[Getting his players to share his confidence wasn’t easy.] They bought into what I was selling, … They analyzed it, studied it and ultimately accepted my concept.

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

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

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.

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...

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.

Gutsy, very gutsy. She played hard and determined. We intended to give Lindsay fits, whether she had a knee [injury] or ‘ not.

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

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.

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

Yolanda deservingly received the MVP,

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.

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

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...

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...

I’m glad she’s on my team,

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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...

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...

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.

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...

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.

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

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...

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...

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

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

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...

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

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,...

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

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.

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,