Malik Monk, Domantas Sabonis & Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 1.22.24

Malik Monk, Domantas Sabonis & Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 1.22.24

Field just to get back in the wind column tonight and do it in Great fashion at the free throw line something we’ve been talking about for a while now uh the win feels great man um free throw was going to happen you go through a little slump throughout every career

Um throughout every year too so we’re not worried about that well I wasn’t but uh it feels great to to definitely get the win Man U Malik what did it take to kind of get HP going so early um I know he’s had a little bit of an up and down season

Three off days was that were you guys kind of into Zer at all three off days um just make sure you ask Mike that um and tell him I said what what what it does so we just need to get HB um a few more off days I hopefully he do this um

Pretty often sure I’ll be sure to do that and and then just um you know I know a lot of the focus have been on things that you guys can control and obviously Co closing out games tonight just how well do you feel you guys kept

The foot on the pedal there oh yeah it was great man um basketball the game of runs and they made their run um and we usually fold when another team make the Run um and let them all the way back in it and um like you said we didn’t fold

Um we kept our foot on their necks tonight and um finally finish the game how we supposed to Malik the uh bench had 42 points tonight uh you did say you wasn’t worried about that can you talk a little bit about what y’all were doing in that

Second unit just being us man um I think every time we go out there um we bring like a little spark um or at least I try to bring the spark um Davon finally got back in the rotation and did a um a great job um especially on the defensive

End and he was um decisive on offense um so that’s just us being our group man um just picking back up on the starters Malik how how much did you guys need this to to just kind of get out of the funk and and you know why was it so

Important to to do it tonight oh yeah it was great man um I don’t know I’ve been in terrible situations man so four games ain’t nothing to me uh so uh it it’s it’s good to get back on the winning column man um and everybody

Is nagging um but I thought we was the same record as last year so I mean but yeah it’s great it’s great to get to win um especially in this fashion um the fans weren’t booing us tonight so that was good too Malik you had a team High eight

Assist and seems like you constantly at this point make the right read and pick and roll situations how comfortable do you feel as a facilitator uh I’ve been I’ve been handling the ball playing on the ball my whole life man like I’ve been saying before so um I’m just

Thankful Mike let me play um let me play the one sometimes and let me see um let me see the ball and let everybody know um Let me show everybody what I can do um but yeah I’m super comfortable um coming off the ball having the ball it

Don’t matter the other day you mentioned being on a string really important for you guys defensively does this feel like one of the better nights that you guys were were doing that yeah definitely definitely was one of those nights um if if somebody falls down the next

Guy got to pick him up um if we miss a rotation the next guy got to be there and we did that tonight Malik uh yesterday we saw you guys see or Saturday we saw you sing Happy Birthday to javil how crazy is it

To watch a player like that at 36 get up and dunk and get all that fun and get a tech it’s all right n it’s fun man he he brings a lot of energy to the team man um other than what I do um he bring something else

Besides um on the court he bring another another jokester um always laughing um so it’s always great to have him around um cuz he never he’s never sad never down always smiling but it’s great to see him out there um catching lobs and and still running as old as he

Is Malik I could be wrong I I don’t remember this season seeing the lineup of you fox and and dve on on the floor at the same time just curious your thoughts on just how that unit works and how fun it is playing with two other

Capable ball handlers oh yeah man um we just get out fast way faster than normal um everybody’s selfish so we passed the ball up um and the game just going way faster and I think other teams can’t keep up with the speed so it was it was pretty nice it felt good out

There I know uh four games not great to be losing but again you guys have the same record that you guys had at this time last year just to get back to your winning ways how good was that feeling and knowing that you know maybe the sky isn’t really following even though it

Kind of feels like it is yeah no it feels great it feels great to get to get a win and the fans haven’t got a one in a long time here so um it’s definitely a great feeling how big was it to to close out down the stretch tonight uh it was

Great you know um they made a they made a late push you know they got very talented players there and um we came we we locked in together you know and uh we got it done and and then the 20 boards I mean I know you’ve had it several times

But to do it against a team like that especially with guy like capella um just how important was that uh you know just you know they they did a good job defensively taking things away on the offense you know so I just had to make

My myself help the team in in other ways you know and um you know just get the board get the boards push the ball you know um get offensive rebounds you know all that stuff yeah D what do you feel like was working for you guys defensively tonight um we were just

Talking we were communicating uh we locked in on the assignment you know um we we were up the big got below sometimes weak side was there you know we’re exing out you know um we worked on that these last couple days you know and it show today domos uh Harrison

Sometimes gets left out of the the sort of cycle of of passes and shots um just how big was it for him to step up in a moment where some of you guys weren’t having a great shooting night um it’s great you know um that’s on us how we

Say it you know um he’s he’s always ready he’s one of the most professional guys on the team um stays ready does all the work even more and uh we just got to find him more find him more um in those situations cuz most of the nights he does have a

Mismatch I I you might laugh at this but free throws just to see him actually go down tonight and you know only missed two or three of them just how good was that do you feel like that was a difference at all um probably probably was a difference you know we didn’t I

Mean I didn’t even pay attention I don’t even know how much we missed or made um we go up there we try to make them so same as usual every night don’t to kind of piggyback on the HB question what stands out in games like this when probably his best game since opening

Night um as opposed to other nights when he’s not as aggressive um it’s just we have more options we’re dangerous we have more options you know other guys can score um like I said most of the nights he does have a mismatch on him

You know and um we just got to look for that call the right plays you know and then for him to be aggressive in them uh domas how how you’ve talked about how you guys needed to to stop this after four games I think it’s not

The first time you’ve said like we can’t let it get to five how how how much did you guys need this tonight and and why was that so important oh it was big you know especially going into our longest road trip of the season um get a win at

Home you know um to start things off right and um just get ready going into a a tough opponent back to English sorry to be boring do you’ve been here for much of dear’s Ascension into this this superstardom especially with the start of the Season that he’s had I’m curious

From your perspective he seems to be in a little bit of a funk right now but how has he continued to impress you or lead or what are the things that he’s been doing over the last handful of weeks while the numbers may not be there but

He’s still leading um yeah I don’t I don’t think he’s in a funk you know um he’s playing the right way he’s um making the right reads getting guys involved he’s leading um teams are throwing everything at him he’s averaging 30 points so teams these last couple games are throwing different

Defenses at him he’s doing a great job of running the plays coach calls a lot of plays um like tonight was for HP so um we’re a great team so there’s there’s many different players that can show up every other night you know and uh he’s

The one leading he’s he’s the head of the snake with the ball so um this doesn’t happen with with without him so you know whatever he ended up with tonight I don’t even know but um we won because of him um uh damont um J McGee uh the bench

Scored 42 points tonight and he kind of got in and uh got things kind of rolling what do your thought about you know playing with jville this season you know he’s he’s a vet you know he stays ready just like HB you know those guys um Stay

Ready they know when their when their numb is going to be called and they come out and and play at a high level you know and today he showed that hey I thought uh I thought our guys man you know they defended really well they did some stuff out there defensively that I

Know were capable of doing night in night out out um you know your coverages are going to break down uh from game to game and that’s when you just got to cover from one another and uh and I thought our guys did a fantastic job covering from one another even a guy like

Domas a couple of times guys were wide open especially in the first half on the wing because our rotations got screwed up or whatever and domas just saw somebody open on the perimeter and he flew at him and contested and contested a shot and you live with with the

Results um but uh we were flying around defensively and it’s great to see I mean it’s a good team and you know he scor 107 points on 38% 39% from the field uh that’s really good for us um and you know I keep saying this you know if we

Defend now will we defend like that hold everybody at 39% no uh and I’m sure Atlanta feels like they miss some shots but that’s what it takes in today’s game is you know some guys got it some teams have to miss shots at times but we’re not going to hold everybody to 39%

Having said that you know we didn’t uh play great offensively we played really really good and you know I I I if you look at our our three guys Kean and and domas and Foxy you know they were 14 for 22 32 38 or something like that and we still scored 122 points

Uh but you know when you defend like that it gives you energy it gives you juice um and it it can help you uh in a game where you don’t have the production uh the high volume production from your top three scorers so um heck of a job on

The defense in the floor and you know to top that off I thought javel came off the bench and gave us a lift uh defensively I thought Trey gave us a lift defensively uh uh I thought Malik was good too defensively he did a lot of

Good things on that end of the floor but Davon uh was really good he ended up getting our defensive player of the game and and uh it was welld deserved because his ball pressure uh throughout the course of the game when he was in really

Changed the flow uh of the game for us it got us out in transition and and gave us a boost of confidence that we needed uh so he was really really good uh especially defensively uh but you know at the end of the day having a guy like

HB step up for us the way he did I thought he was really aggressive uh and you know he scored and and and multiplayer is on the floor uh tonight and that was a lot of a lot of fun to see Mike building off that a little bit

With HB I mean it’s been a season of up and downs with him it’s been a season of up and downs with the team in general but from your perspective and in your seat there Courtside what did you see and what do you notice is different about HB in these kind of performances

Versus nights like the other night where he only takes two shots and only finishes with two points uh you know I thought the pop was there um he was really aggressive um you know if he felt like he was open he stepped in and shot the

Ball uh the guy closed out on a little too hard and or he thought he can go around him he went around him and if he got an angle to the rim uh then he was drawing a foul or or looking to score it so um seeing him being as aggressive as

As he was tonight uh was good because we needed it with the way that our our big three um shot the ball so uh and then on top of that you know once he got going like that we start going to him and down the stretch we basically went to him

Three or four straight times or called his number at three or four straight times and and good things happened almost every time uh he he touched the ball so uh he had a a great game from start to finish on offense in the floor for us coach going back to the defensive side

Of the ball you know Kevin Durant was asked the other day about the sun’s Improvement there and basically said we just decided we were going to be better you know you see the effort tonight is that one of those things where at this level guys can just say hey we need to

Play harder and then go out and do it uh you know I I think I think our guys have uh for the most part been playing hard during the course of year um just you know over the last week or so you know I felt that uh we started to do things

Better on that end of the floor and when things did break down um we’re recognizing how to cover for one another and uh and you know and the right way to fly around when we cover for one another but I I do having said all that um for

Us it’s a little different but but I do believe in what Katie said uh I think you can throw out I think you can have almost any defensive scheme you want with your team if your team uh uh communicates very well they bring a sense of

Physicality uh to the game and they give multiple efforts uh no matter how you tell them your rotations are going to have to happen if they do those things and they they they believe in each other and they do it at the highest level uh they can be a that particular team

Can be a great defensive team you know because it it a lot of it is that right right there Mike Malik uh told us to tell you that it was three days off that’s why Harrison had such a big night is there something to that we did not give him three days off

Because you guys came to practice and saw us practice so Malik is wrong but now the NBA gave us three days in between games if he was talking about that he needs to call them or tell him tell you guys to trans send that message

To them but uh uh you know yeah you know maybe that you’d have to ask HB but maybe not playing a game for three days maybe helped him get his legs or body I I I don’t know I haven’t I haven’t talked to him but uh it for sure was not

3 days off Malik monk uh coach just seeing the way you know you guys closed out um there’s a lot of focus on past few games where you haven’t been able to have that moment to close out is this a big step forward for that yeah it’s huge you know because you

Know like I said those losses were tough they hurt but it also uh made us reflect on what we’re doing starting with me and so I had to watch the game and break it down and give these guys answers as to what should happen on both ends the floor and

Um and tonight was probably the first time that there was a comfort level in in a while where there was a comfort level and all of us starting with me knowing uh what we’re going to do offensively with the basketball and then how we’re going to defend defensively so

Um those losses hurt they still hurt um but at the end of the day during the season in my opinion you have to go through that because you have to look in the mirror to see if you’re doing what you need to do uh each person again

Start with me each person doing what they need to do to go win a ball game especially if it’s tight down the stretch you mentioned getting better at like covering for each other defensively um where do you kind of see that is that knowing each other and strengths and

Weaknesses is it communicating X’s outs like what are where do you kind of see that no it’s just like if somebody gets hit with a screen and if they get hit with a screen you’re not getting through every screen sometimes you may get stuck sometimes you may fall uh sometimes you

May make the wrong rotation when you go to double team therefore leaving somebody open and if somebody’s open then if I’m the nearest guy it may not be my rotation but I I gotta go I gotta I gotta fly at this open shooter here

And I got to know that okay I’m going to go contest this shot here somebody’s going to have my back and we’re going to keep given the multiple efforts and keep communicating until we come up with with the ball and or finish the play with a with a

Rebound Mike Quick followup to the Harrison question from earlier uh you mentioned the aggressiveness that he started this game with I know there’s only so many shots to go around and you’ve talked before he has to kind of fill a role with that that starting unit with other guys getting their touches is

It difficult to ask for Harrison to to be that aggressive as he was tonight in consistently throughout games when he doesn’t know when those touches are going to come or those opportunities are going to come is that hard to ask a player yeah it is because if you think

About H most hb’s career uh he spent a lot of time getting the ball like he did down the stretch you know get him into the post or get him at the nail so it was a lot of play calls that he had uh

For him and you know we have a lot of guys on this team that can score especially scoring the flow and and and we want to we want to play fast so I can’t manipulate from the sidelines because if I do if I start five up this this and

That then it’s going to slow us down and that’s not how we want to play and and uh so he as well as everybody else is going to have to find their shot the flow of the game the tough part about it is he very seldom brings it sometimes it

May not get to him because as soon as we’re open we want to let that thing fly and uh so he may not the ball may not always get to him so uh and then you know you got Fox you got thas you got Mal uh uh Keegan taking high volume and

Then then you have uh uh Kevin uh and Malik probably next and so it’s it’s a little tough for for HB but uh you know he’s definitely a guy that uh you could throw the ball to when you need a basket because you know he’s going to get a

Good look Andor he’s going to get to the free throw line so he’s got to keep doing what he’s doing to to be aggressive and finding his spots like he did tonight to start the game and and then he’s just got to be ready which he

Is going to be ready if his numbers called like it was down the stretch tonight Mike um dearn started the season so well and you know recently there’s been a little bit of a dip in his production and and then there was a little bit of um you know like a a twoe

Period where he he really didn’t speak publicly what what’s your read on kind of what he’s going through whether it’s physically or or um mentally um just are you seeing him behind the scenes like as steady and doing the things he’s always done or or you know how are you viewing

Him and and that situation right now yeah he he’s uh he’s still getting his extra work in uh he’s been great in practice um he’s been fine I you know he started the season at such an an elite level and it’s I I think he can get to a point

Where he can be pretty close to that throughout most of the year uh but he’s still a really young player and he’s still he’s going to go through his quote unquote ups and his downs and this the right now it’s the dog days of the season and uh you know not everybody is

GNA Kevin went through it you know uh so not everybody’s going to play at the level that they think they should or uh or everyone else thinks they thinks that they should so um as long as he’s you know staying with it which he is and

Continuing to put his work in uh he’s our guy he’s done for us over and over and over again uh he’ll find his way uh back to where he was at close to the beginning of the year

Malik Monk, Domantas Sabonis & Coach Brown speak to the media following a win over the Atlanta Hawks in Golden 1 Center on January 22, 2024.

0:00 – 4:11 Malik Monk
4:11 – 8:46 Domantas Sabonis
8:46 – 21:08 Coach Brown

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