Billy Donovan Postgame Interview | Phoenix Suns vs Chicago Bulls – 1.22.24

Billy Donovan Postgame Interview | Phoenix Suns vs Chicago Bulls – 1.22.24

I’ve seen it a lot yeah B you talked you kind of nail a pregame by saying Kevin doesn’t run from it he wants it all I he he opens for 16 he just keeps coming and some of those shots he hits out the stretch were absolutely ridiculous yeah

I mean he made some tough shots that’s what he does I said you know before the game he he I think thrives in those things like he plays in and the other thing too is like I think sometimes like guys can like you know say that they

Want it and and and just shoot the ball right like he does it in efficient way where he has an expectation that he puts the ball in the basket you know and he and he and he doesn’t shy away from it so I’ve always admired that about him

The game it seemed like you got that 20-point lead in the third quarter Alex got the foul then it got a little chippy maybe EU banks with but what’ you see in that last sequence of the third quarter where the game changed it yeah I mean

That’s where I thought the game you know we gave them a lot of momentum there you know the same thing happened quite honestly in in the in the second quarter you know they kind of got back down to about 12 or so and then we kind of were

Able to kind of write the ship again um but you know that that stretch there was tough we didn’t score we didn’t stop them um you know it got physical um you know there was probably some fouls that it could have been called maybe both ways uh but no question the momentum of

The game changed you know during that time was there anything that’s stood out to you at that point you know other than like you say they they scored you didn’t score was it something in specific that you know I mean we got Alex I would have liked to

Have had Alex in there personally you know if I could have had him in there um I played Patrick Williams way too many minutes uh I played him the whole third quarter straight through I didn’t really feel like there was another solution with Kevin out there you know during

That time and I was worried about bringing Alex back and him picking up his fifth with you know we were still up at that point by maybe I think we went into the fourth up seven so it wasn’t like you know we were down 15 and you’re

Like okay let’s put him back back in there what do we got to lose we were still kind of in control um you know and and I just I thought that that sequence there hurt us um probably paying Patrick too many minutes you know when he was on Durant and and

Um and having to take Alex out because normally what we’ve done is we’ve taken Alex out pretty early in quarters to save him to come back late but with the fouls I didn’t want to do that you know and then we still we listen we still at

That point in time we’re up by you know seven going into the fourth I think it was so it’s it wasn’t like you know certainly momentum changed but we had an opportunity but certainly that I thought those two segments there in the second quarter um or the end of The First

Beginning of that second and then the same thing in the end of the third fourth you know where where the game changed Billy how much did you think uh Eubanks kind of had some sneaky good minutes for them especially in that third quarter he seemed to raise the

Physicality had his hands on a lot of guys and do some different things where just kind of kind of seemed to lead to that momentum change as well yeah no I think um you know there was you he got call for that technical foul you know against Kobe and then you know he

Wrapped drum up and I think I don’t even know if it was reviewed or not but you know he certainly came in physically tried to change the game um you know with the way he played um I thought he got you know gave them you know good

Minutes you know in the game when he was in there um you know I thought you know our second unit at times with with with him in there we we had a hard time at times um that was a struggle a little bit um but I thought for his minutes

That he got he played well what did um you obviously it’s a very difficult loss the way you guys played and to come out like at the end but you know if you get to step back what do you think sort of aesthetically about this game you know

You got your team really stood up you know you took control of the game you know Kobe a lot of guys did some you know really good things are you able to step back and see all that positive but it’s just hey we lost it it’s you know

Yeah I mean excuse me I’m not a I I you know I think at this level like I’m not a big moral Victory guy personally you know these guys I’ve got a lot of belief in um but you know there’s there’s a lot of things that we

Can you know learn from we had post feeds that we turned the basketball over uh you know we had some some some fouls where we weren’t disciplined enough um you know on a couple plays um I thought we had some empty possessions where we stepped out of bounds we we made some

Poor choices but it didn’t take away from the spirit and how hard they competed and played and and that’s the one thing I think you can always get better from those moments so there’ll be a lot of positives to take from the game with the way these guys competed and

Played um but then I think there’s a lot of things that we have to understand you know this is a team that’s probably Allin trying to win a championship and they’ve been banged up and they’ve had injuries and they’re starting to get whole so they’re obviously you know

Coming right a little past the the Midway point they’re they’re trying to get their Rhythm as well and and when you’re in a game like that there’s a lot we can learn from that you know um so there’ll be there was a lot of great things out there I mean I couldn’t be

Any more pleased or proud with the way they competed and played and the way they fought and battled and the fact that it went back and forth and we didn’t Wilt and you know we kept coming back at them you know even though they got control it wasn’t like all of a

Sudden you know we lost seven-point lead and the lead we got down by three and then it went from 15 and the game was over with the last five minutes like we we kept going back and fourth you know dear’s play was tough I didn’t really

See it on the on on the on the replay you know that was obviously a big twoo taken away in potential three-point play um you know Patrick I thought you know we had an opportunity maybe get him on a law back there and you know they kind of

They fouled him maybe he caught it um so there was there was just like little things that I think happened in in in the course of the game that you know we can clean up you know and I think when you start talking about like effort and

Competing it it it makes it really really hard where you’re starting there whereas I thought we really did a great job of that and now we got to clean up you know some of the execution stuff first part first quarter you guys probably played as well as you maybe

You’ve played all season did you did you see that I me seemed like moving the ball passing a lot of open shots attacking the rim you know see seemed like everything was going well you know I think for our group that’s how we have to play you know and and and I don’t

Think early in the year you know we necessarily you know played you know to that identity and you know I think as The Season’s gone on there’s been enough you know minutes that have passed by that I think they can look at how we’ve

Got to play and we’re at our best Vu is at his best dear’s a great got great vision and can see you know V is a really good connector and facilitator so yeah I I love the way we played you know we moved it we shared it you know we had

A lot of guys involved you know the last several games it’s been you know five to seven guys in double Figures it’s been close to 30 assists you know all those things have been really really positive um you know this there’s some this is this you know to me these are there’s

Been some games this year quite honestly that we’ve lost that we have no right to be upset about and this is a game you could be upset about because you poured your heart and soul in it you came up short you know and there’s nothing for

Them to hang their heads about and I’m not trying to like I said make it about a moral Victory but there’s a lot of good things we did competitively in the game that we can hopefully build upon but I do to your point in the first quarter really really like the

Intentions of the way we played did you have two plays called in that last time out I didn’t I I I I I um the play I had on was for a lob and the last thing I anticipated was you know probably a foul on that situation and um

It’s going to work or not yeah you know cuz I knew they had a foul I didn’t want to get caught into a situation where all of a sudden we were having to maybe they fouled right away and now it’s 0.5 seconds or 6 seconds or a second goes

Off on the foul so we tried to run a lot play and um you know they obviously called the foul we tried to go back to the play that we ran before that and you know with one second to go they’re kind of all jammed up and we just tried to I

Mean dear made a great break just to try to get open and get something um you know I think maybe I could have tried to help them a little bit more in that situation um I think they were trying to get to a different action and and

Probably from my perspective um you know maybe could have given them but we had talked about you know we knew they had a foul to give and the play that we had on was to really try to almost eliminate them having to foul you know was to try

To get Patrick behind the defense but after they did foul you know I think I could have done better in terms of trying to help them there in that situation Billy with all that star power on the other team obviously what does it say about what Kobi did tonight kind of

Just you know big layups and and just kind of trying to match them all I think he was one assist away from a triple double or something yeah I mean like that’s the that’s the one thing and I think we talked about this Joe a little

Bit you know it’s those guys are great great players you know and you know Demar alongside of them all probably three of those guys will be in the hall of fame um you know so you’re talking about high level player who’ve done it at a high high level but you know maybe

Kobe is not as established as those guys are in terms of their number years you know in the league but what he’s done from his rookie year to now I think speaks to where he can get to um he’s been unbelievable I mean he’s played incredibly well and you know I said to

You guys these guys have been multi- multi-time Allstars you know Kevin Beal Booker I know Booker you know maybe in the west has been some times where maybe he’s got it to show end of the stick certainly dear’s been there enough but I think some of our guys showed that they

Can play in a game like that and to me I think it’s always about how your team competes you know and even though they had a lot of that start power you know our our team really really competed against them and I thought Kobe competed

Really really well and did a lot of good things and you know showed that he’s you know I think in this league going to be in a Le basketball player and Elite guard in the league I really believe that and and it’s all because of the work that he’s

Put into it thanks thank you thank you

Tough tough tough loss, but onward and upward.