Harrison Barnes Keegan Murray & Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 3.31.24

Harrison Barnes Keegan Murray & Coach Brown | Postgame Pressers 3.31.24

Thank you Harrison hey you got hot in that third quarter you didn’t miss anything could you talk about uh tonight’s game and your approach to it since you guys got a couple people missing yeah I think for us um you know guys missing guys coming back obviously

With Trey and Sasha um we knew we’ have some different lineups out there and uh coach just told everyone just have the green light and shoot be aggressive um our guards did a good job Fox did a good job get into the pain do my spraying the

Ball out to the perimeter and try to shoot with confidence Harrison you guys had a couple of tough losses here how good is a feel to have to get back in the wind column but also sort of get back on track a little bit here yeah I

Mean I think you know obviously not having watched film but overall I felt like we did a lot of things that we want to do in this game coming into it uh with our approach um mentally physically you know coming out there consistently I think everyone who checked into the game

You know I mean did a good job of that and with guys back from injur think that’s that’s a big confidence boost for guys you know what I mean to just get a game out there to feel good so uh it was a good night Harrison when Keegan

Aggressive on offense what does that do for the rest of you guys out there especially like he did tonight I mean it makes us more Dynamic I think you know obviously the way Keegan shoots the ball um teams have to guard him a certain type of way and when he’s aggressive uh

Not only shooting the basketball but getting to the rim you know just you know imposing his will on a Defender um it makes us a better team Harrison um the second half obviously better the first half what do you guys uh what type of adjustments do you think you made uh

Going into the second half just trying to be better on our pick and roll defense um I think you know some of their guards were getting loose um in the first half there so just doing a better job of just trying to show a crowd communicate on screens and um try

To make him work a little bit more Harrison when you look at the balance scoring from the starters 2425 17 24 and the shot distribution 12 18 14 15 and then Trey had eight could you speak to what that says about whether the offense is functioning

At an extremely uh high level when you come up with a night like that yeah I mean I think anytime um a guy like Malik is not playing you know you you can’t replace that necessarily um how Dynamic he is offensively his playmaking ability so we knew coming into this game we had

To do it as a collective you know we had to just rely on the pass um we knew it was going to come from somewhere um somebody you know getting hot making shots but just um everyone just being ready and I think just moving forward um just kind of having that same mind

Instead of just um trusting the past trusting our movement um and just relying on the the offense to create offense for us kind of along those lines HP is it is it kind of incumbent upon some of those usual faces those Usual Suspects if you will for you guys to

Have to step up as opposed to going deeper into the rotation and relying on some of those guys to kind of fill voids I think it’s both I think it’s uh one not trying to do too much you know not trying to say okay you know we need to

You know go out here and try to act out of character but knowing that look you know we’ve been good offensive team we have a good system for two years now right you know we know what we need to do we know where we’re supposed to be at and when a guy

Goes down or you know we don’t have our usual Personnel out there it’s can we still do the same thing can we still trust to make the right pass trust to get into a right spots make the right Cuts set the right screens things like

That so I think that’s like I said is the mentality moving forward Harrison with with Malik and Kevin out how much is it on even you specifically to kind of get back to being maybe the scorer you were last here where you’ve this like maybe the first half of the Season

You kind of took a step back a little bit I think um you know being aggressive you know hunting threes is going to be big for us uh making sure that you know when we have open shots you know we take them um both those guys High Lev

Three-point Shooters you know you know catch and shoot and off the bounds so you know just continuing to just you know be be smart but be aggressive you know shooting those threes and you know continue to open up the paint for uh you know Fox and

Domas bit of a rocky finish to the month of March with the the two losses to Dallas but overall a pretty solid month especially defensively with defensive Improvement I’m curious your perspective on just this month as a whole and figuring it out with the postseason

Coming up here yeah I mean I think you know when you try to take a a long-term few of where things are at and the standings and the last you know three games or five games or however you want to look at it I think the thing for us

To focus on is um you know the the only way is through whether that’s you know we get the six se whether we get in the playing game no matter who we see in the first round whatever it is it’s it’s it’s through and that’s that’s our mentality that’s that’s what we feel

Like we are um you know we know that any given night if we show up and we do the things that we’re supposed to do we’re going to be in good shape and um for these next eight games and in the games after that I think that’s our focus and

Uh we take this month as the positive steps that we’re taking but we know we need continue to get better defensively and taking care of the ball on offense thanks everyone Keegan to start the second half specifically in that third quarter you guys just went on an offensive tear

Harrison said it was a lot of that pick and roll defense that worked to offense but in your perspective what worked for that third quarter specifically and then you being aggressive tonight was that a new mindset for you or just how’ you approach tonight’s game uh yeah I mean

The second second half um I mean they got up to a six run call it timeout um so we just I feel like we all kind of collectively locked in we found a play um a series of plays that worked for us and we just stuck with that um and for

Me just being aggressive um just trying to find a balance of being able to distribute the ball being able to find my shot things like that so um not something I’ve done much in my career Distributing the ball so something new and King and getting back to that uh

Timeout because it was a tied to 58 all uh when Coach Brown called that what was said you know uh going into that timeout before you guys went out went on that 212 run uh nothing much was said um I think it was just for us to regroup we

Had two defensive breakdowns um to start the second half so just being able to regroup um and uh just figure out a way to win and a way to correct those mistakes I know Mike called that quick timeout in the third and you guys came out and responded in a big way

Especially Harrison Barnes just what did you make of what he was able to accomplish in that period and how much did that lift you guys yeah um I mean we uh I feel like every time on the offensive side we found the open guy um HB was uh ready when his number was

Called and um I feel like collectively we did a good job of finding the good the right um Guy and um making the extra pass to to the open shot Harrison just shared with us kind of the only way is through mindset just approaching the remainder um of this season I imagine

When injuries happen there’s probably initial frustration but what is the mindset I guess of this group or can you build off of a little bit of what Harrison said with the only ways through mindset yeah I mean just being able to continue to try and win games uh not

Everything is going to be perfect um through every single game um we might not win every single game but we know that we’ve played well this season um we’ve been able to put ourselves in a position uh to be successful so we just have to capitalize on on those

Opportunities um have the right mindset going in the games and things like that it seems like Harrison’s slow-mo Euro could kind of be his signature move just how much do you enjoy seeing that and what do you think makes it so effective yeah uh I mean everyone thinks it’s a

Travel just because uh he holds the holds the the end um really long so uh I mean it’s an effective move I see a lot of guys in the league are starting to starting to figure it out um how effective it is so it’s it’s definitely frustrating for a defensive player to to

Try and guard that uh Keegan with with you know the injuries you guys are dealing with what’s what’s it going to take for you guys to to achieve uh your goals and and what have the conversations been like over the past few days of has anybody really kind of

You know stepped up to to maybe say something really meaningful or impactful for the group uh just pers perseverance U just being able to uh know that we didn’t go through this last year um we we were really healthy last year um and things like that and I think

Collectively we’ve done a good job picking each other up um Malik’s been obviously around and uh been a really good guy to be around um and keeping his head up and things like that so uh just collectively I feel like we’re all in good spirits um and we’re just going to

Move forward Kean you’ve kind of had ups and downs the season as a scorer but with herder and monk out how much is it sort of on you and on Harrison to take over and and be that third and fourth score here from the rest way out uh just

Continue to be aggressive um whether that’s um me just attacking the basket um finding the open guy just being aggressive so other guys can can feed off of that U I think that’s big especially when you lose a guy like Malik who’s um able to get a bucket by

Himself um be able to pass the ball like he does but it’s could take a collective effort with Sasha back Trey back um those guys everyone’s going to have to step up um it’s not just going to be me or HB but um I mean obviously we’re a big part of that thanks

Everyone Yeah good good win by our group I thought uh I I thought defensive leads uh you know with them finishing with 34 points in the in the paint shooting 41% from the field uh we did a pretty good job um our contests weren’t great all the time

And that’s uh they got free from the the three-point line a little bit but uh overall a solid job defensively uh against those guys with 22 deflections I think we won every quarter tonight um during the game a lot of good performances from a lot of guys

You know uh HB was fantastic FC 9 for 12 from the field for 24 points uh Keegan was 10 for 18 for 25 points those guys uh were really really big on the offense end of the floor for us uh domas was great he got the 70th double double

Tonight which is again it’s unbelievable but it’s just it’s just what he does so a heck of a job by him foxy with the 12 assists uh he was fantastic and you know it was great to have Trey and and Sasha coming off the bench too to have the uh

Extra bodies with some size and some shooting coming from the bench too but uh uh I I tell you what you know I I I you know two of the things that I’ve harped on quite a bit are contests and and our contest have gotten better they weren’t great tonight but they’ve gotten

Better uh in our ability to spray the basketball and we broke the game wide open because in the second half we had 11 sprays we were nine for 11 in sprays and we could touch the paint whether it’s a guard driving the basketball doas catching the it in the pocket and

Rolling it’s a matter of whether or not we’re going to spray the ball and uh we did a heck of a job spraying it especially in the second half tonight uh going 9 for 11 you can see how wide open uh uh the guys uh got looks from and

That second half and that’s that’s the difference in the game we’ve been defending our behinds off since the allstar break we get into this rut sometimes where uh where we don’t spray it like we should and when we don’t we struggle offensively but tonight I again

At the second half that that was just beautiful basketball we went to the same play over and over again and we touched the paint and we sprayed it we touched the paint and we sprayed it and you know those are the types of shots you guys

Get when you decide to go to the to the gym or to the park you guys just stand out there and you hope somebody will rebound for you and throw you the ball and you guys aren’t going to shoot 50% but at Le you mean at least you guys are

Shoot close to 20% Which is really good for you guys for me too so I’m in I’m in the I’m in the same boat I’m in the same boat I’d be shooting 20% too so okay I’m not messing with you cuz you you’re scaring me

Already and I said guys I didn’t say I didn’t say gals I said guys so all the dudes in here you’re the exception I’ll take 20% Mike H I’ll take 20% uh pregame you talked about your stars stepping up in more ways than just scoring 12 assists for Fox three steals

Two blocks it’s obviously positive impact that has in a game but what kind of message do you think that sends to the rest of the roster in the lock room especially when guys need to step up that fox is making that kind of an impact in so many areas outside of just

Scoring the basketball 100% they they both have to and that’s what stars do they make the game easier for everybody else in a lot of different ways especially offensively you know you when you draw a two you get off it and and and if you can get to your sweet spot

You finish like you’re supposed to especially if it’s one onone and so I thought both those guys were fantastic playing the game of basketball tonight and contributing in other areas to help us win and making the game easier for their teammates coach you talked on it at the beginning but Trey specifically and

Sasha what do you specifically see from them that that you like tonight in their return uh the size just helps especially on the glass you know you got both those guys whether they come up with it or not they’re battling they’re hitting bodies uh it’s uh guys that are used to taking

Big shots um they both are really really good three-point Shooters and so you got to guard them outside that line so it opens up the floor a little bit more for everybody else and then defensively they’re just they’re going to play their behinds off they’re going to try to play

The right way and they’re going to play very very hard and and you know to have that added depth especially veteran depth uh depth is uh is big for us at this point in the season when you see kind of performances like tonight and you mentioned guys doing more and maybe

Going deeper into rotations what’s the hardest thing to replace the two injuries that you have but maybe more in particular with Malik monk the way you rely on him well we we ran you know we do run our offense through dolas but usually going through domas you we go to

Somebody through him that makes sense and usually it’s the two guys that are injured and so now we have new guy we have guys that are cast in new roles um because we can’t rely on Fox to go get 30 every night we have to have other

Guys step up uh Keegan has to be able to playmake uh for himself and for his team uh Davon has to be able to playmake for himself and for his team and so it’s it it just puts uh added respons ibility on other guys because you know we went to

Malik and and pick and roll quite a bit and he made plays whether it was to D Us in the pocket or finishing at The Rim or spraying the ball uh because he can shoot if you go under if you if you chase him he’s turning the corner and

Getting down hill same with Kevin but Kevin was a dho game if you go under he’s going to stop and shoot behind it if not he’s going to turn the corner he can find the pocket or he can spray so those two guys uh had a had a a real

Heavy load in our offense which allowed us to not have to go to Fox play after play after play after play to score when it comes to playing through dness on the offense into the floor with some guys out and others um coming back what’s the

Process been like for you to figure out what you want to do rotationally and what lineups you go with uh it’s been a little bit of a process you know and um that down the stretch vers a really really good team uh in Dallas uh our

Last game um we didn’t execute well but part of it is uh is on me and you know cuz usually um Malik’s out there and if Malik’s out there and fox is out there they play off each other so well if we want to do something for Fox I put the

Ball in Malik’s hands and now Fox is the two guard but Malik has been in that position many times and so he knows how to execute whatever we’re trying to get to uh it was new for Keon to have to try to do that down the stretch uh and some

Other guys being in different positions and we fumbled a couple offensive sets where we didn’t get a great look at the rim and and so to go through that uh against Dallas uh starting with me it made me sit back and say okay hey I got to re-evaluate what we’re trying to do

Not only that I got to make sure I communicate with those guys so that they have a better feel we can get to our stuff quicker get better looks and so uh it’s been it’s been challenging but I would say that uh it’s been great cuz it

It it forces us to come up with something to help these guys out ahead of time so that we’re all on the same page and then rotationally um you know it’s been a little bit of a challenge because you know it’s not not necessarily fair to Kessler but he hadn’t played big minutes

So I threw him out there and he played well you know you just kind of are saying okay hey I I believe in this guy we weren’t getting it done with this group let’s give the next guy an opportunity and it’s kind of what happened tonight we gave Kessler an

Opportunity to start not that he was bad but I just felt that maybe going to Sasha in the second half would open things up for us offensively Coach Brown you know at the beginning of the third quarter when Utah came back and tied it up uh you called

The timeout yeah and uh your players came back uh they hit three straight threes two of them by Harrison Barnes what did that tells you and went on a 212 run what that tells you about how they responded to you after that timeout you know our guys have done a a great

Job they’re a resilient group and even after a tough loss they’ come back 90% of the time and and and played their behinds off and figured out a way to get a win the next time out and and it was no different during that timeout we we

We’ve been a little flat in the third quarter and in our third quarters and uh we talked we even talked about it we we said hey our third quarters haven’t been great let’s come out hit first and make sure we’re getting stops and getting out

And running and um you know I think we had a turnover or two to start the quarter maybe maybe we got a bucket but defensively I did not like our sense of urgency and uh so that’s why I took it and and I just reminded them that hey

It’s a long game but we can’t let these guys be comfortable we have to get up in them and so it starts on the defense end of the floor and I said guys just spray the ball spray the ball spray the ball I promise you they’re going like this when we drive they’re

Going like this when we hit the pocket and if we spray the ball we’re going to get easy looks and uh those were the two messages that I gave our guys went out they sprayed the ball HP got wide open looks and we got stops defensively and

We kept doing it and that’s why we went on 21 to2 run or whatever it was coach when Keegan was out here a few moments ago he talked about his three assists and he talked about I think he said it’s it’s different for him being a distributor of course with him you know

Was that tongue and cheek with him you you can’t tell but um could you speak to his potential for growth in that area and also the challenges for him as that uh aspect of his game expands yeah that’s going to be something new for him because last year again all he did was

Catch and shoot for us for the most part and then tried to defend tried to rebound and we didn’t really you know talk to him much about touching the paint and spraying it or whatever he was a space guy and and this year he’s shown the ability to score from all three

Levels and we tell him we we’ve been telling him be aggressive be aggressive be aggressive now he’s got to find a fine line cuz he’s 68 and he can get to his pull up his little leaning pullup against almost anybody and soon teams are going to start sitting in his lap

And rear view challenging and he’s going to have to make a decision kind of like Fox and domas to a certain degree okay hey I drew two now I got to get off it and and that will come in time as a young guy uh and with his potential

Especially with the injuries we have to Malik and and Kevin right now I just want him to be aggressive um if you get to on you for sure spray it but I’d rather him shoot the ball if he feel like he if he feels like he’s got to his

Spot uh then then think okay do I pass do I shoot do I shoot do I pass no no no don’t think you if you get to your spot you shoot it if not and you pick your dribble up go ahead and get off it but

Our two guys Fox and domas they’ve been around long enough where they got to figure it out and they got to make the game easier for everybody else Mike uh Keegan also said that uh that Malik’s been around and in pretty good spirits and and he thinks the group collectively

Is in good spirits have you seen like or heard anything from anyone Malik or or anyone else within the group to kind of I don’t know give you make you feel good about about the team’s um mindset and ability to kind of weather this storm a little bit right

Now yeah like I haven’t heard I haven’t felt or seen or heard anything different so you know we’re just continuing to move forward we’ve been hit with injuries before and and our attitude has been next man up and that’s what it is this time and you know to have Malik

He’s one of the most charismatic guys I’ve been around to to have him uh around is is is awesome because he brings a smile to everybody’s face and adds a bit of confidence but he as well as myself and everybody else are confident in the guys that we have in

That locker room and again you’re not replacing Malik you’re not replacing Kev but uh our guys still feel pretty good about where we’re at and the direction we’re going to head to thanks everyone thank y’all thank you

Stay connected with the #SacramentoKings:

Keegan Murray and Coach Brown speak to the media following a 127-106 victory over Utah Jazz on Sunday, March 31, 2024.

Harrison Barnes 0:00 – 4:57
Keegan Murray 4:58 – 9:14
Mike Brown 9:20 – 22:23

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