Giannis Antetokounmpo Postgame Press Conference | 1.31.24

Giannis Antetokounmpo Postgame Press Conference | 1.31.24

Doc had kind of talked about that he thought the defensive effort in the first quarter was awful uh I’m curious how do you guys try to find it was so good in Denver how do you try to find that consistency on the defensive end night in night

Out just got to keep playing hard that’s that’s pretty much it got whatever you do defensively put some effort try to cover for one another I think it was a lot of possession that we uh gave them some easy ones some easy looks and they punished us um I think think in the

Second half especially in the fourth quarter like we were like better we were helping one another getting deflections you know pressuring the uh the guy with the ball um I think we did a better job in the second half obviously like you want to play for 48 minutes there’s going to

Be times that you don’t but you got to keep on building that habit you know I think we taking a step towards the right direction you know in Denver that uh we’re good defend defensively we didn’t win the game but we were good this time today at times we were good

Also uh we got to keep on building keep on building keep on coming together keep on figuring out our offense you know our spacing um timings when we cut when we set screens who who is our Target um and our defense is going to keep on coming you know game by game

Game by game uh I think you started the fourth quarter with six turnovers in a row just as a team um what do you see at the start of the fourth quarter that kind of led to that we just got to take care of the ball it’s pretty much it we

Got to take care of the ball there’s going to be times that we going to throw the ball over but like in the game that we are trailing we are down by two 4 six whatever the case might be I don’t remember but that time

What he was uh we got to do a better job takeing care of the ball if somebody’s being pressure we got to go out there set a screen get him open you know uh when you when you ask for the ball you got to make sure you hold your man get

The ball like we got to do a better job just take care of the ball and get in a shut up you know those six possession probably CES the game you know if we had scored in two of those possession maybe would have won the game who knows doc

Like the screen you set for Dame on the side sideline out of bounds with 17 seconds left was the one where he was doubled and kicked it to Brooke um what if you like about your screen setting maybe these last two games and what are you looking for forward going forward

Especially cuz you’re talking about like hey maybe the two-man game with Damian is is going to need to be improved and worked on true I just got to do my job much that’s what I get paid for do my job you know um is there a focus there though like in

Terms of how you do it and and maybe whether it be staying a little longer or reading his angles yeah that is sometimes when the blitz him you don’t even need to set it you know they so focused on him that you can just get out

And get the ball in the pocket and try to create open three for somebody or a easy one but like in a position like that you just got to in my opinion you got to set it to force the switch and have the guy chase him which they did

They chased him over but um you know aan did a great play uh kind of you know took a step up and double team the the last uh pick and roll with Brook but Brook was wide open you know Brook was wide open we got a nice look so you

Know everything starts everything starts from the setup you know from the screen from them being a threat from me rolling hard to take a player with me for Brook to be open your team was talking a lot about how communication just needed to be more and more tonight how do you see

Communication improving with this team like what does that look like from your perspective try to be as vocal as possible possible um talk to my teammate listen you know when they when they tell me stuff when they want to be in the position that they think can help the

Team listen to the coach staff it’s it’s new new new rules uh new game plan you know trying to you know just keep my eyes and my ears open as much as possible try to uh understand you know what we are trying to accomplish here I think uh the more I understand it

The more I buy into it the more I can execute it in the best of my ability uh so as I said listen and if I see something just try to be vocal you know try to help help my teammates in the best of my ability was it hard to lock

In for this game or did it take a while to settle in with just all the tribute videos and the people going crazy for Dame and stuff no not necessarily you know obviously um you know this is why we play the game d d has

Been this is why we play game d has been um here for 11 years he literally built this house from the from as far as as I can remember from the first moment I came to the league you know coming to Portland you had to go through had to go through

Dame in order for you to get a win here it was very very hard there’s some play in the NBA uh you can ask other players that it’s hard to get a win and I think Portland was always one of those places you know uh just from the the way he

Played the energy he played the way he carried himself uh the way he lead his teammate uh seeing something like that you know coming out for for a warm up and then you see like a stand inovation for him and you know when they called his name and people you know show showed

Appreciation and love you know it’s it’s big you know uh sometimes you go through every single day you you do your job go back home come again you do your job you play a game you know uh every day goes by sometimes you know people don’t really show appreciation

And being able to see uh my teammate to get that kind of love that kind of appreciation in the in in the city that he literally built you know uh you know that’s why we played the game of basketball and I was you know very very

Happy for him uh and I know that he was he was happy uh but again to answer your question I wasn’t I wasn’t looking at the tribute I was trying to focus in the game as much as I can but man everything that comes this guy

Away from the from the court that he got yesterday the Adidas Court the first Adas athlete to ever have his own Court um from coming to Portland and um you know people show him love you know he he he deserves it man he he earned every every single thing that’s coming

His way now we just got to finish the last thing that he wants and I want and the whole group here want we want to be the last team standing you know uh but we got to we got to work we got to it’s enough talking we got to

Work that inbounds play to end end the game I think you guys are up or down three excuse me 5 seconds left I think that was the same play you guys were in against Sacramento late um what was the thought process there did you think you’re going to get followed or what no

Uh no um you just got to I don’t really want to talk about the play because I think we going be in a situation like that in the future that we going to have to run the play but um there options uh for me the first options for me to get

The ball try to make something happen um but they responded the foul before I was able to make something happen um you know try to figure out if somebody make a mistake and you know come in s for a three or for like a trail three with Brooke you know um

But again in situation like that the most important thing like you have to find the the guy that can thrive in those moments and Dame is one of those guys um I don’t want to talk in details about the play but like there’s more options there the first option for me to

Get the ball try to make something happen and there the second option then is the third option to the play

Giannis Antetokounmpo spoke to the media after Wednesday’s game in Portland.

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