Sparks-Liberty postgame quotes

NEW YORK LIBERTY QUOTES

Head Coach Pat Coyle

On early in the game:

"You know it's only frustrating that we didn't continue to do what we needed to do, to keep that lead and to build on it. That's what's frustrating."

On tonight's loss:

"We shoot the ball a lot in practice. I would attribute some of it to their defense but you know, we were going off looking to get hit and we didn't get hit or we were looking for calls and we didn't get any calls. You know you can attribute it to a lot of things."

On the play of Betty Lennox & Tina Thompson:

"(Betty) Lennox coming off the bench scoring 20 is unacceptable, unacceptable. You know Tina Thompson, Tina Thompson is a great player in this league. You know you expect that is what she's going to do. You know the same thing with Lennox but we missed some assignments. You know they got two 3's. We were supposed to switch. You know to me, that's a difference in the ball game if it goes from six to twelve like that."

Shameka Christon

On playing against Betty Lennox:

"Betty is one of those players that when she gets going, she's going far, and I think she got going early. But if Patty (Coach Coyle) says that it's unacceptable, then it's unacceptable."

On losing the early lead:

"I mean I really have to see the video. Right now I'm upset that we lost and I don't know exactly what mistakes we made so I have to watch the video."

On tonight's loss:

"It all comes down to focus. We have to execute our assignments and we didn't. We made a lot of mistakes. It's frustrating, but we got to keep fighting. Somehow or another we got to keep fighting and get things off the ground."

On playing Candace Parker:

"In one of her interviews she said it's all about timing and I agree with that. So we don't know what she's capable of. In time I'm sure she'll be back, she's only 6 or 7 weeks out of giving birth."

LOS ANGELES SPARKS QUOTES

Head Coach Michael Cooper

On improving game by game:

"We played well starting in Phoenix four games ago and came up a little bit short on that one. Then the next night after that we went up to Seattle and I thought we played extremely well and lost that game by two. So I saw it coming and then we go home and lost a tough one to Phoenix, so yes this was a great game for us to win especially after letting New York get off to an 11-0 start."

On getting contributions from other people:

"This team wasn't built on just two or three or four players. Obviously having four Olympians helped, that's not going to get it done if you're not playing together and I thought our bench came in, Betty came in off the bench and did a superb job. We had been lacking some energy coming off the bench and she supplied that immensely tonight. We're still in that stage of trying to find each other. With silk back and playing the way she is, we still need to get smooth back."

Candace Parker

On being close to 100%:

"I'm not trying to estimate that. I just know that I can take a step forward every game and I feel like I did take a step forward this game from last game. My legs are getting a little bit under me and things are working out that way. I'll probably start to measure that maybe in two or three weeks."

On the team coming together despite Parker and Leslie missing time:

"I think so. We're learning where everyone wants the ball. We're learning what it takes to be a team. One person can play great defense and have some other people not playing well. We're learning how to play team defense. We got killed on the boards in Phoenix, but we came out here and dominated the boards."

Tina Thompson

On when the Sparks took control of the game

"New York is a talented team and they have a lot of weapons. We anticipated them coming out quickly, but we didn't anticipate coming out so slowly. I think we just weathered the storm in the first quarter and I think the second quarter was a lot better and we gained a little momentum. New York is a tough team and they always play hard for forty minutes but if we can stay close then in the third and fourth quarter we can kind of get a lead."