Keegan Murray, De’Aaron Fox and Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 1.5.24

Keegan Murray, De’Aaron Fox and Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 1.5.24

Hey Keegan this two games in a row with the double double do you just feel like your your confidence is growing especially as a rebounder over the last couple of games uh I mean yeah just obviously domas averages what 13 rebounds a game so um there’s not many

To go around but just trying to be um as aggressive towards the glass as possible um whether I come up with it or um don’t let someone else get it um what do you feel like has allowed you to take steps there and do you also feel

Like you’ve gotten a bit better as a passer this season uh I mean yeah just U being more comfortable with the ball my hands always helps um and uh just trying to do a little things at the end of games um obviously um with Fox and Malik

At the end of the game just it’s their show so I’m just letting them do what they do and just trying to figure out how I can affect winning keeg I remember uh your rookie year you told us that you know when you was at Iowa your thing was

To try to uh outrebound um Luca G Garza uh when you you know playing with the montis what’s your mindset you know trying to play around him because it looked like you know where to be when you’re trying to get those rebounds so you don’t affect him yeah I mean it’s

Just it’s just a comfort thing with him um I mean he’s going against um really good rebounders especially uh yaka um today so um just trying to help him out um as as as best as I can and um just trying to sandwich his guys and I’m just

Being aggressive um when he can’t get the rebound by me he still ended up with 15 so Keegan how would you uh just kind of describe just the way you guys fought down the stretch there you lose domas they’re making their run um just the way

You guys closed out tonight yeah I mean I felt the first half uh was just really good basketball for us um second half especially the third quarter got away and um I mean I think the last time we lost domos was the lak game and we found

A way to win that so um whether guys are in and out we just have to find a way and Chris stepped up um in his absence in the last minut of the game um Keegan can you talk talk a little bit more about domas the way he’s

Playing this is like six triple doubles in 10 games for him I think um obviously playing at a really high level what what you know what are you seeing from him yeah I think he just gotten more comfortable um I mean I feel like he’s more established in the offense than he

Was this year compared to last year and you can see that just um the way he’s playing and rebounding and um being able to distribute the ball um in different ways um throwing out yous trusting guys things like that has been big for him yeah I mean um obviously throughout the

Season there there are some tough stretches where you have a lot of games and in very few nights but um I mean that’s part of the NBA schedule so uh you know what going to happen and you you know try to after game try to get as

Much recovery as you possibly can as much rest uh eat well and be ready for the next one fox how would you just kind of describe the way you guys closed out tonight especially after domas went out I mean you know we didn’t want it to get

Get to that but um we were able to finish this game you’d rather you know if you’re up 20 you rather not you rather still not lose after giving up a lead but I think uh I mean we never we never actually gave up the lead so uh

That was a good thing that we were able to get stops when we needed and scor when we needed to um but finishing this game obviously it was difficult but uh we were able to get it done and then Keegan obviously from the perimeter got you guys going pretty early and then

Obviously was he was big on the boards just his overall impact tonight yeah I mean offensively you know we’re starting we’re trying to get them more involved and get him to be more aggressive um you know getting plays called for him more um and we want him to do those type of

Things and um you know what he did on the glass tonight especially against a team like that who’s long athletic um definitely helped us a lot that point about the long athleticism long long and athletic teams you guys have gone up against it’s obviously been a tough thing for you

Guys tonight how how well do you feel like some of the rotational adjustments you guys have made have kind of been able to endure that a little bit better uh I mean it’s definitely helped I mean against a team like this they had you know 12 Second Chance points which is

Which is great for us I think they lead the league in in second trans points so um just the way that we able to rebound I think late in the game we didn’t as as well as we did in the first half and obviously that’s why we had the lead but

U just being able to finish possessions is definitely huge against a team like dear in that uh first half you guys went ballistic on the uh three pointers and Harrison had five of them himself how how good is it to see him you know playing well like that like that it’s

Definitely great I mean um we have anybody Step Up it it always adds to the dynamic of our team and obviously 135 points in regulation is is great but um it was more so our second half defense giving up you know 73 73 points uh was

Was our ailles Hill tonight but uh in the first half I think we did an excellent job on both ends of the court and then um the second half we just we got stops when we needed to but we didn’t get enough stops to to satisfy ourselves D obviously you guys are

Professionals but when you guys hear like you know trade roomors before games and stuff like that do what kind of goes through you guys’ mind when when you get those alerts oh I mean I don’t get any alerts but uh it definitely comes across a feed and um I mean those things happen

You know a lot of guys who’ve been in this league for a long time you understand it you go through it um and you just got to try to stay focused as as as long as you’re on the court you know you try to think about the task in

Hand um obviously off the court you know you can think about it your agent might call you tell you whatever but um when you when you lce him up and the game starts you know you’re just trying to focus in on on that as much as much as

You possibly can obviously you’re human and thoughts go through your head but uh you have to try Fox heard your comments this morning it shoot around and then just there with with the crowd before you lit the beam about damanda sabonis not being in in All-Star voting at this

Point I know you’ve talked about how he’s a little underappreciated before but for him to continue this triple double run that he’s on and just everything that he’s been doing uh is is there anything that I guess surprises you about what he does anymore uh no I

Mean he does this for the most part night in and night out um but I think with the allar stuff I mean he’ll get in coaches would do the right thing um but you know we try not to worry about what’s what’s going on outside of these

Doors and um if other fans aren’t voting for him then you know that that is what it is but I think he has a respect around the league from the coaches that he’ll that he’ll be in he’ll be all right uh Fox just to ask a little more

About domas that’s uh six triple doubles and 10 games for him um what what more can you say about the the way you know he’s playing right now and how big that is for you guys I mean he does everything for us you know he’s the he’s

The Hub of our offense and he’s been better for us defensively as well um you know we ask him bless you bless you uh we ask him to do so much for us rebound score the ball uh playm screen um you know that takes a lot out of a person

But uh he he’s been well equipped for it and he’s he’s dominated at it he’s dominated at his job he’s dominated at his role for us and um you know we as a team need to continue to be great around him obviously that that continues to

Help him out rather if it’s on the board you can’t grab every rebound and um when he’s getting Guys open shots it’s up to us to make it so um we’re trying to do our job to help him and uh he he he keeps being a

Beast yeah there’s a couple of teams in the league like the Raptors but it at some point does it just feel like they’re like cloning these 6′ 11 skinny tall guys are blocking everything yeah yeah I mean at this point you know 6 seven and up is a lot of Team what what

Teams are looking for can you shoot the ball a bit athletic uh you’ll be able to defend they can teach you how to do some things so um you know you think there’s a lot and you look at it’s like oh it’s not that many because some teams have them all

But uh I mean that team has been built like this for a while you know just guys who are 66 67 and up and um who are very switchable who can all handle the ball obviously that’s kind of a way that the League’s going right

Now Darr I just want to ask you about another Kentucky guy Manuel quickley um what do you see in him and he’s GNA get a great opportunity looks like to play here in Toronto and do you see him having a chance to kind of you know really land explore his game yeah

Definitely I mean I definitely think he’s a starting point guard in this league and um you know you could see it when he was in New York um can really shoot the ball get guys involved and obviously now he’s playing more so you’re able to see it a lot more but um

He’s had the talent there’s a reason that he was able to go to Kentucky and uh do all the things that he did and get them to uh Elite eights um but just continuing to watch his game grow as he’s come into the league um obviously

Shoots the hell out of the ball he can get downhill um uh I mean I think the sky is a limit for him and when you look at a lot of guys you’re one of them who can really attack the rim but also shoot threes at a high volume it just seems to

Be almost a prerequisite for for being a really Elite guard in this league right now yeah I mean you have to be able to um you know especially to close out a game if if the if if teams don’t respect you shooting the ball then you know

They’ll give you that until you know your harsh desire so at some point you have to be able to prove that you can knock down that shot and then after that the floodgates kind of open you you the world opens um up for you because now

Guys have to come up one or two more steps and that allows you to get downhill now bigs have to step up or wings have to come in and it just makes it just makes the game a lot easier if you’re able to shoot the

Ball just a good win by our guys uh Toronto has been playing really well uh since they made the trade uh they’ve had multiple guys step up and and have big games for for them and so for our guys to uh go out and find a way to get the W

Is always encouraging uh I thought we had a really good first half on both sides of the ball I thought obviously in the second half we let our foot off the gas a little bit defensively they had 40 points in the paint they’re huge paint

Team just like uh um Orlando is and we gave up 40 points in the paint in the second half we’re total 77 points you know and and while doing that and getting a win it’s a great learning experience and uh we know we need to tighten up on that end of the floor

Because we can score it with the best of them I mean they’re a really good defensive team because of their length their switchability their athleticism and all that other stuff but uh I thought our guys did a really good job trying to uh share the basketball and

Make simple plays make uh real simple plays throughout the course the game you know a lot of good performances uh led by domas is triple double I mean you know it’s it’s just uh it’s seems like it’s a common theme after every game that he’s getting the triple double uh

Which is unique especially for his position um and you know even a guy like uh dorte coming off the bench I thought D excuse me dorte uh uh coming off the bench late you know we didn’t play him at ton in the second half and we threw

Him out there when domas picked up his fifth foul I think with two minutes to go and I mean he had two big defensive stops the last one on the contest of uh quickley who’s a really good three-point shooter without fouling and there a great defensive possession by him and

And then Trey coming off the bench and Trey’s been playing extremely well for us on both ends of the floor uh he’s shooting it at a really really high clip and you you can’t say enough about Malik uh too in in HB so got performances across the board with six guys seven

Guys in double figures and you know 35 assists on 52% shooting and 50 something per from the three so great offense T night for us and and good first half defensive night coach can you uh ke Keegan he just improving in every type of different type of way but you

Know his rebounding yeah he seemed to have learned to rebound I’m not saying around Dantes but he just nowhere to be at the right spot can you talk about that that type of work yeah you know keegin he’s obviously he’s worked on his body and so he’s a lot stronger now than

What he was last year and uh he’s starting to understand the league and understand how physical he needs to be to be able to Rebound in traffic and so um for him to get 12 rebounds obviously is a big Knight but you know he can get eight nine sometimes 10 rebounds on

Average in my opinion per night just because of uh how hard he goes to the glass how strong he is now and his continued growth and understanding of what the league is about so uh it’s not surprising that he uh notched 12 tonight Mike they’re obviously real talented

Team they go on that run late um kind of get back in it were you seeing a lot of I mean were you okay with what you were seeing from your team the way they responded especially once domos F out uh you know I did from the standpoint that

Our guys found a way to get a win um but you know and you got to give them credit they are talented they are long they they keep coming at you you know and so you give them a lot of credit but at the end of the day you know I I I

Just I think so highly of our guys in their their field their intelligence and their ability to defend and so it’s it’s as a coach when you give up 77 points in the second half uh when you give up 40 points in the paint in the SEC in the

Second half um you you know it it’s it’s tough because you know we can play better and you want your guys to play better and it’s my job to keep pushing them you know at the end of the day you take a win especially at this point in

The year uh win is a win is a win and you learn from the win but while you’re while you’re winning you hope that you can continue to try to improve and appreciate and embrace the little things that will help you get stops because at

The end of the day like I said I mean we we can we can score we show we can score and there’s to be T times when when the ball’s not going in the hole and that’s when your defense really has to step up

And if you can rely on that to a certain degree man the sky is a limit Mike in addition to this time of the year being kind of labeled as trade season this is also kind of like that dog days of the Season type year where everything’s settled in and you’re kind

Of in the trenches a little bit in your assessment just with the the teams that you’ve worked with uh like how do the best teams handle this stretch of the season when when it gets to that ground gr that’s a great question they usually those teams have the ability to to take

It to to another level and then not Dr you know not drastically or dramatically however you want to call it but you could just feel those teams tighten up on both sides of the ball just enough to where they could sustain a punch or two uh if especially if they if there’s a

Gap in the league they can sustain a punch or two from the other team to where the other team knows okay it’s too hard we just going to move on to the next one and and and having that feel that understanding uh as a group is something that we’re searching for right

Now you you know we’re talented enough skilled enough to get the get the win but can we sustain if we’re up can we sustain a punch and then a second punch in the second half with with some sense of urgency by trying to play the right way and being physical and all that

Other stuff while getting stops and still getting out and running and having fun on the offense and the floor and that’s that’s uh I I think we can but we have to obviously show it Mike uh first up number one do you have any update on Trey I I don’t yeah I

Don’t okay uh secondly we’re seeing dear I mean walking up those stairs looked a little a little tough on him I mean he looks beat up a little bit 30 points a game for most of the Season how do you maintain that how do you how do you try

To pull back a little bit or or push through when these situations happen where he starts to get a little banged up uh you know if we if we can that’s where you try to give him more minutes and I thought tonight we were going to

Have the ability to rest him but uh I obviously with those guys coming back and uh cutting you know a double digit lead fairly quickly and that second half we had to extend his minutes to get the win but you know anytime we can rest him

We’re going to sit him down for long stretches so that uh he doesn’t have to play 34 35 36 minutes in the case of the double overtime game a couple of days ago 40 something minutes uh but it’s it’s it’s part of being the guy you know

Uh everybody that I coached uh that was of that caliber you know they have to go through that they have to be able to and obviously if you if and when you get a certain age you know it gets scaled back but they they have to be able to step up

And perform when their body is banged up and that’s what he did tonight coach another solid night of uh denying Second Chance points from a team how do you feel like you guys have managed to get those periods on possessions and and close them out and

Still maintain your pace uh we’ve done a a decent job of trying to put bodies on bodies you know there’re still at times uh you know if a team takes a long shot sometimes we you know we’re aggressive going to rebound and we may might take

Too many steps in it may bounce over our head but other than that I got to give our guys credit there they’re fighting their tails off on the glass trying to put bodies on bodies making it a physical game to limit uh whoever we’re playing ability to to convert missed

Shots into second points

0:00 – 2:43 Keegan Murray
2:43 – 9:44 De’Aaron Fox
9:44 – 18:26 Coach Brown

Keegan Murray, De’Aaron Fox and Coach Brown speak to the media following a win over the Toronto Raptors in Golden 1 Center on January 5, 2024.

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