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WNBA FINALS: FEVER v MERCURY


September 29, 2009


Katie Douglas

Ebony Hoffman


PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Game One

Mercury – 120
Fever - 116


THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we will start into questions and answers for you guys.

Q. Katie, it was a great show, how do you feel afterwards?
KATIE DOUGLAS: You know, I think that we're obviously frustrated. I think there are things that obviously we could have done better and we're going to make those adjustments and be ready on Thursday. But I feel like, you know, we showed that we can play. We showed that we belong here so we need to stay positive and confident with one another and stay together. I think most importantly just stay together. I feel like we have veterans on this team that are going to pull everybody together and make some adjustments tomorrow and be ready to go on Thursday.

Q. Do you feel like you played their game when you look at the score on the scoreboard, it seems like the kind of game that Phoenix would want to play.
KATIE DOUGLAS: At times we should have recognized better when to slow it down, when not to run, when not to force things but, again, those are the things that we're going to point out and not get into a contest with them.
Obviously they're phenomenal in the up-tempo game that they run and we've got to recognize a little better when to pull back, make them work on defense and when to take our shots in transition as well.

Q. Ebony, do you feel like you surprised people by being able to stay with them the whole night?
EBONY HOFFMAN: No, some of you guys might have been surprised but I know our team, when we play fast we play better when we play fast, but like Katie said we have to recognize when to slow them down and make them play defense. I thought Tammy Sutton-Brown made an amazing game herself on the inside making whoever guarded her, whether it was Diana or whoever was on her to really play some defense on the inside. I think we know that we can play fast and play with 'em but that's not the type of game that we really want to play.

Q. Can you tell us what you were thinking down the stretch when you guys are close and they take the lead, you got the lead back, anything you could have done differently?
EBONY HOFFMAN: Probably get it out of Cappie's hands, she was the one burning us a little bit. Diana burned us a few times. We can go down the line, who else burned us? DeWanna Bonner came in in the overtime and had some key transition buckets. And, when we look at it we know the things that we can do better and that we can steal the next game, that's what we got to do.

Q. Ebony, when Lin came in she said the second chance points stuck out for her, does that stick out for you as well?
EBONY HOFFMAN: Yeah, it sticks out like a sore thumb, DeWanna Bonner was the person who started it all, then Penny Taylor came in ask got a few, Temeka Johnson came in and got her own rebound a few times and got her own shot, so basically they played better down the stretch and had he got a few of the key loose balls that we needed to get and that's what the game comes down to.

Q. Ebony, this is a career game for you. Was there something -- is it energy of the game, the ball coming to you, what was the difference for you tonight?
EBONY HOFFMAN: Um, you know, I think my teammates, when they saw I was rolling a little bit they looked for me some more, and all year it's just been me putting up the shot and just taking it. Today was a good day for me, it was just one of those days, the stars lined up, the Milky Way was nice and milky and they were playing me not to make the shot and I had to make it, I had to make the shot, so I took it and made it.

Q. You took a hard fall late in the game. I'm wondering how your ankle is, it was your ankle and are you good to go?
EBONY HOFFMAN: I'm 100%, ready to go, no pain no game right now, we're in The Finals, I can't cry about a sore ankle, a bruised eye, a bruised rib, things happen, and that's the intangibles of the basketball game, I can't not make her foot be somewhere else, I can't not roll my ankle the way it rolls, that's the perils of the basketball game.

Q. You look at the minutes, there is an imbalance, your starters played more minutes.
EBONY HOFFMAN: That's a good observation. You know, that's a great question. There was an imbalance but maybe we could get our bench players in there a little more, I thought Tamecka Dixon came in and gave us good minutes, Jessica Moore played well and Briann played well and we probably got to get Tamecka Dixon more minutes in there and help us out more but I thought that even with that, we still played well.
You know, I still don't think -- even all the starters playing over 35 minutes, I mean, they couldn't stop us, so why take us out? That's how I feel, I don't know how you feel about that one.
KATIE DOUGLAS: I don't know what she was talking about. (Laughter.)

Q. You guys were in the highest scoring game in WNBA history tonight, I just wanted to know what you think about that.
KATIE DOUGLAS: It's history that we don't like because we lost, but overall I think it was an exciting game, it was exciting for the fans and I'm sure it was exciting for the people watching on TV and I feel like, you know, both teams just played an enormous amount of talent on the court and it's the biggest stage, it's what we've been working for, to come here and play in the WNBA Finals. It was a lot of fun. You know, I know we lost, I'm disappointed but it was a tremendous atmosphere to be a part of, the growth of the WNBA to be a part of that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies.

End of FastScripts




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