John Whisenant Quotations

We got whipped. We were not active, alert, intense like we have been throughout the playoffs. Our defensive system only works with great intensity.

Throughout her four-year college career, Kim has had a great shooting percentage from the floor and the line. We think she can learn our defensive style and be an excellent team player.

we're saying Game 3, but she could play in Game 2.

Last year when it came to the playoffs, ... we got through with our defense alone.

She's very rusty, missing easy shots and it's frustrating her because she's lost her sharpness. How quickly she gets it back, we don't know.

She's gone from being someone we weren't looking at, because we didn't want a 5-11 post, to someone we ought to be looking at. Whether someone takes her earlier or she'll be available for us, I don't know. But we're certainly looking at her.

She's like losing your quarterback before the Super Bowl, or the Rose Bowl,

She can come in and defend our opponent's guards, especially their point guards.

She is the attitude. It's my defense that they play, but it's Yolanda's attitude that gives them the personality to play it.

She might want to play, but she doesn't have any wheels. I hope she comes back and surprises me.

Mistakes, turnovers, that's part of what our defensive intention is. We make their shots harder, eliminate their assists. That's all part of being alert and intense. Our goal in everything we do is built around our defense, our whole game from start to finish.

Mistakes, turnovers, that's part of our defensive intention. We hope to get more shots than them (64-52), limit their shots, make their shots harder and limit their assists.

Muggsy wants to pick up the tempo and I told him tonight I think he'll get it done. We lead the league in turnovers created. That's why we are where we are. We're not that much different from a lot of teams on the offensive end.

Obviously this was a good win. We held them to 34% shooting, 59 points and outrebounded them by 14 (36-22).

Obviously, this is going to be a challenge, ... But I still think we can do it.

No. 1, I'm honored to be chosen in such a good league,

I wish we already had it wrapped up, ... and I would be on the golf course tomorrow. But we don't.

But we have to do it our way.

We're on a mission to win the West and get homecourt advantage and every four-minute stretch is important to us. We stayed focused tonight.

We make our living with trying to stop teams from scoring and making it hard on them,

Kara and Chelsea can both play point, but they're more effective at the other guard,

I was afraid we'd foul them shooting and we'd get beat that way. (In) hindsight, it couldn't be any worse than what happened to us.

I thought our defense would get a stop. It was just a breakdown. There was no reason when the ball went inside that somebody would leave their guy open. But, it happened. That's basketball.

Our plan was to cut the lead under 10 by 10 minutes to go and get it to four or five with five minutes left and we were there. In the second half, I was pleased with my team.

Lindsay has proven that she is a great creator, facilitator for her team, and her replacement has not proven she can do that yet. But we'll still be concerned about keeping them out of the paint and driving them nuts.

That's what happens when you throw it away. We gave them plenty of opportunities. That's what we're going to talk about before Game 2.

I would like to have that final three, four minutes back,

Yolanda's only thing when I started making all the changes was she requested that I trade her because she thought that I was rebuilding, ... We had an old team; she knew we needed to rebuild, get younger. I told her, 'I'm not going to trade you. You're too good and I can't replace you, and I'm not rebuilding, we're just reloading.'

We encouraged them to come back instead of getting them down and holding them down like you would like. I'd like to have the last 3 or 4 minutes over. We got a little tight with the ball, and I was encouraging them to attack.

We will regroup, ... This, in no way, will be regarded by us as a firing. We both understand that a different direction would be best for both Henry and the Sparks. It is an amiable situation for us both.

We got them down, but we didn't hold them down. I'd like to have the last five minutes over. But we still got the win.

When you shoot the ball, everything becomes easier. We're facing a team known for its offense, but Connecticut plays pretty good defense, too.

There are no sure things in the WNBA. It's been two straight years that we knocked off a higher seed in the playoffs, so we know how slippery that can be.

We didn't have our best first half. We weren't as efficient as we like to be. They are tough here.

We're tickled to death, of course, to come here and play a great team like the Sun and get away with a win.

We kicked them good on the boards and that made up for some of it. We had some key stops when they got close and we got good shots against them. Now we go home, and we have to play better.

We are silently rooting for their teams not to advance.

Without Ticha, Haynie is our only true point guard. We'll have to see what she can do.

We've only won what we've won before, we have to win the next series to get into the finals for the first time. But beating them two straight is quite an accomplishment.

When she came to our preseason, she saw our (new) players and has been going strong ever since.

(But) Kara is smart, and tougher than a knot on a log. And she loves the opportunity to stick the big shot against these great players.

We were flat. Our offense, you know, we didn't score, so I can't be happy with that ... We just didn't execute.

With Yo, this is her team, and she knows what we want to do.

We have a chance to achieve something that hasn't been done in franchise history. This will be a great challenge to see what we can do against the Connecticut Sun.

We don't run a single play for Yolanda. She creates her own opportunities.

We just lost her. That's how alert we were. We talked about it. We knew they couldn't beat us with a two. I told our team, if they drive to the basket, let them go.

At 35, Yolanda did not want to waste a year. But I explained that we were reloading, not rebuilding. We were just adding some young shooters around her. Eventually, she didn't want to be traded.

At 35, Yolanda did not want to waste a year, ... But I explained that we were reloading, not rebuilding. We were just adding some young shooters around her. Eventually, she didn't want to be traded.

And we'll take it any way we can get it.

There's a great team over there, ... that wants us to go back to Connecticut with them and we don't want to go back.

There's nothing like throwing it in the basket, ... I mean, that's why she's our hired gun.

These fans have just jumped on. I think it's great for women's basketball and this city. We've got great pro sports fans here, and it's shown. I think this is a great step for the future of the WNBA.

I've always liked her. She's got her head in the game, plays hard and plays for a good coach. She knows how to compete at the championship level. My only question is why she didn't play outside at that size. But the way she rebounds, who cares what size she is. She gets rebounds, loose balls and she's shown that she can pass and shoot from out there, better than some of us thought.

Coach T. drives me somewhere between half to three-quarters nuts, ... I'll be (on the sidelines) telling him, 'No, no, no,' and he just says the same thing a different way until I yell at him to stop.

That's why she's our hired gun. They had done a good job on Nicole, but I told her to keep shooting.

I told her (Powell) she didn't need that Stanford degree to do that,

It's a real shame because Ticha was probably playing the best basketball of her career, the best that I've ever seen, for sure, ... She was even brilliant in our scrimmage (Tuesday). It was right at the end of practice, and Ticha was just running up the court. She stepped on someone's foot and turned her ankle. I should have ended practice one play sooner.

I told Thibault that I wished Lindsay was 100% and that Ticha was 100%,

It makes it a little tougher on us actually to know how to prepare against them. We know what to expect when Lindsay?s back there; if she doesn?t play, we have to try to prepare for what (Thibault) will do differently and how a different point guard might affect their play.

No matter who we play, we try to give the opposing quarter, the point guard, hell. Whether it's Lindsay Whalen or her replacement, we're going to do our best to wear them down, tire them mentally and physically. We feel like that is the head of the attack weapon.

They were beating us in ways that we normally beat other teams.

They led the league with the fewest turnovers. We can't expect to win two games in a row in causing the league's best in non-turnovers to make more turnovers. That's why we have to improve on some things.

They've played the right way as a team.

I'm glad that she's on my team. She's not afraid of anything and she plays right through to the end.

I'm sure glad that when she thought we were going to rebuild, she didn't go somewhere else. She thought she was too old to (stay while the Monarchs) rebuild, but I didn't listen to her and trade her.

I'm tickled to death to win and beat a first-class team, that makes the fact that we were able to beat them even sweeter. Now we have a chance to achieve something that's never been done in franchise history.

I know the Houston veterans are not going to panic. Whether they're up 10 or down 10, they've been there, done that. They're one of the few teams where the national stage makes them better.

I'm proud. It's what I believe in. That basket gets awful hard to make when you're under pressure situations like this game, but defense holds you in there.

I just said it's not over 'til it's over - that old Yogi (Berra) thing, tried to make a joke of it,

But I never wanted a 'yes' person around,

I came in here expecting that we could win two. I think that's the way our players think. We've got two at Arco (Arena) now, but I don't think homecourt makes a lot of difference. With these two teams, they are very close.

I came in here expecting that we could win two, ... I think that's the way our players think. We've got two at Arco (arena) now, but I don't think home court makes a lot of difference. With these two teams, they are very close.

Lindsay is unique in that she's a star in creating. She'll create something out of nothing, either for herself or her teammates. She's the Steve Nash of the WNBA.

We talked about it. An assistant coach suggested fouling, but I rejected it because I was afraid we'd foul them shooting and get beat that way. Hindsight couldn't have been worse than what happened to us.

We weren't impatient. We just weren't moving.

The good thing is they come back in decent shape.

The doctors OK'd her to start practice two days ago. She was limited. She's very rusty, missing easy shots and it's frustrating her because she's lost her sharpness. How quickly she gets it back, we don't know.

The goal tonight was to keep our rhythm, keep going and keep fighting. But we definitely wanted some of our key starters to play less minutes.