the best win ever, a healthy daughter and a healthy wife.

But all that aside, I'm just really focused on what's next. We know we have to play better. We know we have to be better individually and collectively. It's a really, really good team we're playing. That's going to be our focus from here on out.

Q. It seemed like the early part of the first quarter into the second quarter, it seemed like they started trapping with the double-team effectively. What can you do as a team to prevent the double-teams from trapping, for example, Diana in the corner or causing the turnovers that were in the first half.

DIANA TAURASI: I was pretty pathetic with the basketball today. For playing so much basketball, that was pretty pathetic and that's on me. We can't turn the ball over like that, especially not in the Finals. That's just me being a bad basketball player. We'll adjust some things, and hopefully we'll be in better positions to get out of those traps on the court.

Q. Brianna, obviously second-chance points that you guys have allowed have been kind of a point for you guys at various times throughout the year, even tonight. 15 for Chicago but also 48 points in the paint. What do their bigs and especially the way they attack the offensive glass present as a challenge to you guys?

BRIANNA TURNER: We just have to make sure we're hitting them first. We know they're all really long. Even their guards get in there too. We have to make sure the shot goes up, everyone's hitting somebody, and that way we're going to collect the first rebounds, so they don't have those second-chance opportunities.

Q. Diana, I was curious what do you feel you have to do to rebound from this to the next game? How do you get your team set as a leader?

DIANA TAURASI: We know we have to press reset. We know that wasn't our best effort tonight. Like I said, all the credit goes to Chicago. They put us in situations that we just didn't react well to.

I think we all have to look in the mirror and come back and regroup, and that's what we've done all year. So I don't think anything's going to change, and we're going to come back and give a better effort and hopefully Game 2 can turn out a different way.

This is what we've been doing all year. We faced these little challenges all year. We stayed together, and we stayed the course. Like I said, Chicago was really, really good today. They've been good for a while now.

Q. Coach Sandy said you guys really had to just kind of reset, regroup. What are some of the positives that you can take out of this game today that you can move forward on and add to?

DIANA TAURASI: I'm not a positive person, so you guys can answer that one.

BRITTNEY GRINER: We lost. We lost. It's a series, that's what's positive. It's a series. We'll be able to fight another day. That's what it is. Honestly, that's it.

Q. Apologies to Brianna. This one is mainly for BG and DT. You guys obviously faced off against the Chicago Sky in the Finals in 2014. I think there's only two players remaining from that team being Allie and Courtney. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but is there any sort of mental, sort of advantage that you have knowing that you guys have faced them in the final before and beaten them?

BRITTNEY GRINER: Different team, different players. Like you said, they've got Q, Sloot still, but different obviously. You remember moments from those Finals that helps you now, but this is a different team.

DIANA TAURASI: I think BG said it, it's two different units in a different time frame, playing a different way. You kind of can go back and rely on experience a little bit to make you a little bit more sure of things.

We'll rely on our playoff experience. We've been in the trenches. It's gone our way, and sometimes it doesn't. So we're going to just keep gutting it out, and that's what this team has been all year, gutty. We're going to be grimy and gutsy.