Keon Ellis & Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 3.23.24

Keon Ellis & Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 3.23.24

Park how many how many people you had um I don’t know but I know M told me that we were 75 over passes that I could hand out cuz I was still sending her names how many people was coming so might be like 100 people out there for real um so I mean

Given that and given the game you had I mean what what what do you make of just what tonight did for you confidence wise particularly you know Mike talked about you maybe passing up some threes in that game on Thursday to to take some including some of the biggest shots of

The game um I mean obviously you know you have a game like this you know that gives you confidence so um it it was definitely big for me especially you know with with family here and you know all that into it um but definitely definitely huge for me going down the

Road I we have another stretch of of tough game so um I definitely think that’s huge to roll into those games you know with with the confidence going how much you take pride in setting the tone for the team defensively with your physicality um honestly I don’t even

Know I really just go out there and just try to play defense as best as I can and and and and try to turn teams over if I’m in the spot um and just try to be me you know I just just try to go out there

And do do my thing and you know just let everything take care of itself so um yeah honestly I don’t I don’t even really think about you know me setting the tone or or or whatever it is I just go out there and and just try to be me

What what are the keys to you guys being successful when you’re playing zone defense um I think you know our communication uh you know we had a couple of plays tonight where we left a guy open under the rim or you know just I mean we haven’t ran too much so you

Know we’re still kind of you know working through it in game but um yeah definitely the communication you know when they’re they’re trying to get a certain matchup you know we’re trying to talk it out on the defensive end um you know to make sure we don’t give them a

Free Advantage so um I definitely think the first thing is the communication to to make sure we’re all on the same page and cuz you know you’re not really just worried about your man you’re kind of guarding the area you know guys cut and do all this other stuff so you know

You’re relying on your teammates to tell you hey somebody’s on your ride or or whatever it is how would you characterize the feeling of you know NBA Dream originating just 30 miles from here going out tonight having a career high scoring night and also a defensive

Play of the game um I think it’s I think it’s huge you know uh a lot of people dream of of things like this and and for this to to happen you know is is huge I know I’m pretty sure everybody that’s out there is happy and and ready to to

Talk my ear off about all the good things that happened so um but it’s definitely big for me wanted to to go out and have a good performance especially at home but uh you know it’s still you know this one’s kind of behind me already so kind of got to focus on

The next one last one is youall have had some great match ups with the magic this year can you just talk about what brings it out of each other your the two teams respectively you think um I think we’re we’re two good young teams and and you

Know they have a lot of size and you know we’re a little bit smaller than them so you know we kind of have to you know dig deep and you know they they’re a physical team you know they like to drive the ball so um I think you know

They’re they’re always going to play hard you know we’re going to play hard and it’s always going to be a good game between us so um and we know you know I I would say historically not two teams that you know you’re not you know we’re

Not a we don’t have a la name or whatever it is but you know two team now we’re we’re on the rise both teams so um you know we’re trying to prove ourselves like just like them so um you know I think when when we go out there and

Match up against them we’re all trying to earn respect what was m messaging to to the team after Thursday’s game and what you like about the way you guys responded um he said we didn’t have what was the word he used um oh my God I

Can’t I can’t remember what the word is just kind of like we were just playing lazy you know um attention to details on things you know things that we could control you know we kind of just just let it slip away and try to you know

Push it on the rug so um that’s that’s kind of the gist of it and you know he he emphasized said if we tried to do that tonight then you know we wouldn’t have a chance so um definitely wanted to make sure that we came out strong tonight knowing that they’re a good

Young team a heck of a win by our guys uh it’s a good team uh in the Orlando Magic uh they’re big they’re physical um they put pressure on that Rim uh like no other and you know I told our guys we had to play physical tonight

Because uh they definitely had a size advantage on us I me I can go down the line Keegan hit some big big shots for us uh Keon was huge um he was freaking phenomenal uh he passed up a couple of shots I thought in in the Washington

Game and tonight he just let that thing fly like we all need to um obviously a big big big big accomplishment by domas I think he tied Uh Kevin Love Tonight with the double doubles so again it’s like clockwork for him just a a great

Job by domas with the 14 rebounds and 21 points um I thought uh I thought um our group showed that they’re resilient uh and and uh we went to Zone 20 plus times maybe 22 23 times and uh our guys did a fantastic job of just talking through it

And you know I think Orlando scored seven times against it um and and we rebounded well uh against the zone in the first half they had seven Second Chance points in the second half they had zero Second Chance points and for a team of that size for us to not allow

Any second chance points um in in a whole half uh was was great um obviously this wasn’t Malik’s game um in terms of scoring but he he was great especially on the bench he was talking and the energy that he brought uh to anybody that was out on the floor uh was

Fantastic he was into it Mally um trying to help us out as coaches uh just a a good job but at the end of the day um you know when you’re not shooting it well uh we shot 43 44% 43.7 to be exact and we scored 109 points when you’re not

Shooting well uh you have to defend and then you have to win The Possession game and you know we have to that means we got to try to make take more free throws in them um uh we have to have less turn turnovers than them and and then um we

Have to keep them off the offensive glass and and you know they out they had 12 to our six but that was a wash because they had 13 turnovers to our seven and and then we had 21 free throws to their 18 so we won The Possession game while while defending and that’s

Why we got a a road win uh in a tough environment versus a really good team yeah Mike you you alluded to it before the game but I’m just curious if you could be more specific in terms of your messaging to the team um after that loss Thursday and just what impressed you

About the way they responded tonight particularly like you said with the intensity and physicality that it seemed like they they played with to to win this game yeah and it was I you know I told you guys before the game I thought offensively we we we missed some shots

Which is going to happen and so you know those either Co in or they don’t but what bothered me the most offensively is we passed up some shots and we want all of our guys to let it fly and you know Keon was one guy that passed up a few

And um and tonight he didn’t hesitate at all as soon if he had an open look he he let it go uh so that was a big thing uh offensively and then you know I I thought defensively we we want to play fast we want to play fast we want to

Play another thing I don’t think we played as fast as we could have now they were scoring a lot so we were taking it out the net quite a bit but we could still get out and go um and then defensively I just didn’t feel that our

Physicality was there uh I didn’t feel that we came across and trapped the box and led with our chest and made it difficult and all those little things that we talk about when it comes to the physicality and and and our guys did it tonight you know when when they drove

The ball most times we had somebody there coming across and they had to shoot over uh uh bodies and they hit some tough shots but that’s what NBA players do you want them to work for everything that they got and um they they had to tonight whereas I didn’t

Think in the Washington game um we played our best defensively with Keon he hit that three with about two minutes left um had to shoot it off the dribble it was a stalled possession just what does that show about where his confidence is relative to you know maybe

When he first got to the team particularly offensively just no 100% I mean you can even just take the game uh take one game uh he had a couple of wide open shots with three minutes with two minutes you know whatever it was in the Washington game and he passed him up and

Here he did a little wiggle stepped back and shot a tough three and you could tell every three that he took every shot that he took it was with confidence and he’s a good shooter he he’s knocked down big shots for us before and and we want

Him to keep shooting if he has any daylight at all so you know hitting a shot like that obviously can help any young man anybody out especially a young man that’s just getting his footing in this league uh but again the amount of time that he’s played this year he’s

Shown it minus the Washington game uh at times and what do you think about dear’s game and particularly his aggression um it just seemed like he had a different sort of mentality tonight and dealing with whatever he was dealing with with his thumb just what you make of of his

Performance uh it was great we needed his speed and transition again we we we did not want to play against a set defense every single time down the floor uh especially with the size of their team and so for him to push the ball in transition and spray it and or get to

His spot uh was exactly what we needed tonight especially with uh Malik not having uh uh an offensive game tonight so um he was fantastic he got beat up because they real physical and you know the refs are let the game go kind of like a playoff game and and you like

That as long as it’s you know balanced at the end of the game um so he he was he was Fant he was also fantastic in the zone his communication and awareness was really really good too uh in the zone so we needed every ounce of what he brought

To the table for us tonight coach how fun is it to see ke one like that just 30 miles from his hometown I didn’t know he was 30 miles from his hometown that’s beautiful you know I’m first of all I’m happy wherever we are to see him play

Like that because he’s he’s more than capable but to do that when you come home uh that’s got to feel really good for him and and his family and friends uh that are around this area and uh can you speak to how his physicality and his defensive intensity ripples to the rest

Of the team you know you know he he got the uh defensive player of the game tonight uh his deflections are just crazy and um you know people watch him and I think they pick up some things in terms of body positioning and stuff like that because the deflections he’s

Getting they’re all position deflections there when he gets a deflection or he gets a steal it’s not like he’s out of the play because he misses it and and and the opponents have a a 514 Advantage so his positioning for a young guy is extraordinary uh CU he hadn’t really

Played that much in the professional ranks and he’s in the right spot probably 90% of the time and so guys see that they feed off of that obviously they feed off of his Steals and they feed off his deflections too but just watching how he reades himself to to to

Be in position to get a deflection is something that we all learn from every time he’s out on floor like this game was similar to kind of the the win in Denver where you had to win ugly um and then you had to win in you won in

Minnesota without dear you win tonight sort of playoff more a style that you’ll see in the playoffs just how would you evaluate the growth of your team since you took over in those types of scenarios particularly given that the team does have some playoff experience

Now yeah you know the more we play um that’s the better we’ll become you know I I I I’ve said this numerous times um a lot of people say yo yic said it I’ll never forget He got interviewed after they won the finals and one of the

Things he said was you got to hit some adversity and you got to fight your way through adversity and sometimes you’re going to fail you know but if you eventually break through that adversity is what propelled you to Heights that you can’t even imagine getting to and so

For for for us you know we have an identity of playing fast playing physical and playing together and this stretch that we’ve been on is probably the most physical that I’ve seen us we we we did a little bit in the playoffs uh but we didn’t really know how to

Respond offensively and it impacted our shoot to a certain degree um but now we know that hey even if we’re not shooting the ball if we do other things while playing physical we’re going to give ourselves a chance and that’s playoff basketball because that shot is not

Going to go in every time you shoot the ball I care how good a shooter you are how difficult was it the game plan forer tonight I mean last time had EXC last time you had a career high this time he had his averages was it hard to

Kind of game plan for a guy like that it’s very versatile it’s coming to his zone right now as a young guy in the league yeah it’s man he’s he’s an outstanding young player and um you know they move him around pretty good he can

Attack on the post he can attack in the perimeter he’s capable of hitting threes he can ISO you so you know you you have to mix up your coverages on them uh you can’t give him the same diet because if you give him the same diet he’s also

Capable of finding um open guys especially on the weak side of the floor because he’s so big and he’s got a really good feel for the game so um our guys did a heck of a job just talking through a lot of stuff and trying to mix

It up against him because he’s a he’s a really really good young player just building off what you said about sabonis one of the key messages you reiterate his consistency you see example that uh and he’s one away from the record for double double straight and 10 away for alltime record in the

Season can you just uh put into context um maybe for those that can’t understand how difficult that is what he’s doing right now that’s the thing about it is it’s extremely difficult it it’s it’s unheard of and I’ve been around great player like great players Hall of Fame players

That didn’t have a chance to get this this record that domas is chasing um but he works so hard and he is the definition of consistency that I can see why others that aren’t around him don’t really feel it’s a big deal because he makes it look easy it’s it’s like normal

For him and it’s a good thing for us but it might be a bad thing you know publicly because you know people don’t appreciate what he’s going through right now for us we sure do because we wouldn’t be sitting here uh without him and what he brings to the table every single night

Keon Ellis & Coach Brown speak to the media following a 109-107 win over the Orlando Magic at the Kia Center in Orlando, Florida on March 23, 2024.

0:00 – 4:07 Keon Ellis
4:07 – 16:18 Coach Brown

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