Jordin Canada wasn't satisfied after Atlanta's first-ever WNBA Finals win: "The stats looks like I had a triple-double, but to me, I know I could have played a lot better." She pointed to forced shots, overthinking on defense and turnovers down the stretch.
Another poor shooting night didn't sink Atlanta in its first WNBA Finals win. Karl Smesko said his Game 1 fixes worked: Golden State got fewer second chances, and "even though we didn't shoot it great again, our shot quality was better, our pace was better."
"I think I let the team down last game by only getting 2 shot attempts. And that was on me." Angel Reese answered with 30 points and 16 rebounds in Atlanta's first-ever WNBA Finals win. Coach Karl Smesko gave her "a couple more breaks" to keep that intensity going.
Atlanta's Allisha Gray (hand) is a game-time decision. Karl Smesko: "Everything's trending in the right direction, but when the starters are announced at 30 minutes, we'll know for sure." No word on a minutes limit. He called it go or no-go, the doctors' call.
DeWanna Bonner's versatility lets Atlanta use different lineups, Dream coach Karl Smesko said pregame, and her range is meant to pull the Valkyries' defense out from the basket: "She not only shoots the 3, but shoots it from very deep."
Jordin Canada's speed is step two of the Dream's plan against the Valkyries, coach Karl Smesko said pregame. Step one is keeping them from rebounding their own misses. Then the edge is "having somebody like Jordin who can really push the pace."
Allisha Gray went through a workout before Atlanta's game on Oct. 9 but was ruled out "in the interest of caution," Dream coach Karl Smesko said pregame. "She's been making good progress since her injury," he said, adding he had no other information.
"I'm more heavy metal, but it's more like the jazz, just being able to play off other people and know what you should do next. That's how she plays." Atlanta coach Karl Smesko on DeWanna Bonner, a two-year target who he says helped fuel the unbeaten run since the FIBA break.
Allisha Gray, in a soft cast after Atlanta's win, will be listed day-to-day. Asked if she'll be back this season, Karl Smesko said he hopes so but has no further information. In her place, Jordin Canada said, Isobel Borlase gave "huge minutes, some timely buckets."
Naz Hillmon "played a ton of minutes and just was fantastic," Dream coach Karl Smesko said after the overtime win over New York, citing her defense and extra possessions. Late in the fourth he designed a play for her to cut if the defense left her, and she scored at the rim.
"I told her to throw it in the backcourt and I'm gonna run around as fast as I can out there." Angel Reese, on what she told DeWanna Bonner before Atlanta's final overtime inbound. Coach Karl Smesko had expected New York to call timeout and advance the ball. It didn't.
DeWanna Bonner shifted positions in Atlanta's Game 1 win over New York and guarded MVP-level players. Karl Smesko: "She moved positions in this game where she hasn't even been practicing really at that position." Jordin Canada said Bonner also lit into the team at halftime.
Jordin Canada scored 25 in Atlanta's Game 1 win over New York despite three first-half fouls. Asked about small guards: "It don't matter about height. It's all about the heart that you have." She said she's been counted out "a lot this season and just overall in my career."
Atlanta's third-quarter surge in an eight-game win streak starts before Karl Smesko reaches the locker room. He said his players settle halftime adjustments themselves: "When I start talking about adjustments, I can tell they've already talked about the same adjustments."
"I think last year we would get lots of leads and then we would lose them." Jordin Canada said the difference in this Atlanta Dream team, now up 1-0 on New York after a Game 1 win, is that it finishes games out.
Jewell Loyd went down mid-game in the Aces' loss. Becky Hammon hadn't spoken to her and gave no status: "I don't know exactly what happened other than some lower leg." With injuries piling up, she said, it's "next woman up."
"Good news is we played like ass and only lost by 10." Becky Hammon on the Aces' loss to Golden State, which she blamed on discipline: "All we talked about for the last 48 hours was rebounding and blocking them out. And we did not do it."
Tired legs, not tactics, drove the late zone defense in Las Vegas's loss to Golden State. Becky Hammon said the Aces went to it "just trying to recoup some legs, I think, with some people playing some high minutes." She didn't say who.
Tyasha Harris, a pending free agent, is coming off surgery, and Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White gave no timeline for her recovery: "I don't have a status update. She had successful surgery."
"At the end of the day, it's their decision about whether I return or not." Stephanie White, asked if she will coach Indiana Fever next season, said she feels supported by the organization but left her future in its hands: "I'd love the opportunity."
"Priority number one is Kelsey." Stephanie White said re-signing Kelsey Mitchell tops Indiana Fever's offseason list, then "complementary pieces" around Mitchell, Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, starting with a long, athletic wing who can defend and rebound.
Raven Johnson will be a big piece of Indiana Fever's future, coach Stephanie White said, pointing to her ball pressure, rebounding and driving to the basket: "I think she's got an opportunity to slide into a larger role because she can do that."
Bree Hall and Grace VanSlooten "have an opportunity to really continue to improve and be solid rotation players," Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White said. She called settling the backup rotation "challenging at times" and wants more consistent rotations.
"Our teams in the old days, you know, had Tamika who really set that tone." Stephanie White said Indiana Fever's defensive mentality was not consistent this season, unlike the Tamika Catchings-era teams, and the staff will re-examine its defense this offseason.
Aliyah Boston "improved tremendously in stretching her range, the ability to play outside," Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White said. But Boston is also "very good in the 2-man," the two-player game with a teammate. "Like, how do you balance that?"
"Wanting to win a title and then learning what it takes to win a title. And, you know, those are 2 different things." Stephanie White blamed Indiana Fever falling short of a title on inexperience: it was only the Big 3's second playoff run together.
"It felt a little bit like the beginning of the year again." Stephanie White said travel and fatigue after the FIBA international break made reintegrating Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston hard for Indiana Fever. She wanted more practice days before games resumed every other day.
The microscope Caitlin Clark described "also unites our team," Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White said, "different than any team that I've ever experienced." The noise can't be silenced, only minimized, she said. Clark's biggest growth: "her being collaborative with us."
Dallas was "a little depleted from injuries," Jose Fernandez said, citing Alanna Smith, "our best interior defender," and a first-round pick he didn't name: "also our best perimeter defender, shooter." His point: injuries took his best defender inside and out.
Paige Bueckers is "taking it hard, right? Because she carries that load and she's a winner," Dallas Wings coach Jose Fernandez said on Oct. 2. He called her a first-team All-WNBA player and said the series should not reflect on her season.
Paige Bueckers "should be first-team WNBA," Arike Ogunbowale said of her Dallas Wings teammate. "If not, I feel like that shit's rigged because she's done everything for this team." She called Bueckers a "generational player" who "willed us throughout the whole season."
Arike Ogunbowale defended Dallas Wings coach Jose Fernandez: "he deserves a lot of praise because he's taken this team from the bottom to... what we did this year." She said Fernandez "takes everything on the chin."
"They went the extra inch and that's what got them the win." Arike Ogunbowale said the Dallas Wings didn't match the Valkyries' intensity on loose balls and rebounds during their final pushes. Losing the lead was disappointing, but it's hard to keep one against Golden State.
Stephanie Talbot missed the Aces' game, and Becky Hammon doesn't know her status yet: "I'm hoping she should be good for this next series." Until then the focus is "rest and getting healthy." Dana Evans has been out nearly all year; Mai Yamamoto was signed as insurance.
Jewell Loyd started in Stephanie Talbot's place for the Aces and drew Caitlin Clark. Becky Hammon told her three stars to be ready to play all 40, more than she thinks she's ever played her guards. On Jackie Young: "If there's somebody that can do 40, it's her, I promise you."
Defense won it for the Las Vegas Aces, Becky Hammon said after the game. They mixed up coverages and put the emphasis on the 3-point line. She was okay giving up 36 points in the paint, compared with the 58 she recalled from the previous game.
"I prayed a lot. I cried a lot." A'ja Wilson, asked after the Aces' Oct. 1 win whether what happened on Sept. 29 fueled her, said she received a lot of support and did not want it to be a distraction to herself or her team.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said "everybody could see Napheesa Collier wasn't Napheesa Collier" after she returned from double ankle surgery without time with her team. Of Dorka Juhasz, hurt in April just before joining: "she just never found her footing with us."
"No one wanted to play at 270. No one." Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve called free agency under the new labor deal "a full-on money grab," and existing contracts can't be restructured. Her core can still win a title, she said: "They need more help though."
"You have to put the ball in the hole. You have to. And we were an impatient offense." Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said defense was not what sank her team in the series against New York. The offense was.
"Size that shoots 3s and can pass and can defend and rebound. That's what I'm looking for." Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, asked whether size is an offseason priority, pointed out that both of the team's biggest players were hurt this season.
"We have a player in Nia Coffey who had a great season. That's our starting point." Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve named Coffey as the base of the supporting cast around her core, and said Maya Caldwell gave the team "some really good things."
Kayla McBride said her season wasn't enough. Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve disagreed: "I don't know that she can be more than what she's been. Just keep doing what you're doing."
Natasha Howard isn't retiring. Asked if she plans to return to Minnesota next season: "Absolutely." Her offseason won't be in China, where she won a title: "I'm going to Turkey. I'll be playing in Gala." She also called this "one of the best seasons I've had so far."
Olivia Miles had "a bit of a spiral" in the playoffs, and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve blamed herself for how she used Miles against New York's bigs: "We just couldn't get it reprogrammed" after Game 1. On the exit: "We didn't meet the moment. I look inward."
Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride were missing departed teammates in training camp, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve recalled, so she told Williams the focus was on who is here: "Remember, Court, you were real happy for everybody... Now stand in your shit, right?"
Kayla McBride says she'll be back with the Lynx next season, brushing off the retirement talk that comes up every offseason: "I still have a lot more to give, like, between those 4 lines. And I'm excited to do it." First, she wants to rest after a 44-to-46-game season.
Napheesa Collier's free agency: Lynx teammate Kayla McBride wants her back. "I don't want that to be my last game with Fi. And she knows that." She wants Collier to choose what's best for herself, and objected that speculation began within 24 hours of the season ending.
Cheryl Reeve said the Lynx roster may not be built for the playoffs. Kayla McBride agrees: "she's right. I think we won 80-some percent of our games in the regular season, and we don't have much to show for it." She said a late-season slide carried into the playoffs.
Indiana rookie Raven Johnson's playoff role is growing, and she says she'll fill any role, even guarding Las Vegas's Jackie Young. At shootaround, Myisha Hines-Allen said: "we all knew what Raven could do. It's just a matter of now she's getting an opportunity to do it."
Myisha Hines-Allen has been in and out of Indiana's rotation, and coach Stephanie White praised her either way: "whether she's been in the rotation or not in the rotation, she is still actively engaged in communicating with our team on the sideline."
"I thought we played about 35 minutes of really great basketball. We got to play 40." Stephanie White wants all 40 in Indiana's elimination game against Las Vegas: protect the ball, lift the Game 2 defensive energy a level. She expects Las Vegas to hit the shots it missed.
"It's championship or bust." Facing elimination against Las Vegas, Indiana's Myisha Hines-Allen said the team has "everybody that we need in this locker room to get the job done." Coach Stephanie White agreed a title is the goal but said it still takes time to reach.