Aug. 11, 2008 • Beijing, China

USA head coach Anne Donovan
On the game:
We were excited to play this game. We knew that the Chinese fans were going to be loud and strong as they were last night as they were last night with the men’s game.  So we were excited to come in and feel that energy in Wukisong and it was not disappointing … really happy that we started the game stronger than we did against the Czechs.  I thought that we set tempo very quickly and followed through for the 40 minutes.  So, pleased with the effort.

How do you manage games like this?
We looked at the stat sheet at the end of the third quarter and Lisa (Leslie) had played 11 minutes.  It’s very difficult to manage 12 players that are all capable.  Your greatest strength is your greatest weakness.  We have anybody that can be on the floor at any time.  So, trying to make sure everybody has that same opportunity right now is crucial.  So our bench is going to be ready when we need them later on … really pleased with the production … more than anything just defensively.  That’s always been our nemesis.  We drop off when we start to sub.  If anything, we pick back up harder.  With Kara Lawson leading the way coming off the bench, it just changes the tempo even higher defensively.  It’s a nice problem to have.

On the lack of challenges in preliminary round: 
We’re not showing everything so that does concern me a little bit.   But, at the same time, we’ve been tested for two years.  We were tested in the World Championships, we’ve been tested too many times and too many losses for all of these players.  So, I don’t fear them losing their hunger or their focus with the lopsided wins which in the past, we have been concerned that as a staff.  In ’04, we were very concerned about that.  This group is really hungry and they’re very knowledgeable.  They’ve all been on teams that have lost games.  In the past, our USA team has just won every tournament we went to.  But, every one of our 12 players have lost in the last two years so I think that is going to keep us focused.

On comparing this team to the one that played here in April: 
This is a very different team. That team in particular, I think we had six players in training camp and we ended up coming with eight and we added two more once we got here.  It was very much a team in flux.  We had Lisa Leslie and Sylvia Fowles but I don’t believe we had any other post player with us here.  We had Kara Lawson and Katie Smith but I don’t know if we had any of the other guards here so this is a very different team than that team.

Sue Bird (Seattle Storm)
On playing overseas all year, in the WNBA and then in Russia:
I wasn’t really fond about leaving my home, you always want to be with your family. But once I’m gone, I love it. I love the culture, I love meeting new people. I love knowing … you can put me in Prague and I know my way around. I’ve been to all these amazing cities, I get to see different cultures and of course I get paid to play basketball. It’s my job and I think the best way to describe it is, I don’t know, like being a reporter. You guys come overseas to do your job and that’s what we’re doing. It’s just another opportunity so why not keep playing year-round.

Defensively you looked better tonight than you did in the first game. What happened to cause that?
I think the first game was just that--the first game. You know, the excitement, the first time putting the uniform on, being out there. Sometimes it just takes a minute or two.

Tonight we were definitely focused for 40 minutes. I think we learned from that first game.

How do you keep from being overconfident?
We lost to Brazil. We lost to Russia. That's pretty much been the theme all along. We remember that. Some of us weren't there, but I was. I definitely remember what it felt like.

You don't always see players diving for loose balls with 30-point leads. What does that say about this team?
We haven't had the practice time that a lot of teams have and every minute that we're on that court is practice time. So for Cappie to do that, none of us were surprised, we were all excited. It shows the work ethic and how hard we're going to play for 40 minutes.

Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky)
Are you surprised by how well you’re doing here?
I’m always surprised and I say that because I have the opportunity to soak up a lot from the veterans. I’m always surprised with the way I perform, the way I come out. But I feed off my teammates and if they come out with a lot of energy, I come out with a lot of energy. When you have that, there’s just no stopping.

Is the Olympic experience all you had thought it would be?
I really didn’t envision much of the Olympics. All I was worried about was going out there to compete to the best of my abilities and bring home the gold medal. I’m just having fun with these girls and being around them every day, 24-7, we’re all just clicking. We all get along and I’m just loving the atmosphere right now. I’m loving the way we’re getting along and the way we do things.

On the play of Tina Thompson against China:
Tina brought a lot of energy tonight. In our first game she was somewhat in a slump, shooting-wise. But she played very hard and she made a conscious effort this week to get into the gym throughout practice and getting in extra shots and tonight it showed. She got out there and did her thing.

On the USA bench:
That’s the beauty of our team. We have 12 players who can all go out and work, and hustle and score. So when somebody (on the other team) gets hot, you know you have somebody who can come in and bring the energy to stop them.

Kara Lawson (Sacramento Monarchs)
On the team: 
We’ve got a great team. We really do.  It’s a lot of fun to play on this team.  It gives you a lot of confidence as a player to know that when you come in the game, the four other players out there with you are all excellent.  And then when you come out, you have the confidence that the player coming in for you is going then do a great job.  I think you’re just seeing us have a lot of fun out there … still learning to play with one another.

Goal coming off bench: 
Just give energy.  That’s the number one thing. Our 55 defense is our full court man-to-man and we were going to pick up as early as possible to really try to pressure that point guard.  That’s Sue’s job, that’s my job, that’s Cappie’s job.  So that’s an important position.

Just to try to ignite the aggressiveness.  I watched Sue do that for the first four, five, six minutes and now all of a sudden, their point guard is getting a little tired then I can come in and wear her out.  That’s kind of our goal, my goal when I come in, just to get up in the other team’s perimeter players and try to get them fatigued.

On the depth of the team:
I think that’s the other part of depth.

There is that short term part of depth within the game where you can just send wave after wave of player.  There is also that long term depth that you mentioned.  Eight games in 15 days.  We have a luxury in that we don’t have to play players 35 minutes a night to get wins.  That’s not our style.

We can live in that 15 to 20 minutes per game range for our players and have great production.  I think that’s going to be huge as we move forward the fact that we’re so balanced and we can kind of just rotate everyone in and out.

What the team is doing best: 
I think our pressure is really good on the defensive end.   I think we’re doing a great job of getting out and running in transition and being unselfish on the offensive end.  That ball just finds the open player and that’s from a team just not caring about who scores, finding the hot hand.  Tina was hot tonight and we all couldn’t be happier to just get her the ball and let her go to work.

Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks)
About China’s center:
She’s good.  Nice left hand, she has nice moves she can put the ball on the court; she’s big, I enjoyed playing against her and she’s a good match up.

How important is it to get better with each game?
It’d definitely important for us to get better and I think our defense is definitely improving, we’re making good adjustments for each team, but we have to stay focused.  Usually it’s just that one game when you’re not shooting well that catches up with you so we’re really trying to prevent that.  I think we have a really deep bench and what’s good is we’re not having any drop off.

Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks)
On the team continuing to play hard to the end:
It says a lot about our mentality and how hard we’re willing to play from start to finish, no matter what the score is.

It seems like the team is getting a little better day by day:
Yeah, it’s getting a little better. Obviously today we got better playing defense and running the floor. When things aren’t going your way you have to work on that, running the floor, getting hands on balls, being active, things like that. I think our starters started it off right and our bench kept it going and took it up a notch.

Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix Mercury)
On tonight’s game:
I think it was great. We set the tone from the beginning to the end, which is something Anne wanted from us. We were focused and our defense today was brilliant. Just to watch it for three quarters and to be a part of it was great. Hopefully we can carry it on to the next one.

Did any of the four players who played China in April have anything to say before the game?
No, but when we watched film we kind of saw some things and made some adjustments. We thought they were going to switch a lot more than what they showed us. It was a good thing we watched film and we had our scouting report so we were able to get it done. I think the biggest thing for us was the energy and the way we started the game. Our starters definitely did it for us.

Katie Smith (Detroit Shock)
On the team’s continued improvement over a short period of time:
This is probably the best we’ve done since we’ve been together, which has been about a week and a half. I’m excited about it, obviously there’s a lot of stuff that we can fine tune. I think we’re on the right track and we’re going to take it game-by-game.

On the USA’s defensive effort:
It was great to see our help, individual defense on the ball, the rebounding, getting players the outlets, running the break, Tina knocking down shots. It was fun because everybody was there and into it, seeing what was going on and helping when you got beat. It was fun because it seemed that everybody was in tune to each other and what was going on. It’s a lot of fun to play with these type of players.

Is this a glimpse of perhaps one of the best teams ever assembled?
Let’s hope so, let’s hope it’s a glimpse. I hope we can be consistent for 40 minutes as we go and keep putting it together, mentally come ready to play and understand who we’re playing, who our opponent is and what their strengths are. I hope we continue to get better. We’re obviously going to face some tough teams as we go and whoever is at the end, hopefully we’ll be there too, but it’s going to be tough. I hope that we’re all understanding that, having fun and that makes us want to get even better.

Do you compare teams at all?
Every team is different. Every year is different. It’s all about now and what we’re doing. We have our eyes on one thing and that’s being there in the end. Honestly that’s all it’s about.

Was the loss in April in the back of your mind at all?
No, that was just a training session. We didn’t have this same group. You never want to lose but honestly it’s about what we’re doing right now. That, it is what it is, you win a game, you lose a game. But this is where it counts. I’m really proud of the effort by everybody, one through 12. That’s what’s fun about this team. Everybody’s been locked in, there’s not one person who hasn’t been tuned into what’s going on.

Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
On tonight’s game:
It was a tough game and sometimes the score doesn’t resemble you know how hard the game was and
tonight was probably one of those cases.  Towards the end of the first quarter we kind of got it together a little bit.

About Sylvia Fowles:
She’s incredible really.  We can talk about her physical attributes, we can talk about how amazing foot work she has, but more than anything she is a great person and I think that’s what’s going to make her one of the best centers to play in the United States and in the world.  She’s willing to learn; she’s willing to take criticism and apply it to her game and a lot people that are as good as her don’t want to hear it, she’s open ears which is going to make her unstoppable.

Do you feel like the teamwork is coming together?
I guess the goal every time you step on the court is to get better.  Like you said, we don’t have that much prep time so when we get to spend some court time together whether it’s a game or practice, we’ve got to take full advantage of it.  Today was a little better than the first game, we need to improve little by little.

Talk about Tina, do you think she’s appreciated for all she has accomplished?
You know it’s funny ‘cause even in Houston when they were so successful obviously Cooper and Swoopes did their thing, Tina was the one that always stuck out to me.  Even in 2004 Tina was the one that stepped up with big shots all the time.  She really is our go to in a lot of ways.

What did you think when she (Tina Thompson) gets it going like that?
Within the familiarity of Sue and I playing with her for so long, when she gets going you’ve just got to feed it.

The crowd cheered so loud, what did you think about the crowd?
We went on a 7-0 run and I looked up and it was like 30-7, but that was great.  The fans are here supporting their country no matter what and that’s what you want in the Olympics.  Sometime you focus so much on winning and losing that the essence of the Games is to celebrate and they’re doing it to the fullest.

Tina Thompson (Houston Comets)
On the game:
I think it was a hard fought game. Very exciting. Chinese crowd was awesome, as usual. I was extremely proud of our team’s defense. We came out and we set the tone.  We were very aggressive and that kind of created good offensive opportunities for us.

What was difference in first half vs. second half?
I probably took less shots. Other people on our team were taking great shots and had good offensive opportunities and that’s just kind of how it works sometimes.  We have an awesome team so at any point, anyone on our team can put up numbers.  The fact that our team is so unselfish and we kind of move the ball around and get the ball to the open player, it can be anyone of us at any time.

We all kind of know one another because we are at different events together.  We are kind of in the same city at different times.  So, we’re very familiar with one another.  Most of the women on our team are very familiar with the men’s team.  We’re one big family.  Basketball.  USA Basketball.  So, we are going to support one another throughout.  We all have the same goal and that’s to continue to play hard and win games and fight for position to be in the gold medal game.  So, we are going to support one another throughout.

They are all very good.  They are a very versatile team.  Each player can play inside and out.  We’re very familiar with Miao and Feifei, they’ve been part of the national team for a very long time so I think that we are probably most familiar with them.  That team has been playing together for a very long time; they’re very effective.  We tried mostly to take away their dribble penetration and not allow them to get open shots because as you know and we know, they are very effective when they have open shots.
It’s almost as if they don’t miss.  Our defense was a big key in this game, just kind of making them as uncomfortable as possible because if they are in a comfort zone, it would be very tough for us.

On the team’s training time:
The last four years we haven’t had the opportunity because of different commitments of one-another to all be together at one time.  We’ve been in different tournaments and qualifying tournaments and things like that with different members, but it’s never been this full team, these 12 players together at one time and it showed. In the World Championship we didn’t finished the way we wanted to, we did some tournaments to kind of get ready, did some friendly games or whatever, and we didn’t fare the way we wanted to.  But we knew it would get better once we all got together and we are together and it’s continuing to build and grow, and were growing more familiar with one another and the way we’re playing is showing that.

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