Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Boston Celtics | December 29, 2023

Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Boston Celtics | December 29, 2023

Did you get clarification on kind of what happened those final seconds there uh yeah so uh um 1.4 seconds of the ball uh they uh fouled Pascal uh so they they went back and to took a look so it was a foul there and uh they wed us with uh

Two free throws because it was not on the ball play and uh uh we got two free throws there um we made the first one and the goal was to miss the second one and go for for offensive rebound and try to to to win it there obviously you know

A close game and you look at one or two plays down the stretch you got down 20 uh that’s probably the bigger reason uh offensive glass was huge how how concerned are you that it seemed to be the offensive glass and and sort of 5050 balls that did you

In offensive glass was uh was the struggle during the the whole game um the problem with 50-50 balls I thought that the second half he did much much better job uh in third quarter only we had uh 10 deflections to start the the game in first quarter we had only three

Deflections yeah that’s the best uh example that that we were not logged in from the start of the game uh physically we were preparing for for a different team we were preparing for much more isos we were preparing for post stops and the team they throw out there was

Just like doing really good job of moving and playing without the ball and cutting so we needed a moment there to adjust they uh made seven uh threes in the first quarter there uh after that we found the Rhythm we were able to get

Back in a game uh in a second half uh it was our our disposition was completely different our disposition was different so when you say you’re preparing for a different team obviously for a reason do you put that on yourself or do you put that on the guys for not adjusting

Quicker I mean uh it’s uh you have a game planct the future correct like we were have one one game plan in preparation there and like 60 minutes before the start of game we find out that couple guys are going to be out and not playing and then obviously we try to

Adjust and uh we try to to make those adjustments as the game was going on as well on the whole does this team play with the requisite urgency um do you think uh we play with urgency in moments and we don’t play with urgency uh in the

Other moments and uh it’s uh it’s uh for us we need to every player that touches the floor needs to contribute and if you look at Washington game every player that played was really contributing so we cannot have any empty minutes from any of the guys they’re offensively and

Defensively that’s how we can overcome some teams that have a lot of skill or shooting or you know size and rebounding like that’s our way we got to be really logged in to to do all all those little things all those uh stuff that that that matter are in winning Scotty was 745

From three tonight what’ you make of that uh Scotty uh he was aggressive tonight I think that that those shots that he was taking were good shots um I was hoping there we were running a play there for him to to get him a three at

The end of the game ended up his uh being his drive to the rim uh I got to take a look at that play I’m not sure if he was fouled on that play or not not not sure there but uh but we got a good

Look there to to put us in good position but overall I think I think he did a really good job today offensively is that something that you would like to encourage him to do more as take those looks and take those opportunities even I mean he has to make the right play he

Has to to read the game uh when we have open shots and when he’s you know have his feet set and ready to shoot it I like him shooting those shots he’s putting a lot of work in his his shooting improved so much he needs to continue working on that and um testing

It in the game what were you getting from Pascal and Scotty both in the second quarter there was a point where it felt like offensively they were driving the team what did you like from what they were able to create uh uh Scotty uh drives and and extra passes

There and and threes obviously and Pascal did a good job of of creating shots on his own some of those postop some of those mid-range shots but he he he got to his spots there and he got he got uh good looks what did you make of

Uh Jaylen McDaniels he had a lot of minutes today solid performance uh Jaylen did good job um I’m I wish he he made a couple more shots there because uh he had opportunities uh I I kept encouraging him to take those um so I think that he did solid job defensively

He come up with couple of deflations and steals there that help us spurk that momentum to to get back in a game especially that uh beginning of the fourth quarter would you say that this is one of the more challenging games for yourself in terms of all the lineups

Kind of out there and kind of adjusting on the Fly and how are you able to find something that worked eventually in the fourth quarter I mean uh I’m trying to read a game I’m trying to read how the players are performing what do we need

Out there uh do we need yeah I thought that Malachi had actually good good couple of minutes there uh coming in and and giving us some life defensively uh you know so trying trying to do best I can to put a team in situation to be successful and to win games all the

Performance from you today what did you see out there uh you know uh for me coming out the Ben you know just coming in giving energy uh what he said uh giving a lot of energy trying to be the best defender out there and just uh coming in play my

RO seemed like the first half you weren’t quite I mean the whole team wasn’t really in in Rhythm and so what does it mean to you that Darko went back to you in the second half and gave you another sort of shot just building trust you know uh before just being out the

Rotation not even getting in the game you know but just building over the last couple weeks with uh play groups practice and just showing them that um he can count on me so that’s all that was I feel like feel like just building trust and I feel like I earned it

You guys went to a lot of switching in the second half against them is that something you guys plan to do coming into the game or an adjustment at halftime and how do you feel like they kind of responded to that um I feel like it was just an adjustment we made we

Usually go one through four but we did one through five so it was adjustment uh it’s nothing that we’re nothing that we don’t do all the time but we’re capable of it for sure so uh we talked about this a little bit in practice but just in terms of your

Own development and kind of starting to carve yourself out a rle what do you see that going in which direction uh wait what um I was going in the right direction you know just only way is up for me that’s why I think straight positive POS being positive out

There uh next game mentality so got to carry it over to next game and next game and next game so when those first few shots didn’t fall in the first half how I I mean how long does it take to develop the mentality just to keep

Taking them uh it’s hard man but you know you just got to just keep shooting you know shout out my teammates to help uh keep keep me in and giving me confidence like bro keep shooting like you shoot it every day work on it so

Much like bro like so it’s just all just staying confident just being positive not getting down on yourself like damn Miss a three like just got to keep playing sorry Direction might be the wrong word more so like role like where’s your role uh oh you know just

Coming in uh running the floor playing good defense just uh crashing offensive glass hitting my open shots when I can and uh you know driving kicking for others so you know I feel like I can versatile can do it all so um it’s just coming it’s coming together slowly but

It’s going to be nice so um do you think this team plays with enough urgency on a game by game basis um sometimes you know we get off to a slow start but uh we usually pick it back up um but not every game you know you just got to have more complete

Games um what do you think was the main factor in the fact that you guys were able to slow down Boston from you know their three-point shooting from the first half to the second especially in the fourth quarter like I said we actually start guarding uh taking a

Pride going and one1 defense maintaining the ball uh not just letting him get down the paint easy kick out threes uh walk up threes and transition and just limit limiting those easy ones um I know it’s still a look a bit ahead but uh obviously tomorrow you guys

Have the Pistons you know how do you take this game build off of it and going into that one uh we see how we finish this second half and you know that’s how we need to come out and play every single night uh so you know we take that

Energy that effort uh the way that we moved the ball and the way that we played uh in the second half you know and bring it towards tomorrow we we’ll be in a really good position obviously with how they’re doing you know they’re going to be desperate playing that way

How crucial is it to match that sort of energy uh they play hard um doesn’t matter how many games they lost you know they still go out there and play hard um putting the effort U we got to go out there and be able to put in a hard working effort as well

Players and Coach speak with the media following the Raptors’ 120-118 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday.

00:00 Darko Rajakovic
05:13 Jalen McDaniels
07:34 Scottie Barnes
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