Media Availability: Wes Unseld Jr. and Kyle Kuzma | 01/06/24

Media Availability: Wes Unseld Jr. and Kyle Kuzma | 01/06/24

You guys made a strong push there in the third quarter and then they seem to recapture the momentum how did they turn it back around oh I think the um you know got some run outs transition offensive rebounds in that stretch you know down 20 he’s never ideal it’s

Taxing to you know call your way back into a game uh able to cut it to a two possession game with about 5 and a half minutes to play so you’re within Striking Distance and I think uh um they hit a top top of the key three and I think I got another

Possession all of a sudden kind of stretched again on us so couldn’t recover from that that push was made by the starters what was holding back the bench tonight uh I don’t think anything in particular I mean we we had a handful of turnovers in that first uh first run

I believe six um in that quarter um you know cut into those turnovers a little bit second half but um they were you know blowing up some action you know we had a hard time you know with dribble handoffs just think making Auto passes and I think they were able to jump the

Lanes and get out and convert Wes what did you see in the first half particularly what seemed like your team not ready for their aggression and their yeah we were you know I think that’s the you know kind of a lesson for us for us

All you know is uh we knew going in that they’re very aggressive very physical team you I don’t think we came out anticipating that you know amount of force um and they played last night just like we did so um to show a little more resilience in that second half was

Positive but you know we got to make sure we’re ready to go start of the game Jordan had 10 shot attempts tonight only four last night what something what’s holding him back from he’s a volume shooter what’s holding him back from I mean some is really good defense I mean

He’s got the primary defender on him at all times you know last night it was a Coro obviously tonight you saw number of bodies but they’re he’s the priority most most often you know on The Scouting Report teams are um for good reason you know trying to put their their best defender on

It you talk about New York’s kind of offensive versatility I’m curious what did they do kind of off the ball tonight to to challenge you guys um yeah well those two Garner so much attention and they put so much pressure on you they’re able to obviously stretch you from three

Um their high volume use you know I’ve seen the post for Randall isos but Brunson and picking well he just put so much pressure on you with his ability to to shoot the pull up three play in the pocket you know he’s got a very very slow pace but efficient floor game um

Uses his fakes and so forth gets you off balance he makes those push shots in between shots at a high clip so you know it’s just that balance to getting back in front of the ball and sometimes he’s going to make tough shots for his really

Good defense but you know he’s a he’s a a tough he’s a tough cover uh Denny and Koz both had big nights especially um a lot of it was coming in transition what did you see from those two that you liked well I think the tempo you know obviously in

That third quarter we’re able to get stops and that helped us you get out and run and uh we’ve been really good and we’re able to do that um you I think mixing in more Zone helped us still had some issues at times with rebounding but overall just breaks up the Rhythm um

Takes them out of kind of what their the primary offensive flow um so that was help but I think once we got those stops those two do a great job of pushing spacing the floor guys know that when they run they’re going to get opportunities you mentioned going into

Zone a little bit what goes into your decision making and what like kind of take me to the mind of a coach when you’re deciding to go into zone or not um is it more Personnel based is it your personnel their personnel it’s yeah it’s both I mean the flow you know we’re

Having a hard time with certain actions we’re having a hard time you know um and the other team’s got a flow or Rhythm maybe want to try and break it up a little bit um also depending on who who they have on the floor if they’ve got a lot of

Shooting on the floor maybe not the best idea but once again it forces them to do something you know outside of the norm and I think at times it works um tonight I think it did it helped and you know obviously that they got a little bit of

A a beat on it you know started to adjust and ran some different stuff to you know kind of stretch our our Zone a bit overload the same uh the strong side um and that that’s going to happen but I thought it was good that we were able to

Mix it in and and create a little indecision all right appreciate it 20 turnovers is obviously not what you want to see do you think that was the big momentum shift tonight or was it something else um yeah turn turn turnovers was huge um first half not really making shots

And um you know same thing defensively I mean this is really kind of the third game and not really scoring over 100 um and allowing over 120 so what makes Julius Randall so hard to guard apart from his size he does a great job of just using his body um

Understands how to get to the line and fouls and um he attacks every every possession so you mentioned the offense the last few games what have been some common issues that um have been different from the rest of the year for you guys um I mean we’ve been turning the ball over

Um playing a little different um know hav been hitting shots Haden been playing with Pace fast break has been a little different you know today it was cool for segments because we got stops and we got out but and you guys um made a strong push

There in the third quarter and then they were able to regain the momentum why do you think they able why they were able to do that um not hitting shots um you know tibs plays his guys a lot during the game so you notice a lot in that second

Unit um Julius Randle was in still um harste side was playing Brunson was in so um you know they played a lot of their first unit versus second unit too I mean that’s what tibs does you know he plays his guys a lot so did their aggressiveness and assertiveness kind of overwhelmed

The team in the first half uh yeah in the second quarter I think it did for sure um you know I think the first eight nine minutes of the game you know it was okay it’s whatever then it kind of just broke free a little bit when you look at the the Knicks

Obviously having one of the League’s better defenses um I know some of that is Personnel some of that is kind of their scheme um what is it that they do well that you feel like you guys could kind of replicate for the rest of the

Season the Knicks uh I mean mean we try to do what they do they just got the Personnel to do it you know um and then in that that third quarter um you know when things start cooking what what was kind of the key to

That for us uh we got stops we played Zone um you know made them get more stagnant uh and we got out we got some transition looks um we’re at our best when we play with pace and we um you know few times we get stops get out and go so

Um when you talk about getting stops at the beginning of the third quarter defense to offense is that a mentality switch is it a was it a scheme thing I know you mentioned go Zone a little bit do you think that played a role in it

Yeah the Zone I think the Zone played a role in it I think we got a little bit more physical um got in crack back on some rebounding a heart sign sign um and we got out and ran so

Coach Unseld and Kyle Kuzma spoke to the media following Saturday night’s matchup against the New York Knicks at Capital One Arena.

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