Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame vs Los Angeles Clippers | January 26, 2024

Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame vs Los Angeles Clippers | January 26, 2024

G what do you think has changed for you since you come back to 905 the second time um not not a lot I mean obviously the team a little bit but uh obviously the team but guys your game seems more aggressive more controlled like how do

You feel better I think just you know the preparation that you know I try to take with um especially coach Evo um with with different practices and um at the same time it’s just going along with um knowing that it’s a journey I mean obviously I’m trying to build from you

Know when I first came in here and I feel like you know you show that aggression you come out and just um play the way that you’re supposed to play and I’m learn from Darko you know he wants me to you know play a certain way and that’s just you know team basketball

When you do that helps the team and also helps your cause so we saw him take you aside the one the Harden foul or break you in the play one other time those kind of TG moments are important to you during the game yeah exteme extremely special and um you know just learning

From a coach like that you know I’ve talked about you know a bunch of times of you know his knowledge of the game but when you’re you’re um learning from that you know mid game you know it’s it’s uh a big help and um really helps

Me not make that same mistake when I when I try to guard hard the next time grd can you share what he told you what Darko told you after that foul long harded it was kind of I mean obviously it was definitely teaching but it was

More of like I kind of knew what I did obviously I landed um in his Landing space and um kind of walked over to him with a smile and he he had a smile too and um when it’s you know communication like that where it’s it’s positive you

Know that definitely helps me as a player um where I can personally learn like that and um you know he knows that too and obviously there’s times where you know you go over there without a smile and um it’s a little more you know

You need to do this right you need to do that and um but one of those it’s a play where it’s kind of just learning learning experience really obviously the rules are meant to protect both the one you got called for are meant to protect Shooters but how extreme for especially

You know in your first year of the lake how extreme is a case like Harden where you have to contest and get to the left so so like how different is that that a normal contest on a normal player yeah obviously a player like Harden you know

There’s not a lot of guys like him that can do what he does and um you know as on a a physical point but an intellectual one too where he knows um where he needs to get to his spots and obviously knows he has a rookie on him

We you know I’m learning those different things and um definitely got me on that one and um but I think if I can you know play more in-game you know plays like that you know that just you know helps me even more and I can see stuff like

That and um you know it’s hard to say you can guard a player like that and you know I tried to and at the same time it’s just really just going in in game you know plays like that I just learn from it so looked like you were trying

To draw the charge on Russ and then you got one later on I can’t remember who was it rewarding to get to get one or after the the call the other way yeah I thought I got on Rust you know I saw I’m going full speed and um you know it was

A little painful but um laid down the second one so um just plays like that you know I I know when I go on the game you know I need to figure out you know how I can help the team and um talking with Darko and that’s different little

Things like that where I can kind of help make more possessions for us is you know what I try to do so one of the things that Darko was saying yesterday not not just in regards to you but all the young guys in the team on the team

Is that he wants you guys to learn through success and failure when after a game like this where you play 20 plus minut minutes and you’re going back and looking at film the next day do you spend more time on like some of the things that you’ve done well or some of

The mistakes you made or or is it just looking at both and trying to learn from I think it’s a little bit of both um you know first ID probably look at the the things I can do to get better um what I could have done better and um learning

From those first of all and then I feel like it’s always good to kind of end with um on a positive note and it kind of helps you Propel into whether it be the next practice or the next you know back toback game or whatever it may be but

Um you know when I go watch film with Coach Evo um it’s going to be a little bit of everything so yeah how helpful is it to play a team like the Clippers uh heading into a road trip it’s huge I mean I talked a little bit about you

Know my personal level of you know what I’m seeing in in game situations and that helps me Propel to my games and um I feel like it’s kind of goes along the lines of a whole team you know thing where we play uh a top team like that

And um a competitive really competitive game and I feel like that just helps us get used to you know we’re going on what is it like 12 days or whatever it may be and um kind of gives us that you know momentum to you know know that we need

To you know play hard and um you know just go at it every little bit I’m not hard and foul it seemed like after you spoke to Darko then bu spoke to you and then I think that spoke to you what’s that like having those guys um coach you

Up in those moments it’s great you know it’s like you know multiple coaches going on at one time um especially with Dad and and Garrett when they’ve been in in the league for so long and I’m the knowledge that they have and um but in that you know particular play it’s more

Like I’m walking to them knowing exactly what they’re going to say because it’s like yeah I landed under him and you know Chris is going to speak up and say the same thing and then G’s going to say things like watch out watch out but um

Other than that the the stuff that they teach me you know not even in the games but just through practices um very special do messages ever feel different coming from a player versus a coach a little bit yeah I mean yeah coaches obviously know basketball extremely well but it’s

It’s is a different feel when you have you know a player like that or Garrett you know coming to you cuz um they’re in the same situations that you’re in and um as an in the game but then when I come in I’m here for not even a year so

Um they’ve been through a ton of stuff on the court off the court and I feel like yeah it is different no kind of teaching points from them RJ that was uh the eighth 20po performance you’ve had in just 13 games with Toronto what’s working for you I didn’t play good today honestly

Um but uh just you know having the opportunity to kind of just play I guess just you know move around Cuts uh you now in transition just just playing you know um yeah a little more freedom over here for sure why did you say you didn’t play well today ah three three

Turnovers um um I was minus 27 today miss four free throws and then a lot of like I mean a couple of these shot attempts were like going up and then stripping the ball and stuff like that so kind of led to a lot of

Transition for them um PG got me on a back door cut like just you know little stuff like that go ahead guys s um uh Buuu no only two positive two positive dark you said you want to see how your team would match up against a veteran very good team how do you think they did overall I think uh overall uh we did a lot of good stuff in that game

Uh I thought that uh we were able to somewhat uh slow down their main main uh main players uh um they made uh couple of really tough shots we kept them shooting at 28% from the three-point line um we missed nine free throws and uh we shot tonight only 18%

From the three-point line if he did better job there we would have a little bit different Outlook at the game um I was I was happy with the minutes that uh Grady played tonight uh he he showed a lot of improvement there a lot of good stuff um overall I thought that we

Played really hard whole game your lack of size is really evident I say 66 points in the paint is that just the function of like they’re too big for you guys they they are they are big and they’re forceful and they were able to to attack uh the paint and get there uh

You know a lot of those shots were heavily contested shots they were shooting over us um you know some of those you got to you know tap your head and move on dark in the first quarter especially it seems that they had some good success with some Sidelines out of

Bounds and stuff they would either you know they get it at The Rim first options kind of thing is that just your team is just not that familiar with each other in some of those situations for sure it’s uh it’s uh part of that it’s part communication it’s uh um it’s also

They’re good execution and good reads in some of those situations there I thought that second half we did much better job of uh not allowing them to in those S sobs uh for them to to get into easy actions uh we were able to to switch

Much more one through five in in a second half and uh to send two players on the ball just to to negate some of their isolations this is number one in the league in ISO so um a lot of those opportunities they they actually we did

A good job of uh not allowing main main guys to to get their those shots um JN Porter he could not play he got hit in eye uh he saw saw Doctor tonight he’s okay but tomorrow he’s going to see ey specialist um RJ really found his Lanes

Later in the game um when you start out driving and you’re sort of driving into bodies and then later you find open space what changes how do you how does a guy do that throughout the game um we talked over the course of the game I

Thought that early in the game that when he was trying to drive the ball uh they were uh first of all putting uh two people on on him uh and they were really active with with with with their hands they were getting some of the flection so we were talking about it of

Protecting the ball better and being uh you know uh Stronger with the ball but also finding the the his teammates and I thought that he did much better job in the second half we that there was a moment where Grady fouls on the the three-pointer and you guys had a moment

Together right after that what’s that moment like for you that’s a moment when uh rookie sees a hall of favor and even we showed on film and talked about it it’s it’s until you go through it it’s hard to to comprehend you know so it was really uh understanding the game plan

Understanding the personnel and uh this is what James Harden is doing for a for a day decade now uh when he’s shooting threes if you land in his space he’s getting foul call so I thought after that he he was much more alert and uh definitely he’s going to see that clip

At least 50 times until until he sees hard next time so I believe it’s not going to happen again were you telling him to contest and then just like keep going so you’re not in his space so so contest you got to be square on him and

Then when he gets in the shooting motion you got to go on a side so you got to be on his left side there to to contest that shot because every time if you just stay there in front of him he’s kind of like lunging forward and landing in um

In into you and there was another moment I think he came over to double team and his hands were down here and you jumped up what are is that the kind of thing that you’re going to have to do this Ste with his team moving forward for sure I

Mean we we’re learning on a fly like I cannot just uh count on the practice uh to to be our our time for improvement every time out I’m literally talking about like basic how to switch how to communicate how to be in right positions

We got to learn on a fly you know so U we talked about with Grady of putting his body on the line he he was able to do that a couple of times tonight he got a one offensive foul called there I thought that the other one was also good

Defense so it’s just like be build at a time like right now our wins are those small gains and small experiences that guys are improving getting better at another long uh trip coming up it’s going take you past the deadline is that kind of almost a relief that eventually

That’s going to be over with and no more distractions and trade deadline we’re just focusing on the next game and trying to to to get our guys better you don’t see you don’t see them as being any distracted at all being focusing on the next game and our guys getting

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Players and coach speak with the media following the Raptors’ 127-107 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

00:00 Gradey Dick
05:51 RJ Barrett
07:33 Darko Rajakovic

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