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...

Our intensity was back,

[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.