Stephanie Talbot missed the Aces' game, and Becky Hammon doesn't know her status yet: "I'm hoping she should be good for this next series." Until then the focus is "rest and getting healthy." Dana Evans has been out nearly all year; Mai Yamamoto was signed as insurance.
Jewell Loyd started in Stephanie Talbot's place for the Aces and drew Caitlin Clark. Becky Hammon told her three stars to be ready to play all 40, more than she thinks she's ever played her guards. On Jackie Young: "If there's somebody that can do 40, it's her, I promise you."
Defense won it for the Las Vegas Aces, Becky Hammon said after the game. They mixed up coverages and put the emphasis on the 3-point line. She was okay giving up 36 points in the paint, compared with the 58 she recalled from the previous game.
"I prayed a lot. I cried a lot." A'ja Wilson, asked after the Aces' Oct. 1 win whether what happened on Sept. 29 fueled her, said she received a lot of support and did not want it to be a distraction to herself or her team.
Caitlin Clark on a review with 2 minutes left in Indiana's season-ending loss to Las Vegas: "if the challenge ... is called correctly when they go to the monitor, it's a 1-possession game and we have the ball." The Aces shot 35 free throws to Indiana's 20. "It stops the game."
"Kelsey, in my opinion, had the best season of any guard that there's ever been in this league." Caitlin Clark on Kelsey Mitchell after Indiana's season-ending loss to Las Vegas. Mitchell on the Aces' size inside: "sometimes they make it tough by being trees."
Indiana rookie Raven Johnson's playoff role is growing, and she says she'll fill any role, even guarding Las Vegas's Jackie Young. At shootaround, Myisha Hines-Allen said: "we all knew what Raven could do. It's just a matter of now she's getting an opportunity to do it."
Myisha Hines-Allen has been in and out of Indiana's rotation, and coach Stephanie White praised her either way: "whether she's been in the rotation or not in the rotation, she is still actively engaged in communicating with our team on the sideline."
"I thought we played about 35 minutes of really great basketball. We got to play 40." Stephanie White wants all 40 in Indiana's elimination game against Las Vegas: protect the ball, lift the Game 2 defensive energy a level. She expects Las Vegas to hit the shots it missed.
"It's championship or bust." Facing elimination against Las Vegas, Indiana's Myisha Hines-Allen said the team has "everybody that we need in this locker room to get the job done." Coach Stephanie White agreed a title is the goal but said it still takes time to reach.