Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Atlanta hawks | February 23, 2024

Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Atlanta hawks | February 23, 2024

All right coach great win tonight um What were what was your takeaways from this group and just even how they’re coming together this is the second win now on a back toback um I thought that uh we competed really well tonight uh start of the game we we had a problem with offensive

Rebounding um and that kind of like continued throughout the course of the game we allowed in 20 offensive rebounds and uh that definit that was something definitely that that kept us back in a game I thought that game would go completely different direction if if he

Took care of that but overall I think we did really good job on on Trey young not allowing him to to score and to get to his positions and uh I thought that overall contribution of all of our guys on on the court that that you know the

Play tonight it was good do you see something that’s like clicking with this team since post like All-Star break maybe it was like some of the practices you had but you seem to be responding to to runs I mean um yes we are still searching in for chemistry and lineups

And obviously we missed RJ tonight and uh but that was great opportunity for Jordan and uh for oai to to to get more minutes and play um I thought that oai really contributed toight as well to to our team team is starting to to get a

Little bit more Rhythm and to feel each other there and to get a little bit more chemistry but again it’s just two games and it’s a new group there we got to go step by step and continue GR drawing but uh what I really like about this group

Is they they’re together like this group is really like enjoying being with with each other and competing for each other I asked Grady this but I would like your perspective as well what do you feel like is translating from Grady’s development in his own time to now in game

Situations he overall he’s uh getting more comfortable playing NBA minutes going against NBA Personnel um he’s finding his spots on the court where he can score obviously when he’s on the court together with with Kelly with a second unit uh the ball just finds him and you know so and

Then he’s able to to do good job on offensively there and defensively it’s it’s still work in progress It’s a there are good moments there are good stuff there but there is also like recognition of the personnel and who is on the court and how they need he needs to guard

Those and there is no other way to to learn those things but to go through through experience and get to know so um I know I has talked about you guys being very encouraging of him being more aggressive offensively and looking for a shot uh tonight he attempted 20 shots um

And you know successful on almost half of them uh what are you seeing from that do you like where his offense uh offensive game is going with this group uh yes we encouraging him to be aggressive but that’s not necessarily just toh to find his shots is also to

Create for his teammates and I thought that tonight when they started blitzing him and uh trapping him that he was able to to make some good decisions as the game was was progressing to find some short rolls to find his teammates open and he he needs to get accustom to that

Because uh teams when you know when somebody’s shooting 6411 from the three-point line definitely teams will be much more aware of uh how they’re guarding him and I think it’s creating good good offense for us and uh as I said previously you know I think it’s

Going to be a learning curve for him to to find that balance between being aggressive there to find his shots but also how to connect his team as well comment on few key plays Kelly oen made in the final two minutes for you guys and then secondly uh when you referred to Trey

Young the defense did you guys try to make more of an effort to get the ball out of his hands tonight than you had in the previous three games um regarding the first part yes Kelly uh obviously L is a player who who’s been in a lot of

Uh situations like this he knows how to close the game he knows how how to play he knows how to connect with his teammates it was great to have ability to put him on a court there towards the end and especially those special situations in bounds so because he’s a

Great passer and so calm in those situations and both times when they were trying to pressure full court he was able to find open man we were able to score um on the other side in transition with Bruce Brown layup so definitely having that kind of experience that kind

Of passer really helps the team um and the second part of your question is uh what was that Trey young yes uh I mean we tried to be aggressive we try to have active hands uh and uh I thought that we had good matchups with him I was really

Proud of aai’s Defense on him especially on on and on on maray as well I think that that he did really good job of slowing them down and be physical with them great win tonight it feels like you were able to really showcase your game

As a raptor um how did it feel uh it felt great I mean uh it’s kind of like you know one of my first uh games with with Toronto that uh you know I got kind of got going and kind of got hot so it

Uh felt good for sure you know you were very effective I think both defensively and you kind of showcased some range as well um is that kind of like the stape of your game is that what Raptors fans can kind of come to expect with with you

Yeah yeah I mean uh you know giving 110 on on defense always and um knock it down open shots and just being aggressive overall uh offensively and defensively that’s what they can expect so what is standing out to you about this group of guys so far uh just how

Everyone plays for each other I think uh it’s a group a great group group great group of guys and uh uh you know helping each other out you know defensively offensively I think uh has been a good thing but also with the new group and new guys new faces I think I’m just

Talking to each other um learning more about each other as we go and um that’s the key to it all I know you’re obviously still new so is Kelly um with you know getting acclimated to this team but what’s been something that has stood out to you of defensively because it

Feels like there’s a new level of intensity since the allstar break M uh really just like I said just just trusting each other leaning on each other defensively um you know turning it up uh knowing that that’s what we need to do to to win games and uh be

Successful so and then I guess is there anything else that you’d like to kind of once you get more comfortable potentially Showcase in your own game uh going forward um I mean really just just keeping it aggressive um getting downhill getting to my spots uh whatever

It is wherever it is on the court but just being aggressive great game tonight of course you had another one earlier like just on the this is the second now on the back toback kind of what are you seeing out there what’s working for you offensively first

Um I think just mindset to be aggressive and really just look for opportunities to score I think it’s helped me out a lot and teams are starting to Bliss me when I have that mindset and then I’m able to hit yach Scotty the shooters um but just really the mindset to be

Aggressive and to attack and to have fun so actually I’m glad you brought that up because that’s exactly what coach Darko also um brought up post game he was impressed with the fact that you were able to find your shop but then find your teammates as well but a part of

It’s also seeing your teammates convert those open looks what are you seeing from them that’s been working especially now like post Allstar M they um shooting it great shooting it with confidence that’s all you can really ask is uh for everybody when they get open looks to

Shoot him and be and want to and Hunt shots so um that’s what everybody’s preaching that’s what the coaches have preached to me and that’s what I’m going preach to my teammates is to continue to keep shooting and look to be aggressive you mentioned that you kind of have the

Mindset of a two-way player in fact you want to bring that same defensive intensity I feel like tonight even though it got close you guys were leading by as much as 16 at one point you guys were still able to respond to runs what are you seeing from a

Defensive intensity standpoint that is standing out to you from like yourself but then also your team what’s that extra lock in and focus uh I give a lot of credit to um to the whole team I think we’ve been practicing really hard like some of our shooter rounds have

Been practiced like defensive Closeouts and sliding sliding our feet to get stops a lot of our shoo rounds have been tough our practices have been competitive and I think hard honestly um so a lot of the credit goes to the guys for working hard and uh it’s paying off

And showing in games we’re able to you know that’s a good offensive team Atlanta so for us to be able to do that is is pretty cool um I guess you guys are facing Indie next uh obviously that was Pascal siakam’s team um what’s kind of your focus going into that one

Obviously it was a really close game the last time you guys met them just before the All-Star break uh yeah they’re they’re really good team uh we feel like we’re a good team as well though um it’ll be a good challenge for us to uh Sprint back defensively they play really

Fast uh um and just try to have the same mindset you know every game’s different um and I know I’m going to have the same mindset and I think we’ll be we’ll be ready thanks for watching the Toronto rappers YouTube channel check out our latest video And subscribe for more

Head coach and players speak with the media following the Raptors’ 123-121 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.

00:00 – Darko Rajakovic
04:57 – Ochai Agbaji
06:35 – Immanuel Quickly

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