Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark & Head Coach Stephanie White — Postgame Media vs. Las Vegas

[0:00] Kaitlin, so many plays decide a game like that. [0:02] They obviously had two buzzer beaters, but what goes through your head after two free throws like that at the end of regulation? [0:06] Yeah, obviously just can't happen, and those are free throws I usually make, and certainly frustrating. [0:13] You know, obviously one of them gives us a two-possession lead and kind of cost my team there for sure, so that's on me. [0:22] In the first half, what did you feel like flipped from that moment until even the end of regulation that got them back into it? [0:27] I think we just became flat. I think it was like 2.30 left or three minutes left in that second quarter, and they called timeout, and we were playing with great pace, and then it led to some turnovers for us and like easy transition buckets for them, and that's kind of where they thrive, and I felt like that kind of got them going, got them some momentum, and you know, that was probably the difference right there. [0:52] They just let them back in the game, but you know, they're a talented team. They were never going to just go away. That was never going to be the case, but I mean, for us, [0:59] it's like we got to find ways to be a little bit better. Obviously, I didn't know we scored nine points in the third quarter, but you know, we still battled, we still fought, and we put ourselves in a position to win the game, and then honestly, it was me that made costly errors for us, so that's on me to help us win. That's my job. That's what I get paid to do. [1:19] Aaliyah, when the offense was struggling in the second half defensively, you guys were getting the stops and kind of keeping yourselves in the game on that end. What'd you think of what you guys were able to do defensively tonight? [1:28] Yeah, I thought we were pretty focused. We knew that for us, even if our shots didn't go in, we had to lock in. I honestly thought we did a pretty good job of that. We tried to make them shoot tough twos, tough threes. I think we had to do it. We could have did a better job cleaning up the boards. I don't think they got as many points as they probably could have off their second chance opportunities, so for us, it's just making sure that we give them one shot. [1:52] Yeah, Aaliyah, you got that deflection at the end of regulation that kind of led to that little chaotic moment. Just what was your perspective of everything that happened? [2:01] Yeah, I mean, I got a hand on it, but then Jackie had it, and I think for me, I wasn't sure if she was going to force up a shot, and I think in that situation, you don't want to foul in a position like that and give them an opportunity to call foul on a three, so I just tried to crowd her space. [2:15] She was able to get it out to Chelsea, and then obviously Chelsea hit that first buzzer beater, but I mean, yeah, I feel like that was pretty much just it. [2:23] Aaliyah, you're so familiar with Asia, so in overtime, when she's going off a little bit, if you could just describe to us, what is she like to defend, especially when she's in her flow? [2:33] Yeah, honestly, I think we held her pretty good. I mean, yeah, I think what it's just interesting to know, I mean, obviously, she's a superstar, and the way that she's just won MVPs, like, you know she's going to score baskets. [2:44] They came in overtime, but I think, honestly, they were jumpers. They weren't just getting layups, and so I'm pretty happy with the way that we defended her. [2:52] I mean, we'll live with contested twos, and then we just take the ball out and push. [2:58] Indianapolis Recorder, Caitlin, when defenses are designed to take away their first option, what tells you to, or how do you differentiate between being a facilitator and a scorer? [3:09] I think you just try to read it. I thought they kind of switched on, switched Jackie on and off of me and Kelsey. She's their best perimeter defender, so we both saw her get them out. [3:23] Obviously, I wasn't able to facilitate too much in the second half, but also, like, we didn't shoot the ball very well overall, so, you know, that poses a little bit of a challenge at times, [3:36] but also our turnovers just need to take care of the ball a little bit better as well, and I think for myself, you just, like, read the game. [3:44] They were doing a lot of switching, so you try to exploit mismatches when you can, but just take what the defense gives you, and every team's going to guard you differently, [3:51] so you kind of got to read through the first quarter and then decide from there. [3:55] You know, for me, I look at that 15-0 run in the last three minutes of the second quarter and the 7-0 run the first however many minutes of the third quarter. [4:03] You know, that's the gist of it. I look at our 22 turnovers. They gave them 18 points. Players already hate that they miss free throws, right? [4:11] Hate that they miss plays. Like, that's – you just got to try to keep them positive, you know, in those moments, but, you know, [4:18] it really came down to, you know, us giving them extra possessions with our turnovers, and those runs end of second into the third. [4:26] And I know in a broken play it can be tricky, but was there instruction to foul on that last play of regulation before it got – [4:31] We knew what was coming, and we were right there. I mean, we had talked about fouling, but they're so good, [4:35] and they're such veterans that, you know, if you get your hand in there just a little bit late, [4:39] they're going to go up into the shot, and they're going to bait you, you know, into that. [4:43] You know, in that situation, that's a 50-50 ball that we just got to come up with. [4:46] I mean, A.B. read it perfectly. Our timing was – her timing was perfect. [4:50] It's a loose ball, and, you know, it bounced their way. We got to come up with that play. [4:56] Defensively tonight, especially in that second half, it felt like you were getting stops to kind of keep you in the game. [5:01] What did you think of the work on that end? [5:03] I thought when we got them playing in the half court, we were excellent. I really did. [5:07] I thought we were very good. You know, it's tough when you play a team that's defending champs. [5:14] You know, when you give them easy opportunities in transition, and then they get confidence. [5:17] And, you know, I thought early in the game, our defense was good. [5:20] I don't know. At one point, they were shooting like 34%. [5:22] But then you give them, you know, layups in transition, and you get a couple of those to go, [5:29] and you get a little juice, and then you start knocking down some threes. [5:32] And, you know, we were playing catch-up. [5:34] So I thought when we got them in the quarter court, our defense was pretty good. [5:37] You mentioned giving up the 15-0 run, and that was right after you guys went on the 20-something run. [5:44] Just did you feel anything flip from one run to another, or what changed in either the aces or with you guys? [5:50] I think we had five turnovers in that run. [5:53] You know, we talked about it in the timeout. [5:54] Hey, we want to make a run right here heading into the half. [5:56] I think there was three minutes left, maybe something like that. [5:59] But we had five turnovers, and it just allowed them to get the gas going and get going on the offensive end. [6:06] You talked about with Jackie Young as a league record. [6:14] In that thought process, what adjustments could have, or what adjustments were made or made in regards to the thought process? [6:22] And what did you learn about your team's identity tonight? [6:26] It's tough to make adjustments when you're getting turnovers for touchdowns, so to speak. [6:30] So just really talking about taking care of the ball. [6:33] When that happened, we got away from our pace. [6:35] So talking about keeping our pace, because our pace is our advantage. [6:38] You know, really trying to make sure we got the looks that we wanted to, you know, on the offensive end when there were dead ball situations. [6:47] You know, it's, again, I thought when we were able to set our D, we were pretty good. [6:51] But, you know, our group, I'm proud of our group. [6:53] Because, you know, to be able to take a punch like that. [6:57] And then we kind of just stood there. [7:00] Like, I don't know a whole lot about boxing, but, you know, when you, like, hold on right there. [7:03] We kind of just held on, you know, and then we found a way to fight back, you know. [7:08] And, look, we got to learn from this, because there have been too many games where we've had leads, and we've relaxed, and we've let teams back in it. [7:14] So I'm not sugarcoating that. [7:15] We got to learn from it. [7:18] We got to make plays when we need to make plays. [7:20] You know, I feel like I should have called a timeout at the end, too, when we didn't see anything that we liked when the clock was running down. [7:27] You know, that's on me. [7:28] But at the end of the day, we got to watch it. [7:30] We got to learn from it. [7:31] We got to grow. [7:31] We got to grow, and we can't trip on it. [7:33] You know, we can't trip on anything that's behind us. [7:34] We got to move forward, because we got a tough Chicago team coming at us on Saturday. [7:41] The season where a big lead just fades away, and I know we were asking you about it earlier in the season. [7:44] Why do you feel like that's still such a challenge for you guys? [7:46] What relaxes for your team? [7:48] Our minds. [7:49] You know, I think it's a mentality. [7:50] I mean, you see it in Vegas. [7:53] They're vets. [7:54] You know, their mindset is always the same. [7:56] They don't get too high. [7:58] They don't get too low. [7:59] They stick with what works and what got them there. [8:01] You know, I think for us, for our young core, it's a growing experience. [8:06] You know, there's no substitute for experience. [8:08] You can't walk them through it. [8:10] You can't talk them through it. [8:11] You just got to go through it. [8:13] And so I think for us, it's just part of our growth process. [8:16] Now, I think early in the season, I'm not sure we would respond in the same way. [8:19] So we are better. [8:23] You know, we just got to get to where we don't have those moments. [8:25] Or if we do, they're shorter, right? [8:28] They're shorter. [8:28] And we got to find ways to continue to mentally stay locked in. [8:36] Stephanie, you've coached her now for two years, so you know her mindset. [8:39] When Caitlin comes in here and says, you know, this one's on me, [8:42] and she's taken the blame, do you like that as a leader? [8:45] You know how much she cares and that, you know, that passion that she carries, [8:49] and sometimes she's hard on herself. [8:51] So do you like that as a leader, she steps up and says that, [8:53] or, you know, you want to have a... [8:55] Yeah, of course. [8:56] I think you like that as ownership. [8:58] You know, but as an athlete and as a coach and as, you know, [9:02] as somebody who's been around for a long time, you know, [9:05] it doesn't come down to one singular thing. [9:07] Like, we know that. [9:09] You know, she's disappointed in herself, certainly, [9:11] as I'm sure, you know, a lot of our players are. [9:15] But we got to use it as fuel. [9:17] And she's going to be better. [9:18] I know she's going to be better on Saturday because of it. [9:20] I mean, she's a competitor. [9:21] She's a fighter. [9:23] And we're collectively need to be better on Saturday because of it. [9:25] But, you know, it doesn't come down to one thing. [9:29] And I know, again, it's easy to look at it and think that it does. [9:32] But it was a collection of things. [9:34] And if we cut our turnovers in half, it's a different ballgame.