They’ve played the right way as a team.

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

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

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

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

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...

We are silently rooting for their teams not to advance.

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...

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.

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...

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

[And she does a lot of it on just her own grit and determination.] We don’t run a single play for Yolanda, … She creates her own opportunities.

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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,...

But we have to do it our way.

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...

[It’s true. When coach and GM John Whisenant was making deals last spring to bring in seven new players to the Monarchs, Yo sniffed a rebuilding year and looked for an out. She was 35...

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.

We were flat, and didn’t score.

Bittersweet with Demya’s injury,

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.

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...

But I never wanted a ‘yes’ person around,

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

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.

[Sacramento coach John Whisenant said he could tell Whalen was not 100 percent.] Lindsay was obviously in pain, … I was really concerned the one time under the basket in front of our bench. I...

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

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.

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...

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...

The good thing is they come back in decent shape.

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

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...

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.

They were more aggressive defensively,

We weren’t impatient. We just weren’t moving.

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.

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.

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

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...

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

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...

(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.

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.

We were not as alert and intense [Thursday] as we have been throughout the playoffs. We played like we had tired legs. That last two, three minutes was the only time all night we played...