Mike Brown on Kings win & Sasha Vezenkov and Lyles return

Mike Brown on Kings win & Sasha Vezenkov and Lyles return

I guess how much has yesterday kind of take maybe some of the burden off of what this team has been feeling over the past couple days not you know anytime we win especially at this point in the season where we are in this race uh you

Know you feel good about it um so whether it’s yesterday or you know winning in Orlando or whatever it all feels good because we know we need wins at especially at this point in the season I know that was one of those games where people would say you quote

Unquote needed or had to win or should have won but is there a glimpse into that game to where what you saw from your team is something you can carry forward for the remaining yeah I I mean you know I said it afterwards I I tell

You what the way we sprayed the ball in that second half I mean it was it was beautiful um we have to play that way we don’t have a lot of guys that just going hey go ahead and go get it you know uh we have to have great spacing great body

Movement great ball movement um all those things really really matter to us and so uh we have to have a feel of when we need to be able to get off the ball to get guys Great Looks and then you know on the flip side I tell you what

Our our our contests were pretty good we did a decent job not great a decent job of trying to put bodies on bodies because they’ve been rebounding really well on the offens end of the floor and we did a decent job of protecting the paint I think they had 34 points in the

Paint for the game so the there you know every game you step out and play you can use for growth and and you know the last thing I’d say is uh you know we we obviously especially down the stretch but we we we have to play a little

Different with Malik and with Malik being out and Kevin being being out and um you know in that second Dallas game losing Malik early in the game you know we went through some growing pains during that that game down the stretch we had some empty possessions that uh

You know we wish we could have had back but it was just a matter of us not necessarily um you know having that group out there that long and trying certain things attacking certain matchups and stuff like that we just weren’t quite used to and so great great

Great learning experience for us in that game and we did a better job of executing our stuff in in the Utah game is that the biggest concern for you as navigating that time that you have specifically without m i biggest concern in terms of like going forward and how you know obviously

Have the two-man game we talked last night about obviously how much domas relays on Kevin and Malik in that regard but’s obviously so much more of a playmaker and yeah I mean Malik made the game easier for um a lot of us you know

And I mean he can score it at a high level he had 39 and uh when foxy was out in Minnesota and um so it’s you’re not replacing him but having said that we got to kind of do it by committee it’s the next man up and and we have to even

Be sharper with our spacing we have to be sharper with our Pace we have to be sharper with all of our uh offensive attributes that uh that um we have on the table in order to try to make up for the ground that uh we’re going to miss

Without Kevin Andor Malik on the floor and then you know our execution has to be on point too uh we have to make sure that uh we know who’s bringing the ball up we can’t always have Fox on the ball because he’s going to be guarded by the

Best uh Defender uh perimeter defender of our opponent and and so him have to bring the ball every time and then make a play every time uh that’s taxing on anybody so uh that means that Davon and Keon are going to have to play Big minutes for us during crunch time and

They’re going to have to handle the ball and initiate the offense and try to get guys in the right spot and you know all that other stuff so there there are some challenges that we’re going to have uh down on the stretch but they’re all ones that we’re looking forward to and every

Time we step out on the floor we’re going to probably get a little bit better with it so is part of the reason playing Fox moral fall to I mean it seem like some of these longer teams are picking them up full court making them

Work all the way to to midc court is that to alleviate some of that work too so he can you know have that energy late yeah and that’s kind of just what I said you know to have him have the best perimeter Defender guarding him now he’s

Got to bring the ball up the floor initiate the offense sometimes make a play you know you do that throughout the course of the game and and it’s tough and so to be able to get him off the ball some have somebody else bring it up have somebody else initiate it not only

That you know uh as the game gets uh later and and and the score is tighter he’s going to be taking a lot of shots or he’s going to at least be trying to get to a sweet spot to take a good shot or or create an advantage for one of his

Teammates and so to have other guys being able to touch the ball and then get him on the backside after moving the defense sometimes is a good good thing for us as well with Sasha try back it seemed like obviously from a spacing perspective that helps but even just the

Ball movement seemed like the ball was really popping what stood out to you watching them out there I they’re veteran guys you know we’re a little bigger you know when when they weren’t on the on the floor you know we’ve been been smaller you know um we’ve had to

Play uh Keegan and HB heavy minutes especially against a team like Dallas but uh the biggest thing is the flexibility that they bring to the table our ability to to to offense uh offensive and defensive rebound our ability uh to protect the pain a little bit more um it

Helps out but um and then you know like you said those guys are good Shooters they have a great feel for the game they’ve been around for a while and and they help with all those other little things that are Staples offensively you said you need more from

Everybody you need more from everybody I think on offense but do you view this as an opportunity for Keegan to specifically take that step forward on offense and take more initiative oh yeah you know it’s somebody says somebody told me one time that adversity leads to

Opportunity and uh the reality of it is I don’t care what anybody says you know we’ve hit some adversity at especially at this point of the Season you know to to fighting for your playoff lives against uh a team in the Dallas Mavericks who obviously I think they’re

Nine and one in their last 10 they’re pretty good you know and they probably have the leagues MV p and Luca and uh for us to be down technically two starters and Malik and Kevin plus two guys especially the way we play them uh because it’s no secret what we do but

The way we play them to be down two rotational guys in Sasha and Trey that’s a big blow but and that’s that’s some adversity but the reality of it is it’s leading for it’s leading to opportunity for others you know Kessler stepped up and played well davon’s

Minutes have gone up Keegan has to step up HB has to step up and you know now we get Sash and Trey back we still have some things down the stretch that we have to figure out and so it’s going to lead for opportunities for other as well

So I’m I’m I’m all for this and and making sure that we grow and learn uh the right way while trying to help our guys sooner than later so going into these games we don’t get in a rut and Miss opportunities like I felt we did against Dallas down the stretch um with

Keegan um obviously a lot this year has been on kind of him finding his shot and pulling those threes when he’s open and stuff like that um what what type of challenge does it pose to him now with guys like Malik out um to also kind of get others involved and distribute a

Little bit maybe something he’s not totally used to he talked about he talked about a little bit yesterday yeah same thing I said yesterday is Keegan’s gotten to a point where he he’s finding ways to score from all three levels so he’s not just a three-point shooter uh

He’s been able to get to the rim he’s got a nice little pull-up game and now he can shoot the three whether it’s off the dribble or off the move and you know because Malik and Kevin made the game easier for others with their especially Kevin with his velocity or Pace Uh Kevin

With his ability to pass the ball as a second side Handler malake his ability to score for himself or distribute the ball as a front as a a front line Handler um you know you need other guys to understand hey if you don’t if you

Have a good shot you know take it if you’re in Rhythm uh take it if you get to your sweet spot but if somebody else has a great shot we got to make the game easy for for each one of us and uh just go ahead and move that ball from to go

From good to great and it’s not just Kean but but but it’s everybody so that we can have a lot of guys involved and not just one or two guys involved in the scoring column at the end of the day because we’re not built that way coach

Fox what coaches recorded um fox has recorded 20 straight games with his steel I believe he had three last night couple blocks as well um just how important is it for him to be at that impactful on both ends of the four at this stretch of the Season uh we need

Him to be impactful especially defensively because a lot of times he’s the head of snake you know it’s it’s a little different with Keon in the lineup now usually Keon takes that guy on the perimeter but uh Fox’s ability to defend and defend multiple guys on the

Perimeter uh is much needed and his Awareness on the weak side is something right now that we’re continuing to work with but his ability on the ball is second to none when he’s engaged and when he wants to and uh those opportunities lead usually lead to easy

Buckets for us going the other way so uh it’s much needed right now especially with the guys we have out thanks

Mike Brown discusses the Kings bounce back vs. Utah, what Sasha Vezenkov and Trey Lyles brought to the floor, Fox playing off ball and the importance of Keegan staying aggressive.

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