Keegan Murray, Kevin Huerter and Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 1.18.24

Keegan Murray, Kevin Huerter and Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 1.18.24

Keegan four games in a row now uh you guys are going through it a little bit what do you what do you make of just kind of where you guys are at right now and and how you kind of get out of this uh I mean I feel

Like especially the last games of the road trip uh we’re tough ones um but we I mean we’re giving ourselves a chance we just uh there’s things that we obviously have to be better at first half defense um making free throws um and things like that so um it’s a lot of

Small things that are turning into big things yeah Keegan the free throw shooting has just become like an epidemic with you guys what is it that you guys are seeing is it a mental thing I know you guys are shooting more at practice but I mean 18 of

32 not good yeah I mean we’re shooting a lot of free throw in practice um obviously it’s I feel like last year obviously was a lot better but um we just have to keep uh working on it and um at the end of the day we’re professionals um we’ve all shot good

From the free L before so um just just getting over that hump and I think we’ll be fine Keegan Mike’s always said like he likes to see adversity within this team to kind of see what can happen afterwards you guys went through adversity last year you’ve gone through

Adversity earlier this season what do you kind of hope to learn from these past four games and trying to end the home stand on high out uh uh I mean obviously adversity last year the first four games um this is a new team and uh

I feel like this year we’ve had a lot more adversity with injuries and losses and things like that so um just sticking with it day by day um not giving up on each other sticking with it uh with each other staying as a team um as a family

Um and we’ll get through it Keegan in some of those moments where your guys’ defense could have been better um what were you seeing like perimeter containment or rotations or what were you kind of seeing there uh I mean yeah I feel like TJ hurt us a lot especially

In the first quarter I think um with his his Nash dri and things like that um and we tried to try to stop that and um he hurt us a lot so uh there’s just a lot of different things uh they’re obviously the number one offensive team for a

Reason um and we just have to be better defensively against them next time uh just want to know get your thoughts on um see um Miles Turner and Benedict Matan and what they were doing as well as um the came off to Ben jarus uh Walker yeah I mean Walker came in and

Hit a lot of big shots um a lot of tough shots um so uh cuos to them and uh obviously Ben’s really good player um in the same draft class as me and he’s a tough guy uh miles is obviously big space to the floor really well for them

Um so they have a lot of different dimensions on their team um that hurt us tonight um starting and they’re starting to line up and Off the Bench Keegan when you look at um the way you guys played down the stretch um making it kind of interesting there is

There any positive you can carry from that uh like I know Mike has made a big deal about when guys come in and maximizing their opportunities I’m just wondering if you feel like that’s a moment that might be able to build off of yeah I mean we know we shouldn’t have

Been in that position in the first place um but just to see our effort um continue um when even when we’re down late in the fourth um it’s encouraging um but that’s not the type of game that we want to be in all the time so uh just

Take it as it is and I just learn from it first off just I mean obviously it was a career hype for you how nice was it to kind of get going a little bit for you yeah it felt good would have uh obviously felt better in a win for sure

And then how do you you guys obviously turned it on there in in that closing moments there um did it feel like you guys had to have that moment happen before the like maybe a switch was kind of flipped for you I don’t know I mean those are you

Don’t ever want to be in that situation you know that’s just random basketball I don’t I don’t know the numbers for as many teams I can be in a scramble and come back and win and uh yeah we obviously we force turnovers but you can’t rely on that ever to really win a

Game so so hopefully keep ourselves out of those situations Kevin just defensively what are you guys seeing that’s causing like the blowups like this where you guys are getting the big uh the big deficits I think youo to be honest in this one uh

Yeah I I give them a lot of credit you know they offensively they play a great brand of basketball right now and they uh the pace that they play with in the half court TJ McConnell killed us all night you know it felt like we couldn’t

Keep him in front of us and they’re missing you know an Allstar and potentially another Allstar that they just got but they play really good Brandon basketball they it’s random they move they play with Pace they’ve you know their their rookie came in and killed us off the bench hit a couple

Threes and just different guys feel like they they played really well tonight and uh I think for us just up in the physicality uh you know just being better that on the floor I think communication wise we’re off a little bit but again they they have a lot of

Moving Parts in their offense and you know they’re they’re one of the top off def is in the league for a reason Kev when it comes to free throws you guys practice it every single day even today you guys were practice even more is it a mental thing do you guys

Have to just take more shots just how do you get out of that funk uh it’s a good question I uh for me with anything I think it’s always you go back to the work you’re in the gym you got to build your confidence by by trusting you know

The work that you put in so it’s uh we shot ourselves in the foot you know this the third game in a row this has happened against you know three good teams it feels like it’s self-inflicted that’s why I think it’s it’s frustrating for us and uh it’s no secret like free

Throw line we can’t miss 14 free throws at home and expect the team uh that’s this good even with the players they’ve out you that’s that’s stuff that we can control not a good game by us obviously um we did not play I take it back I was going to say

We did not play well at all uh I do applaud our guys fight um the last I don’t know four minutes or whatever it was three minutes in the game uh they could have easily folded and packed it in uh but they scrambled they fought and they gave ourselves a chance to uh

Possibly send the game in overtime by making a 15 or 17-point game uh into a one possession game uh so I plot our guys for that other than that there wasn’t much wasn’t much good uh in the first half obviously uh we couldn’t do anything

With TJ TJ blew byas um play after play after play for layup uh in the first half which Andor assist but mainly he scored in the first half he ended the game with 20 20 and 10 so you you on nine for 14 from the field so you give a

Guy like that a lot of credit for coming in here and uh giving them belief to start the game because that’s what he did uh also the the young fell Jaylen Smith um he just Rim ran whenever we had uh Miss match and he sat down in the

Paint and uh we did not do a good job of fighting him at all they threw it directly to him and he either scored it or he got fouled but he was six for seven from the floor five of those were Rim runs just sitting down and bullying whoever was

Guarding him and then he was four for four from the free throw line with 13 rebounds he had a very very good productive night for those guys and the the last is walker uh Walker came off the bench and he played a great game I mean they they outscored our bench uh 25

34 to 34 to 16 and um you know it was great production that they got from uh top to bottom with who for with whoever Rick threw out on the floor uh so tough night for our bench especially verse verse their bench um defensively like I said

In the first half just watching TJ blow byas possession after possession after possession was tough uh our low man you know in terms of x’s and o’s defensively I thought we took a couple of steps backwards because um when somebody does dribble drive to the rim we usually do a

Pretty good job or we have been doing a pretty good job of coming across and trapping the box and taking care of it but there were too many occasions where that guy on the bottom weak side uh didn’t even move so it was tough watching that and it was from multiple

Guys it wasn’t just one guy or two guys we had multiple guys and then uh in the second half too um you know TJ he didn’t penetrate like he did in the first half but he just back cut us Time After Time After Time because we were ball watching and then

We had to re react to him when he back cut us and uh uh now we’re in scramble mode again and they got good looks so uh our defense was was non-existent until we started scrambling and fighting at the end and you know they score 126

Points on 55% from the field uh that’s that’s not good and then the final thing that I would say is obvious it’s I mean it’s obvious it’s our free throw shooting I mean we just two games and I I the only reason why I say two is I

Can’t remember um what we shot in Milwaukee but uh from the free throw line but it’s two games in a row we shoot 50% from the field excuse me from the free throw line and I’m not sure what it is we shot today we shot more free throws and shoot around than we’ve

Ever have in a shoot round since I’ve been here and yesterday uh we shot more free throws in a practice um than I than I than we ever have since I’ve been here we’ve upped the number and um uh and we put even to a point to where uh if they

Don’t get x amount in a row uh there’s a time limit they just got to sit there and shoot two at a time and rotate so hopefully sooner than later we’ll you know each man will figure that out uh amongst himself while we continue as a

Team uh to shoot a lot of free throws but each man will look in the mirror and kind of lock in and try to figure out what he can do to be better at the free throw line because having two games at at at at in the 50s and the two games

Are basically you know one possession games um even though there were times you didn’t play well in both those games which is going to happen uh it’s it’s tough to swallow you how you know seeing your team with adversity see how they kind of yeah even

As early as today and maybe that was it there but I’m just curious if some of the traits that you’ve seen throughout your time here with Sacramento is this stretch of adversity is there anything that you can point to that might be I don’t know surprising or just something

That maybe is different from maybe previous adversities uh well you know I I tell you we we’ve had good stretches defensively which makes me feel like we’re about to break out you know because you’re not going to always shoot the ball well and it makes me feel

Like we’re going we we got it I mean our execution defensively again was at a really high level versus Phoenix I was disappointed in a lot of things with that game down the stretch but man I I walked away from that saying what okay if we can get this type of

Effort and focus and commitment on that end of the floor we’re we’re going to give ourselves a chance because we have been playing well offensively and I always felt that whether offense was here or it wasn’t good I always feel like that’s going to come back um so you

Know the the defense of end the floor um the inconsistencies that has been for me pretty pretty uh alarming um and the free throws the the free throws just tonight not just in last game but the reality of it is all season we’re 30th in the NBA from the free throw line and

I feel like we have good Shooters you know I I really do and uh I’m just uh you know it baffles me a little bit that we we shoot the way we shoot from the field and from the three uh but then we shoot the way we shoot from the free throw line

You know so I I think uh uh probably those two things probably with the free throw our free throw percentage being the most alarming and then uh uh second is the inconsistencies that we’re getting on the defense end of the floor you know cuz 50 I mean like I said 55%

On a and 126 points that’s that’s that’s not good Mike when you look at Kevin tonight career-high 31 points maybe that’s the only bright spot you can see on this uh for the game tonight just how nice was it to kind of see him get back into

Rhythm and be the star that you guys thought he was at the beginning of the year No it’s it’s great um you know Kev like I said that the game that we got beat pretty good by New Orleans uh when we kept him in at the end and gave him

Extended minutes um to see him like he had a pop to him or some bounce to him and so to watch that uh for me I was like okay I think I think he’s ready to go and and from that point he’s done this and uh you know which which is

Exciting you know it’s exciting and and you’re happy for him and and for us but uh um you know it’s tough to enjoy that when you lose the game the way we lost it you know because some guys had great numbers some guys played played well offensively but obviously the game of

Basketball you got to figure out a way to get get it done on both sides of the ball on both sides of the ball and we didn’t do a good job with it defensively tonight Mike back to the the topic of adversity a lot has been made about

Leadership what you’re saying what fox is saying sabonis is saying or whatever but what is each individual player going back to the time of the championship teams and high quality teams you’ve been on what does each individual player have to do themselves to work through this adversity and these stretches of the

Season that are going to happen well the first thing is you know you know a loss like this it it should sting you know And you should let it bother you but having said that uh because of the amount of games that uh you have to play in through the course of the Season you got to figure out okay I let it sting for a few hours or whatever it is now I

Got to figure out how I can get better what did I do wrong tonight what have what have I been doing wrong overall not only that what have we as a team been doing that’s not good enough to help us win games right now um or what can we do

Better as a team to help us win games right now and so your outlook has to go from okay I’m taking the hit I’m feeling it now it’s time to fight and it’s time to fight while getting better it’s time to fight in practice in terms of locking

In because we’re not going to have any contact at this point in the year except for our low minute guys and then it’s definitely time to fight come game time I got to I got it I know that we can be a better defensive team like than what

We are so it has to it has to start there because at the end of the day excuse me like I said we’re going to figure out a way to score we just got to figure out a way to slow some of these teams down you know I mean it’s even

Milwaukee I can say we I thought I thought offensively we were great but it’s hard when you’re giving up the points the type of points that you’re giving up and the type of Threes that we gave up to their hot guys it’s tough to try to try to just go Toe to

Toe and and outscore guys on a night in Night Out basis when it comes to TJ and those like Baseline Nash dribble drives what’s the ideal defensive coverage there the first thing is you want you want to space him a little bit and you want to live with

His jumper what we told our guys live with his jumper and contest late we don’t want to give up blow buys and in the first half he just put his head down we tried to press up on him he drove right by us and then we relaxed

When he got because he you know he goes behind the basket and so you think that okay well he’s not I you tend to think that he’s not going to score but he’s been playing this way his whole life and so if you relax instead of continuing to

Try to body him along the Baseline and not let him step back from underneath the basket to to shoot a reverse layup he’s going to score it he’s used to doing that so we got to do a better job of containing the dribble Drive first of all and then second once

He does get along that Baseline you have to have a physical presence with your chest of trying to keep him pinned or dribbling along the Baseline and not just come back as soon as he as soon as he crosses underneath the basket if that makes sense Coach Brown um I don’t think your

Bench had a dip since uh that Portland game but uh you had four points in the first quarter all of that was uh Malik and you didn’t the bench didn’t uh produce anything else until the third quarter I think U Sasha got about six points what’s your analysis of uh you

Had a total of 16 points coming from the bench just want to get your uh thoughts of um your bench play tonight not getting that many points from there yeah I mean in terms of offensively we didn’t get a lot from our bench but the the reality of it is again

I we score 121 points we shoot 52% from the field uh basically 40% from the three-point from the three-point line in in a 48 minute game regulation game that you think should be enough especially when you get 32 free throws right we score 121 points with 32 free

Throws um you think offensively you know okay off night for our bench but we still in my opinion scored enough and had a chance to score enough from the free throw line you shoot 58% from the free throw on 32 free throw attempts so you missed you missed 14 you missed 14

Free you could take Malik’s out the last one cuz we had to miss that to try to tip it out for a three so you missed 14 13 free throws that’s big and then on top of that you give up 55% from the field and 126 points so

I’m yeah it’s it’s I’m a little concerned that our bench didn’t score but at the end of the day I’m I’m more concerned that our bench and our starters didn’t perform at the level that we needed to defensively to try to get to to be able to get a win against a

Team like tonight Mike you talk about what you need to see in terms of like fight and and Leadership and and you know the the where how you guys can get out of this but what are you actually seeing like in reality what are you seeing from these guys right now

Specifically maybe when you look at Fox and domas and other guys you look to for that leadership um what are you seeing and and how does that compare to what you actually need um over the second half of the Season I’m not can can you just help me

Out one more time um so you you talked about we have to show the fight you you need certain things in terms of your leadership you need you know the team to respond a certain way to adversity as you you like to talk about but right now

Maybe they’re not responding the the way you want I guess is what I’m getting at like where where are the shortcomings right now in terms of of what you’re seeing so the short shortcomings is again specifically and it’s and it’s different in each game Milwaukee we

Didn’t do a good job job guarding a three especially with their hot players right and and their hot players hit a high percentage of their three uh in in the Phoenix game we turn the ball over and the turnovers led to easy baskets in transition a and then in transition we

Didn’t do a good job at all finding bodies Our transition defense was terrible even when we didn’t turn the ball over it in the fourth in the fourth quarter you know the last I don’t know eight minutes of the fourth quarter our transition defense wasn’t good tonight um uh and then again both

Those games we played well offensively till the last six minutes when we started turning the ball over uh against Phoenix we played well offensively I thought the whole game against Milwaukee uh and then uh tonight it I mean the things that we did well in the other two games traing uh

Come across and trap in the box or helping our teammates on drives um uh losing vision of our man so a guy can cut and now we got to overreact to the cut cuz he’s behind us um um so the back Cuts our low man wasn’t there and then blow buys on the

Dribble those all that stuff didn’t happen the last two games and so uh kind of different things each of the game and and we like and that’s why I said earlier that you know I’m a little surprised of the inconsistencies that we’re getting from game to game to game

Because we’ve shown we can do it we’ve shown we can do it on multiple occasions and then you know we go out and we have a uh and we slip in this area and then the game the next game okay we clean that up but now we we slip

In we slip in this area you know and and like I said but with with the exception of us turning the ball over down the stretch in Phoenix our our offense has been good you know I somebody sent me some too and like I think our offensive rating is

Around the same of what as what it was last year or close something similar to that I think they said but the the difference is the whole league uh League wide offens is really picked up so we’re we’re doing about the same thing U last year roughly on the offense end of the

Floor and we had the last five or so games you know if not more uh again where I’m disappointed in what I’m disappointed in is the inconsistencies of the different parts of our defense that we’re bringing to the table uh night in night out with the exception of the Phoenix game

Keegan Murray, Kevin Huerter, and Coach Brown speak to the media following a loss to the Indiana Pacers in Golden 1 Center on January 18, 2024.

00:00 – 3:17 Keegan Murray
3:17 – 5:42 Kevin Huerter
5:42 – 23:57 Coach Brown

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