Additional Quotes >> USA 67, Russia 52

Aug. 21, 2008 - Beijing, China

Medal Semifinal Game

USA head coach Anne Donovan
On the game:
Well, first off, I too would like to congratulate Coach Grudin. What Becky said that they were not very pulled together in Haining at the Diamond Ball Tournament was accurate. They have improved so much over these four weeks.

Coach has done a great job of pulling that team together. As far as today's game, it's ironic that it reflects a lot of the World Championship games in terms of our offense. We shot the ball … 33 percent was our field goal percentage. And, two years ago when Russia beat us, we just weren't a defensive team at all. So, we knew coming into this Olympic Games, if we faced a game where we didn't score the ball well, which we obviously didn't, we would have to rely on our defense to win the game and it came to that tonight. In terms of the commitment from our 12 players who really worked at the defensive end of the game and really rely on that in tough situations, it came to fruition. It's a night that we had to have that or we wouldn't have won. We recognize that Russia coming into this was shooting 45 percent from the floor and number one from the 3-point line in the tournament so we knew we had to defend or else it was going to be a long night. And, I thought our girls did that, did a great job on that, stayed very focused. Our job was to keep the ball out of Becky's hands as much as possible and we knew that when she gets on a roll, the team gets on a roll. We tried very hard to get the ball out of her hands and not give her opportunities to score.

How big is defense on the team now? Also, how big of a factor was rebounding in this game?
I go back … in Brazil the third quarter was 21-6; Russia outscored us 21-6. When you cannot put the ball in the hole, you got to be able to get stops. We couldn't press very much in the second half of that game because we couldn't score. So, there were a lot of factors there that led to our demise in Brazil. The commitment of this group, to be so unselfish. To have Lisa not have a great game but to have Sylvia come in and pick up where Lisa wasn't getting it done tonight. To be 12 deep and rely on that depth. We knew it was going to come to a game like this, and everybody stepped up. Diana Taurasi stepped up huge … almost a double-double.

Biggest game of the tournament and the biggest game for Diana. And the backboards obviously. Twenty-one offensive rebounds for us. When you're not shooting the ball well, you better not only play defense but get more than one shot and we did that. So, I thought we did a great job. Again, didn't get rattled … just kind of held ourselves … put our nose to the grindstone so to speak and just got after it and got it done. It wasn't pretty but it was effective.

Can you talk about Diana and what she has brought to this tournament, particularly today?
Diane is a big time, money player. She has been so prepared. You could tell she was ready for this game. The bigger the game, the bigger Diana is and her energy, players feed off that. If it's the first game of the tournament or this, the seventh game leading into the gold medal game, she keeps everybody loose and relaxed. Her confidence just kind of oozes from her and gets passed on to everybody else. She has done a tremendous job for this team.

Your thoughts on a potential matchup with Australia?
I think our girls will be ready to play no matter who we match up against.
All of the media have been talking about USA-Australia since the Diamond Ball Tournament. So, we've done our job to get there, we'll see if Australia does their job to get there and I know both teams will come out and play hard. It will be a great match.

On the overall Olympic experience:
Beijing has been a fabulous experience. We have really enjoyed the stay here in Beijing. The Chinese have done a fantastic job with the energy and the enthusiasm of the Olympic Games. Not just for basketball, but all the sports. The city is beautiful. We've had a fantastic experience on the court and off the court, I could not have asked for anything more.

Lauren Jackson is going to have surgery on her ankle next week. What have you seen from her as far as pain tolerance over the years?
I have to say I had no idea she was getting ready to have ankle surgery until I read it in the paper because you would never know it when you watch Lauren play. You would never know if she's dealing with injuries or pain.

She's just one of a kind in that regard. I don't know that I've ever coached somebody that is so determined and can compartmentalize that area of a game, as an athlete to put the pain aside and really just get after it. I don't know that I've coached anybody that can do it as well as Lauren can. She must be really hurting to put aside the season and have that ankle surgery.

Earlier, you questioned Becky Hammon's patriotism … have you thought about that a little more and do you still feel the same? And, do you think there needs to be a stronger more limited rule to what country you can play for?
I don't know that I have any strong thoughts on that anymore. Even at the time. I've know marathon runners in particular that I've watched over the years have represented other countries. I've watched other athletes do it.

The thing that took me off guard with Becky was that it hasn't happened in women's basketball before. And again, the facts around that: that we didn't ask her to participate, that we didn't ask her to try out for our team, that's really what I had the most issue with. Becky made a great business decision and this was a great opportunity for her to get to the Olympic Games. I hold no grudge … more power to her. But the facts around it when it first came out were not accurate. Becky came, had a great experience; I'm glad we're going to the gold medal game.

Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx)
What was the difference in the second half?
Defense. I think defense was key for us all night. In the first half we struggled offensively. But like coach said at halftime, we weren't scoring but they weren't scoring either. The main thing was to keep our defensive focus and in the second half our offense came along with that.

Did you talk about the 13 first half turnovers in the locker room?
Yeah, I think everyone was trying to go fast, 100 miles an hour and it ended up being like little silly mistakes. We cleaned it up in the second half and got doing what we needed to be doing and it made it easier on ourselves.

After losing to Russia in the 2006 FIBA World Championship semifinal game, how good does it feel to be advancing to the gold medal game here?
It feels good. It feels great!

Sue Bird (Seattle Storm)
On the game:
We're very pleased with the win obviously. Russia is a very good team, a team that everyone knows beat us two years ago in the World Championships So to meet them in the semis again, we were very ready for this test and it was a test. Like I said, they played a great game. We were extremely focused though. Even when we weren't a making our shots and they seemed to be making everything, we never got rattled. We stayed composed. Our defense really, really led us through this one which is kind of opposite what it was in Brazil. So, I think this was a great test for us leading into the gold medal game.

After losing to Russia two years ago, how sweet is this victory?
Obviously both teams, well, I know our team is a much different team than we were in Brazil. But, there is no doubt that was in the back of everyone's head. One of the last things we said before walking onto the court today as a team was we've waited for this for two years, which we have. It's to prove point. A lot of people, with that loss, talked about the rest of the world catching up to the U.S. and ‘oh they're not good any more' … not that we're not good … but ‘oh they can't win gold medals any more' … that type of talk. For us, obviously the first test in this was Russia and it continues to the gold medal game. But this was a very good start for us and we were ready.

Thoughts on Australia:
They're a very good team. They have some of the best talent probably that we've seen in this tournament and they play very well together. So it's going to be an interesting game.

What's the key for the USA against Australia?
Just like you saw against Russia, really our defense. When our offense isn't there, you have to be able to rely on your defense and we proved that we can do that, which is a good thing because we're going to need it.

Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever)
About the game:
Obviously the first half was a huge struggle for us. Russia came out and played with a lot of intensity and was able to stay close in the game. I had to come in after Tina Thompson and in my mind I (knew) I had some big shoes to fill. So my thing coming in was just get on the boards, try to get some tips, be real active on defense.

You guys kept saying a closer game was coming, were you confident you could handle a close game?
Yeah I was. We had the bronze medal hanging up in our locker room from the World Championship, so seeing that and kind of having flashbacks from that game just coming out we wanted to stay focused. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. We match up really well with them and we watched the game the other night and they were down when we left and they ended up winning by 14 so we knew no matter what they weren't going to go away.

What was your defensive plan for Becky Hammon?
Basically, try and keep the ball out of her hands. Obviously we all know her style from the WNBA and what she likes to do. We trapped her a lot and we also protected " had our post play back a little bit. So we pretty much did everything, we never wanted her to get comfortable.

Talk about what Diana (Taurasi) did tonight?
Diana is a great player, you guys know from watching her in the WNBA. The thing about Diana tonight I really think she stayed poised, she stayed focused tonight, she was hitting her shots, she picked it up on defense. Overall for 40 minutes she probably out of all of us stayed the most focused and just constantly told us ‘relax, relax' and its not like Diana to be like 'relax,' most of the time she's the one trying to play football out here on the basketball court.

Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky)
About the game:
Nothing is easy. Every team we play always gives us a run. You just have to go out there and concentrate and play team ball and put your team together and let them know it's not about individuals It's about a team and we go out there and get it done.

When did you feel the game momentum had changed?
Once we went into the locker room at halftime and we talked about our mistakes and what we were doing wrong and what we needed to do as a team to go out there and get it done. After that, I think that was the turning point for us.

Was the game as physical as you thought it would be?
Oh yeah, we knew Russia was going to come out and play very physical. We watched a little bit of their game the other day and saw how they came back against Spain and how physical they were and we prepared ourselves for that.

Outside of the games, what are you going to remember from this Olympics?
Just the fans in particular. The folks here in China have treated us very well throughout this whole tournament and I appreciate that. They've welcomed us with open
arms and they've been good to us.

On the first half:
In the first half we weren't making any shots, I think we were forcing things because we were too hyped playing Russia and we wanted to go out there and do our best, but once we settled down and got things going, everything fell into our favor.. Still had a bad shooting night, but defensively I think we did a great job.

When you were down by seven, what was going through your head?
Down by seven, that's all right by us, we're cool with that, we know we can fight back slowly but surely. We are confident enough that we feel we slow things down a bit and go out there and play USA basketball.

What was it like playing Becky in the Olympics?
It was no different. We treat her like any other player on any other team. It was nothing different, nothing special.

What do you think about possibly playing the Australians?
Just like we would about playing against any other opponent. We're going to practice tomorrow, work on some things that Australia does and come out here and hopefully get it done.

It was a strong physical game out there tonight, but you bulled your way in there and were really active inside. Can you address that?
It was very physical, but that's what you expect in the medal rounds. You just have to go out there and fight through it. You get a little aggravated, but at the same time you just have to stay mentally focused and play your game.

It was a one point difference at the half, what did you do in the third quarter to separate yourself from Russia?
We just came out and played our ball game. We slowed things down in the second half and we wanted to come out and concentrate on things we weren't doing well in the first half.

Kara Lawson (Sacramento Monarchs)
On meeting Australia in the gold medal game;
It will be our toughest game. We played them in Haining and it felt like a gold medal game. The way how physical it was, how hard both teams were playing, how hard baskets were to come by. I think it was 71-67, no one could pull away. It's going to be a championship battle, that's what it's going to be.

What was it like seeing Becky Hammon in a Russia uniform?
We played her before in the pre-tournament. I tell you, we don't … I look across and saw 12 Russians. I saw 12 players with Russia on their uniform and that's what we played against. We didn't think anything different. If anything, from a scouting perspective, when you ‘re talking about the game schematically, it was a little bit easier to prepare in a sense that when she's on the court with them, offensively, a lot of their sets are familiar sets to us in the WNBA because they're predicated on getting her shots. So they become a little less than a European team and more like an American team when she's on the court. So in the schematic perspective, it's a little bit easier. Now their talent level is very high so maybe that supplements for it.

Would you play for another country?
I could never do what she did. I will play for the USA and that's the only country I'll play for. This is the only uniform I'll ever put on.

I had no idea I was going to make this team. I was on the bubble and I was one of the last three players named. I said to myself, if I made it, wonderful. If I didn't, I know that I tried my best and I would cheer for my country to win a gold medal.

Do you think it makes her less patriotic?
I don't judge anybody. I can just say for me what I would do and what I wouldn't do. Becky is a tremendous basketball player, she's a great competitor, I think she's been their best player in this tournament. We knew that a big part of beating them was to try to contain her. So we paid a lot of extra attention to her on the defensive, not letting her try to get to the paint because she can do a lot of damage when she gets in the paint.

When you are on the bench, do you ever think I want my opportunity, I want my moment?
No, I don't really think that. I just cheer as hard as I can. That's the special thing about this team. Of course everyone wants to contribute, but when we're on the bench we're into the game and we're feeling every possession even though we're not out there. It's a great team to be a part of because there's a lot of unselfish players that just want win. It doesn't matter how many minutes you play.

You're one win away. Do you think you can get the gold?
I think we can. We're going to have to play our best game of the tournament whoever we face, whether its Australia or China., we're going to have to play better than we did tonight and shoot a little bit better than we did tonight. But if we can defend and get it inside to our big players, I think we'll have a great shot.

Slow start but in the second half you went inside more and Sylvia was tough again. Your thoughts?
Yeah, we just started playing too fast again. I think we were just trying to rush everything and once we settled down and we took our time on the offensive end, we started getting some good things.

On the play of Sylvia Fowles:
Sylvia? What can you say? I mean what she's done in this tournament, the last game, this game. We probably don't advance without her performance.

She's a great luxury to have, to bring off the bench. Just her power. I really felt like she ran the court hard and did so many little things tonight, even though you will see her points and rebounds. She was really active in there, grabbing all the boards. I am happy for her because she wants to contribute so much to the team.

What about the play of Taurasi?
Dee? I mean when we're not playing so well offensively, sometimes the best offense is to just give the ball to Dee and let her operate. She loves the big shots, she loves the big moments, and she has made her entire career out of thriving in pressure situations. Every time she shoots it, I think it's going in. She carried us in the second half when we needed some big buckets. And she had a couple of great passes where they were doubling on her, because she had been hitting some shots, and then gave it to our post players for some easy layups.

Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks)
Big turnaround in the second half. How did you do that?
I think it was our defense, just sticking with our defensive assignments. They really got us when they got into their transition offense, so we were able to shut that down more in the second half. We really played 5 on 5 in the half court and I thought we were more dominant.

How were you able to shut down Becky Hammond?
That was some great defense. Kara Lawson and Sue Bird did a really nice job on her. It was the whole team. We were playing to trap her at times and other times we switched on her. We recognized that she is a key for them. She's been playing well all tournament and we really wanted to slow her down.

It was a tough game. They had you pretty close there for awhile, didn't they?
I thought it was a great game and it was good that we had to fight to get back into it. Not that we were completely out of it, but we were down. They forced us into a lot of early turnovers and we didn't settle in great in our offense, but our defense is how we were able to win it. We had a lot of great defensive stops and we stopped giving up transition baskets to them.

That was pretty much the difference in the second half.

You are in the gold medal game now, so you're right where you want to be, aren't you?
We're excited and we're looking forward to probably facing Australia, that's who we hope to face, and if not them, China. This is exactly where I've been before and I'm excited to be here with a new group and just hoping to get our ultimate goal and that's a gold medal.

Do you feel pretty comfortable taking Australia on?
It doesn't matter who we play, but obviously the two teams are right behind us (playing while the interview is going on) and Australia is the strongest team in my opinion, so it would be best to play them.

Can you talk about Diana Taurasi's play tonight?
Diane was great. She really willed us. She just kept talking very positively. None of us were really shooting the ball great. I thought she really was a great leader for us out there tonight.

Are you happy to be back in the gold medal game?
It's awesome. I was very emotional about it. It's a hard road to get here even though at times we make it look easy. And we got down to Russia, our offense was really out of synch, but our defense was strong. I just have to calm down a little and play USA basketball.

Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks)
Talk about the game:
Obviously we knew they were a great team and they were going to come out and play with us. I think the difference was in the first half we weren't knocking down shots but we were still playing great defense and that's what allowed us to stay in the game.

When you got down seven points did you get nervous?
I don't think we were ever very nervous to be honest with you, we just continued to do what we do and play great defense, get on the offensive boards, we knew that easy layups and things like that we're going to fall eventually.

Was it a physical game?
Yeah, it was very physical. We came out and we weren't shooting the ball well but I think the difference between this game and the World Championship was our defense.

We did a good job on the offensive glass.

Talk about the gold medal game:
Doesn't matter who we play, we're really excited to be headed to the gold medal game. The key for whoever we play, is going to be defensive and rebounding. That's what allowed us to win this game.

On falling behind in the first half:
Honestly, I think it was just us, we were missing layups. I missed two layup, Tina missed a layup, I know Lisa missed a couple, so it was just about focusing.

Katie Smith (Detroit Shock)
On Russia's early lead:
We managed to dig ourselves out. It wasn't the prettiest, but hats off to our defense and all 12 people.

The defense kept you going in the first half:
Yeah, we were right there. We were rushing a little bit. Russia's playing well, pushing the ball, playing a fast paced game, but we just couldn't quite get the rhythm on offense. I think we were pressing a little bit. Once we got a couple of buckets to go, took our time a little bit and got ourselves a little bit of a cushion and were able to maintain that. But our defense was solid for the whole 40. We limited them, their shooting percentage was fairly low. As I said, we weren't scoring and they weren't. We kept ourselves right there within the distance and got a nice little run to finish the first half to get ourselves on top. Then we stayed there.

On China and Australia, one of which the USA will play in the gold medal game:
With China, this is a lot of emotion for them. This is the place where they want to be. They've trained and spent a couple of years here getting themselves in this position. They're going to come out on fire and with a lot of emotion.

Australia is a great team, one of the best teams in this tournament. Penny Taylor, I don't know about injury-wise, but I imagine she'll be out there. They're going to go out there and work. With Lauren Jackson, Australia is a tough team and a deep team.

On defeating Australia in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and 2002 World Championship gold medal game:
In 2006 we didn't get a chance to even get to them in Brazil. They took care of their end, we didn't take care of ours. To be in that game would be a lot of fun. Both teams are very familiar with each other. Players are familiar with each other. I think some good basketball will be played and everybody's going to be out there working. This is what people expected.

Do you have some confidence against Australia?
Confidence? Obviously you're confident about what you can do but you can never overlook anyone. You don't ever think, nah. They give us a game every game. Over the years we have a history and we have more time spent playing against each other. We all know each other's plays, we all know each other's tendencies. It's all the little things, all the second shots, the rebounding, all that. We're going to have to be on our toes, take care of turnovers, and clean some things up.

About the game, defending against Becky Hammon:
They started quick and they played well. She was one of their 12 and I thought we did a nice job of keeping her under wraps and she wasn't too much of a factor in the game.

Did you talk about it before the game and wanting to make sure she didn't do anything?
Honestly we wanted to limited everybody. Anyone you're guarding it's kind of like a personal thing to hold them and do your job. Obviously we were aware of her because she can get them going by not only knocking down shots but creating things, so you have to be aware of her. But it was mostly everybody was trying to individually do their job and also as a team.

How good was it for you guys to get a good solid test in the semis?
Sure we'd love to win by 20-30, but we'll take it, we'll take a win no matter what. We're where we want to be, we're in the gold medal game and we'll see who we play. We're going to grind this out, we know what we're capable of doing we just have to clean up some stuff and play a solid 40.

When did you feel like the game tide started coming back the USA's way?
I honestly felt the game tide kind of rolled back our way at the end of the first half. There was a three minute stretch there, we down I think five or so and then we took the lead. We obviously gave up a bucket at the end that cut it to one. Even in the third quarter when they came out on a little bit of a run I still felt like us getting ourselves back at the end of the first was good. Definitely in the third quarter we had a little spell where we were able to bank some shots, I hit a three, D got one, our inside game to going. Everybody kind of chipped in there and our defense was solid all night through and really kept us in the mix to make that run.

Was that the difference between tonight's game and the one in the (2006) World Championship, they weren't able to score like they did in that game?
If you're not scoring, you've got to find a way to limit them. Or if you're not shooting the ball well you've got find a ways to put the ball in the hole, whether its free throws, obviously we didn't do a very good job of that, you've got to find easy ways to get buckets, offensive rebounds and what not. Our bigs got us offensive rebounds tonight, free throws got better in the second half but our defense was huge, to limit them when we were struggling

Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
On her performance tonight:
It's just one of those games where you knock down shots in times where you need them. That's the beauty of our team, on any given night anyone can step up and do it. Tonight was just my turn.

You kept saying that a closer game was coming. Given that you didn't have any yet, where do you get that confidence?
We knew it was coming. Some people get a sense that you win the Olympics and it's easy. Because you win the early games by a lot of points. But once you get to this point, there are no bad teams. You talk about four really, really good teams. We knew it was going to be tough and we handled it.

Anne Donovan pulled out the 2006 FIBA World Championship bronze medal in the locker room. What was that like?
Coach Donovan pulled it out of her pocket and it really is a (bad) feeling to take you back to that locker room two years ago. It really was a terrible feeling. We knew that there was going to come a point in this game where one team was going to break. There always comes a point in a game where a team is going to break. You might not see it in the score board, but you'll be able to feel it. Today we sustained it longer.

What does it mean to get back to the gold medal game?
Getting back doesn't mean anything. Getting back is obviously the hardest part. The game in two days, if you've prepared yourself well enough and you go out there and earn it, it will come. You can't really control much from here on out.

About playing Australia or China in the finals?
They're both really good teams. Australia obviously " Lauren and Penny and Snellie, Kristi Harrower, Suzy Batkovic " you're talking about some of the best players in the world. China is in their groove right now they're playing with great confidence, they're at home, they feel good about themselves, so we'll see who wins.

Do you feel you just have to play your game?
Yeah, you can't focus on other teams because you can't control what they do, you can only control your effort and your preparation so you have to stay focused.

How nice was it for you guys to get a stiff test in the semis?
We didn't know when it was coming, but it wasn't a surprise. In the first quarter we were down for most of it and there was a calm feeling on the bench because it's easy to panic, especially when you've been up 30 the last five games and really haven't had to play much. We had to work for this one today so it definitely feels good.

Games like this are just fun. You don't get to play in many of these. It was just fun to go out there with a group that really enjoys playing with each other. You can feel it and that's what really got us through this game when it got tough.

Today was a very good test for us, it was a very tough game against Russia. They played great basketball and we found a way to win. Once you get this far its finding a way to win, it doesn't matter if it's one or 30, you just want to win the game.

Tina Thompson (Houston Comets)
On the 13 turnovers in the first half:
I think we were really anxious. We were all trying to make it in one play or one pass. We were rushing our points. Their defense was pretty good but I think a lot of it had to do with us being way too anxious.

How did you turn the tide?
We came into the locker room and talked about it. We just kind of changed, we weren't trying to make the home run plays. We started running our offense as we had been for the whole tournament and that made the difference.

USA head coach Anne Donovan brought out her 2006 FIBA World Championship bronze medal. Was that a little bit of a motivator for you?
It was a reminder. We all had that feeling that she had when we had to receive it. It just reminded us of what we didn't want to have and that was a bronze medal.

What needs to be worked on for the gold medal game?
Defense has always been our bread and butter. That's something we've always prided ourselves on and we've hung our pride on. It's created tons of offensive opportunities for us and it did so tonight. When we get into a lull like we did tonight, where we're not making shots, our defense is something we can always fall back on.

On Australia in the gold medal game:
The Australians play real similar to us. A lot of them play in the WNBA so our games are pretty similar. They're also a team that has a lot of continuity, they've played together for long periods of time. It's going to be a tough match-up for us.