Learning to Beat Seattle
Posted by Lisa Leslie on August 17, 2006

We haven’t had much success against Seattle
this year. The very first game wasn’t a very
good one for us. We didn’t share the basketball.
Then the game that we lost at home, they just
outplayed us, they outhustled us and they really
ran the floor. Their transition game was hard to
stop and we didn’t play to the best of our abilities.

For us to win this series, we definitely have to
match their intensity and play hard. Defensively
we have to get back in transition where their
guards are very good. They’re very strong. I
don’t know if you can consider Betty Lennox an
x-factor, but we definitely have to try and limit
her because she can get hot. And Iziane Castro has
played well against us too, so we want to try and slow her down.

In the frontcourt, Lauren Jackson is a great player.
She shoots the ball from the outside with great touch
and she can get to the basket. We would obviously love
to limit some of her shots, but if nothing else, we
can’t let every player on the team have an outstanding
game, which we seem to do against Seattle. We have to
stop somebody. Defensively we mix it up a lot and it’s
really just based on where the players are on the floor.

For us, I think the Moores, Jessica Moore and Tamara
Moore, along with Muriel Page are our three x-factors.
It’s going to be important for all of our role players
to come out and play well and knock down shots when
they get them.

Some people might look and say that Chamique Holdsclaw
is our x-factor, especially since she has settled into
a new role coming off the bench, but if you look closely
at her minutes, she is essentially a starter, which is
what I think everyone in the league knows. Her coming
off the bench just happened this year. Our team just
developed really good defensive chemistry playing without
her at the beginning of the year. Then when she started
coming off the bench, it put her in a better position to score
because she could come in at the one, the two, the three
or the four. I think she’s just very versatile.

Tamara had done a really good job defensively for us at
the three position and that really worked for us. It’s
not really who begins the game, it’s who ends the game
and Chamique still averages probably more minutes than
everybody, or if not she is right behind me. It just
became the role that she had, but she’s still out on the floor.

I haven’t prepared any differently. My body is a machine
and I know exactly what to do. I get the proper rest and
nutrition and I work out with weights. I’m ready to play
ball. Like coach always says, “Offense comes and goes,
but defense is everlasting and wins championships.”


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