Keegan Murray, De’Aaron Fox, & Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 1.27.24

Keegan Murray, De’Aaron Fox, & Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 1.27.24

Game plan that requires so many different guys getting looks on Luca how does that impact just how locked in you have to be defensively as a team uh it just makes everyone all five guys have to guard for 24 seconds um it just requires a lot of a lot of communication

Um and a lot of hustle fly around and just what’ you make of of the way you guys defended tonight and particularly during the first three quarters uh I feel like we did good um holding on to no more than 26 points the first three quarters um I feel like really helped us

Um with our confidence and obviously they’re they’re desperate um in the fourth quarter and hit some shots so um feel like it was a good overall a good defensive game for us Fox alluded to the idea that you know in the last six minutes of a game you know when you guys

Are previously trying to push the pace it can be a little bit difficult to maybe play not to lose as opposed to continuing with that aggression what’s what’s that balance like in trying to find that at the end of games for you guys uh I mean I feel like we have a lot

Of possessions just cuz we we want the pace to be High um so to get a 20-point lead in the fourth it’s because of our Pace cuz we’re cuz we’re doing that so um for us we believe that works um and uh that’s cost us a couple games but at

The end of the day we know that um our pace is going to hurt teams down the stretch you had that four game losing streak and I’m three days off and fox mentioned that you guys were able to maybe go live in practice and do a little bit more film session than you

Normally would just what what did the those three days do for you guys specifically and and how much did it sort of recharge you going into the longest road trip of the Season uh I feel like it just brought us a little bit together I feel like we haven’t had

That kind of stretch um where we were at home and and were able to practice um and better ourselves so I feel like that helped a lot um and it was kind of a blessing in disguise for us um at that point in the season so um I think we’re

All fortunate for that and it’s kind of a reset for us can you kind of talk talk about the difference in going from you know game one of this road trip where you’re primarily defending Steph Curry much smaller guard different speed different game altogether obviously a three-point shooter to going to guarding

Luca size strength slower game things don’t fluster him much what’s the difference in terms of how you approach it individually from a defensive standpoint yeah I mean I mean there’s similarities um they’re both going to get a lot of screen set for them um with

Steph it’s a lot of pin Downs um a lot of flares um he slips a lot so um just being mindful of that with luk get a lot of pick and rolles it’s um not as manyy Pinn downs but he uses his body really well um and obviously they’re two of the

Better better players in this league so um just trying to stay locked in as as much as possible um on both of them is is just kind of my goal what did luuka have to say during to you during the game uh I mean I just he didn’t say

Nothing um I he was I just I don’t say much during the game and um I feel like that’s just kind of how what I do and I’m just try to keep business is business what’s it like when you watch a guy score 73 points knowing that you’re

Going to have to guard him primarily the next time uh I mean it’s exciting um just to be able to kind of have that challenge um and have that goal um I mean Fox was joking to me just don’t let him put 70 on your head tonight so um I

Mean was my goal to keep him under 70 and um I think I think we did that well so anything else what would you like about the first three quarters and the way you guys were playing and and what didn’t you like about the fourth quarter getting out

Scored 40 to 26 uh I think I mean the way that we were getting stops and just being able to push the pace I think a lot of that I think that was uh had a lot to do with why we were why we had the lead like that and obviously Keegan

Just trying to make it uh make it tough on LCA but um obviously in the last 6 minutes you know you want to have a nice blend of that but when you’re up I mean you’re obviously you want to continue to play to win more so than playing not to lose

Um but obviously when you have a lead like that like it’s just natural that you want to be able to waste waste some time but we have to be able to finish the game better than that you guys said a season high in blocks and and you had

Nine by halftime um just what were you seeing on the defensive end that that led to you guys getting those blocks particularly those those couple from Keegan and that’s sequence where L got the te yeah I mean um obviously you know blocking a block is is an individual

Stat but I think a lot of that had to do with um guys who were helping being able to change shots and then uh someone coming in from behind and being able to block it so um I think defensively uh we we were rotating well uh guys are

Putting their chest in front of the ball and just trying to make it difficult on whoever was going to the basket you obviously see the game that Luka had last night what what’s the conversation among you guys about that uh you know about him com how you feel about the

Job well I said Keegan don’t let him get 70 tonight but uh I mean he’s a he’s a difficult player to guard obviously um but I mean he’s the focal point of of the he’s the entire focal point of their offense obviously especially with with

Kai out um I mean I think the way that he scored the ball I think we did a good job but um we have to be able to try to keep off the free thr line and obviously he’s going to continue to create for others you can’t you can’t stop him from

Both scoring and creating Forevers there’s something there’s something that you have to give up and um the way that he scored tonight the way he shot the ball I think we made it difficult for him when you um seem like you had a bunch a bunch of buckets when when

You’re trying to score from the post or the mid post um when what’s going through your head when you’re trying to get to those spots on the floor as opposed to you know maybe trying to drive or um or other ways this um I mean I think it’s always it always depends on

Who’s guarding me um those are shots that I work on and um just try to you know expand my game being able to score all three levels ref it’s and uh getting all the way to the basket in the post or pull up threes pull up uh pull up

Mid-range jumpers whatever it is um but that’s it’s pretty much just a f and and whoever the defender is um so that’s that’s just me trying to expand my game Darren Keegan obviously has made a huge jump defensively this year I know he spent the off season playing against you

Playing with you maybe you have a better Insight than anyone else on how big of a leap he’s made this year yeah uh he doesn’t get a lot of stops on me uh but obviously we’re we’re out there with with with the entire court so it’s it’s a little different but uh he’s

Definitely made strides I mean um he’s gotten stronger he’s gotten more athletic which is which is crazy to see um in just one summer um but obviously uh he played and I made fun of him a lot cuz he played a lot of five in college

So um he wasn’t used to guarding on the perimeter like that so last year definitely was a was a was a struggle and was different for him but um just being able to spend the summer with him and seeing him every day and uh seeing those strides that he was making on a

Daily basis um I’m I’m not surprised I mean he’s long athletic and strong so uh when you have those type of attributes you can be a good Defender and he wants to and Keegan’s kind of like a robot like he doesn’t get tired um obviously he’s gotten hurt this year but those are

Like freak Falls that he’s had so um I think he has all the tools to be a great defender and and he wants to so um I’m not surprised that he’s made a leap like that you guys lost four straight and then had those those three days off just

What did that do for for the teams it’s mentality morale um how how how much did it help to me get a little bit refreshed before the longest road trip you guys have this season uh I mean anytime you have a stretch like that which which

Isn’t midy um you’re able to get back to practice you’re able to actually sit there and really work on the things that you need to work on because during the during the season you have so many games there’s not many times where you can really just go live and practice and you

Know you can stop play what do we need to work on do this fix that um so being able to have those three days definitely benefited us a lot um just a lot of film study and a lot and a lot of like us going live in practice but being able to

Break things down thanks everyone obviously you are would you like to do when you’re not stoping and you’re way from the cour pretty much oh I’m on the game or uh just being with my family being my wife and my son so I’m always I’m either

At the I’m either at the house or I’m in the gym that’s pretty much it or if we’re out we’re going out to go eat that’s that’s that’s what I do on a daily basis hey hey Shannon they don’t have to come no this is great uh I I oh

Dang you’re not going with them uh man I I tell you what uh our guys played a a really good uh basketball game you know the first three three and a half quarters were uh really really good on both ends of the floor you know you got to give Dallas Credit

They’re a really good team uh Lucas and uh all NBA player and you know with Jay Jay kid at the helm they’re not going to they’re not going to give up at any time and they just kept coming coming coming when we got up big and it was late you

Know now they had a sense of of Freedom there’s no pressure on let that thing fly and and they were hitting some big threes down the stretch we kind of let our foot up put off the gas a little bit had a couple of turnovers uh gave them

Second Chance opportunities and and they capitalized on on those late but uh man I I’m proud of our guys to start this road trip Off 2 and0 um going into Golden State going into Dallas and finding a way to get to win but like I said really good basketball for about 3

And 1/2 quarter and we’ve been playing good basketball for a while now um obviously uh foxy was you know he was great for us he was aggressive um he set the tone for us especially in transition uh his 34 were big domas with another double double um that that was huge uh

And then uh uh Kevin Kevin hit some timely threes I thought uh he hit a couple of big threes in that fourth quarter for us uh when we needed them and that was good to see and last but not least uh you you know we got a lot

Of different and good performances from a lot of people but um you know Keegan he continues to be tasked with uh with the toughest assignment game in and game out and I thought he did a a really good job trying to make Luca uh work for his

His his points tonight and uh you know Luca’s a heck of a player 17 assists with a triple double but uh Keegan I thought uh tried hard making him work so heck of a game by him Mike I apologize no you’re good you can go back

I do like you though but you can go back um the the three-day stretch that or the three off days that you guys had between games now what do you consider an off day cuz we just do it normal you’re just not playing a game to ask

You not having free cuz it sounded like talking to the guys you guys kind of went to the practice floor did some um did some film session stuff just how beneficial was that and how much do you think that sort of recharge the guys stre uh to have three three days in

Between games is great I wish we could have three days in between games all year but you know it’s not the league it’s uh so it’s a little unusual but uh we do it like we normally do the first day we had an off day completely off day

We didn’t come in and then we practiced the next two days we were able to tighten up some of the stuff that we need to tighten up on uh especially our in the game stuff and and uh make sure that we’re all on the same page uh

Starting with me and uh so that was good to have those those two practice days before we played but uh you know I said this before we’ve been playing pretty good basketball probably since Detroit you know and um really good basketball on the offensive side of the ball and

Our defense has gotten better during that stretch and you can see it in a lot of games we just uh needed to get on the same page starting with me in terms of finishing games and uh we’re we’re better we still have a lot of room to

Grow but we’re a lot better now than what we were you know five six games ago I apologize if you’ve already answered this question oh you’re good in terms of finishing games um dear sort of talked about the balance between you guys typically paying playing with pace and

Then getting to that six-minute Mark and then um maybe trying to find that balance between maintaining that pace but also playing to makebe kill clock or not lose the game um how do you think that went tonight and what areas do you think you can

Improve yeah I I thought it I thought it was okay we turned the ball over I thought two or three times and every time we turn it over down the stretch they capitalized on it I thought they had a couple of offensive rebounds that we could have come up with but they came

Up with it and you know it’s it’s a sign of a really good team in terms of Dallas but they were desperate and they had nothing to lose and so when you’re in that POS position you’re shooting the ball with a lot more confidence because hey it’s we’re about to lose anyway so

I’m going to let that thing fly so there there’s not as much pressure uh when you when you’re in the situation that that they were in and and uh for us uh like I said we didn’t do a good job of of trying to limit them to to Second

Opportunities and then we had turned it over a couple of times in the last six minutes which they capitalized off of and and uh you know first a good team it’s hard to overcome but I give our guys credit they found a way uh to overcome it by hitting a couple of big

Buckets down the stretch and then um you know knocking down timely free throws right thanks thank you thank you

Keegan Murray, De’Aaron Fox, and Coach Brown speak to the media following a win over the Dallas Mavericks on January 27, 2024.

0:00 – 3:35 Keegan Murray
3:35 – 8:42 De’Aaron Fox
8:42 – 14.08 Mike Brown