Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Sacramento Kings | January 5, 2024

Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Sacramento Kings | January 5, 2024

Chris um in that second half you got the game played at a really Pace it really set you guys how do you feel you impact that when you playing those minutes and getting up and down the floor I mean just trying to find what we missing in a

Game um either rebounding a little bit of running um I mean at the end of the day I feel like we played a really good game but it took us time to get going and I feel like that’s pretty much my role to kind of bring energy to the game

And speed it up a little bit I know as soon as you come in you start like CL and getting guys going is that a second unit kind of trait this team needs uh I mean I I mean obviously I think um with the change that is going I think it’s

Going to take a little bit of time I think we’re doing a really good job trying to adjust but um you know it’s the same thing for the bench I think different guys are coming off the bench and um we’re trying to get it all together game by game um but that’s

Definitely one thing that the bench could do obviously um we got good guys off the bench come in and that could bring energy Chris I mean that first half I think they had 14 threes they finished 21 for the game yeah um was there any particular breakdown that that

You saw that led to those threes in their huge first half I mean I think they made some of them but um not all of them were open I mean when you watch at the clip I think there’s some of them that are we definitely want to get back

But they made some tough ones too and I know kudos to them obviously they have good Shooters and Playmakers and guys that could tough shots so we can’t really be mad at everything every shot that he took the uh and sabonis I mean coming in the game you know he’s a very

Very tough cover yeah um how much of a challenge does he present just the way he can pass the ball as well as score I mean it’s cuz I mean you got to figure out a way to not to help too much but also be able to guard him um you know if

He sack on him he’s able to make plays and all his vision is really good and then he’s really good in the post too so I think it’s a mixture of both but I think um we did a really good job um kind of like you know put him in a

Position to get him in foul trouble I think we want to do that more um but like I said he’s a great player so um great players do what they want really it’s not the first time that you guys have trailed by about 20 or 23 points um

In a game before and manag to come back did this one feel any different despite the result of course um I mean I think it does obviously when it’s away on way game and um you hear the crowd and all that and you go down that that much um

You know you want to win and obviously I think we uh felt like we had a chance I think um not winning changes everything obviously but uh I think we’re definitely could learn from it and like I said like I said it’s always the same

Thing we just got to find ways to you know keep four cers together instead of three dark obviously they got away from you there in the first half what did you sort of correct in the second half and what to say about this new constructed team that it comes back too

Um exactly right like that like first half uh we allowed them uh transition we allowed them Second Chance points uh we did not do a good job rebounding the there uh I believe they had uh uh seven or eight offensive rebounds in in the first half uh for some 14 uh Second

Chance points and um that was the the biggest problem there adjustment in in the second half was our physicality and great not to give up you know when you’re down 20 you have decision to make if you’re going to quit or you’re going to continue fighting and uh our group

Stayed together and they continued fighting they we found a way to to get it back in a game and um uh I thought that on a play that uh quickly had a three I thought that he he he got fouled there we did not get it C tonight with

Those three free throws we’re talking about you know potentially completely different end of the game there but uh we cannot complain about that we got to we got to do much better job uh in in a first half coming out um and taking away the the biggest strengths of the opposing teams

Mike actually before the game about sabonis being a really tough cover and he really got into facilitating and explain how he got to those all those numbers tonight um rebounding uh he does really good job with the with the offensive rebounding as well a lot of times what

He does is he does good job of doing physical part of of of a fight early and he a lot of times pushes players get him out of their their positions and uh I thought that we did not do good enough job there in the first half and that’s

That does not fall down on on one player uh we talked about that that everybody’s got to be in there and everybody’s got to rebound there is no fast break and transition until you secure the defensive rebounds um and uh when he was rolling to the rim uh in the first half

He did not do good enough job of being up to the level of screen to take away that pocket pass where he’s most dangerous and we did much better job in a second with that Darko when when a team goes off the way they did in the first half 14 threes or

Whatever it was uh you know how much of of that is is you guys not dictating the way the game needs to be played obviously some of it is them hitting shots that they’re pretty good at hitting so where do you kind of when you went in halftime there were you kind of

Upset with the way you were playing or did you kind of accept that maybe they kind of got hot and maybe they’d come back to earth they they they did get hot but I also thought that if we could do better job on some of those uh

We had uh certain players that we had uh designations on them to be hot Shooters and to chase them off the line and we lost them in certain certain situations we did not good good enough job of just like making him them play inside three-point line and when you play

Against team like that it’s never going to be one effort you got to do do multiple things you got to be able to guard them oneon-one but also chase them of the line and then scramble and and cover for each other on the other side in second half I thought that we did

Much better job and that helped us to to get back in a game but uh as you can see in this league uh every night you look at the league and like we were watching uh you know um Indiana game and like team scoring 50 points in every night

It’s it it really comes down to shooting and uh becomes really really hard to guard shooting in this league can you set up a defense in the NBA anymore say again can you set up a defense in the NBA anymore uh right now I think the the the offensive

Skill of players and rules that are in place that’re really making it hard to be physical because offense is protected every little contact it’s a foul you’re trying to avoid fouls not to send them to free throw line and now players are the skill level of players shooting of

The dribble this is the best team in the league shooting threes of the dribble you know the highest percentage in the league um so um that’s the tendency how league is developing you know and uh I guess that’s also what fans want to see maybe maybe it goes a little bit too far

To the 150 140 instead of 115 105 right right my I me personally I prefer more physical game I prefer uh more grinded out type of game uh but um this is the reality where we live in today and we got to adjust and then you know take

That the most what we can in a certain situation even though you guys you know have had losses or even even win in this case where you guys have come back from a deficit like this one does this one feel different at all do you think there’s a like a takeaway from

Tonight that you guys can carry forward for the rest of the road trip um absolutely like uh a couple of situations that happened tonight were uh coverage breakdowns and uh you know with new guys chemistry on the court communication there is there’s going to be really good

Film that we can watch and get better at because we’re going in into another game with another team that that has really potent three-point Shooters and we’ll have to do better job of of controlling those guys in those situations and then finally what did you see from your bench

In terms of Chris’s performance as well as Jon he had a career high in NBA points tonight uh I thought that Jon did really good job offensively I thought that his game was progressing he was feeling more and more comfortable out there um I thought that that he did

Pretty good job with verticality and changing couple of shots there at the um Chris was everywhere on the floor tonight he was active he was aggressive he was getting deflections and steals uh he he played really good game I’m really proud of of his performance tonight uh

Dennis of the bench as well uh he was plus 12 scored 18 points um I thought that all threes that he took uh were good shots they did not fall tonight but U they’re going to fall next time

Player and Coach speak with the media following the Raptors’ 135-130 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday.

00:00 Chris Boucher
02:38 Darko Rajakovic

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