J.B. Bickerstaff | Cavs vs Kings Post Game | 2.5.2024

J.B. Bickerstaff | Cavs vs Kings Post Game | 2.5.2024

Coach we talked a lot about the three-point and how important that is for you guys obviously tonight with a shootout but can you explain more as to how much that brings to your guys’ game uh I mean again obviously with the guys that we have on this team it’s it’s a

Weapon um but you know thing that’s most important is how we’re generating them and that’s what I like uh so many of them are created because you know one guy does a selfless act for another uh and then the other guys repay one another and to me that’s what this is

All about uh you can be a team that jacks up as many bad threes as you want but that’s not going to impact winning so for us it’s all about how we generate them you know 36 assists on 51 made field goals is awesome uh just again

Speaks to the quality of these guys how selfless they are and how bought in they are to one another how would you describe your defense tonight especially with sabonis and dar Fox being tough for you guys I mean it was it’s a tough matchup but I felt like we picked our

Spots really really well uh I thought we did a great job defensively in that second quarter which helped us build the lead uh and then you know in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line you know 18 points we really clamped down so uh they’re a tough team you know

I mean there’s so many weapons that they have over there the tempo they play at the pace they play at uh they really stress you uh you know but again I thought our guys when it mattered most and we needed to kind of lock down uh we

Did a phenomenal job D JB when Max is going as well as he was an offensively he’s connecting from Deep what does that his shot specifically do in terms of creating open looks for guys uh I mean it’s a it’s a momentum Builder right

When you when you got a guy who plays as hard as Max does um you know when he makes those shots like he uplifts everybody you know I think about a couple the the steals that he got in the back court like those types of things

But you know then you throw in the threes and it’s it’s a momentum shifter for uh not only us but for our fans um and the guys feed off of it like they have such a respect for the work that he puts in and how hard he works and how

Hard he plays um that they just want to see him all go and when he gets it going you know I mean it raises everybody’s attention King are a team that typically plays at a pretty fast pace and you guys are a team that typically does not what

Did it take to adjust to that tonight it seemed like early in the game it was a lot quicker than you guys are used to and kind of slow down as game yeah I think you know them being in their last game um on a long road trip uh they

Wanted to come out to get off to a great start um the you know the shooting performance in the first half was unbelievable by both teams and I think you know as that kind of goes like you’re just trying to create the shots um but again I thought once we settled

In a little bit uh you know especially in that second quarter we were able to slow the tempo uh for us defensively and allow our big guys to get back uh and once our big guys get back defensively you know we’re hard to score against um

And I thought we did a good job of that in that second quarter and then the fourth quarter as well JB um Evan came out really aggressive tonight and just was aggressive from wire wire in his limited minutes can you just give us a little insight on your thoughts on his

Performance tonight I mean I think he he’s got the right mindset um you I mean look at you know what he’s doing it’s it’s a you know a little bit of everything to come up with you know almost a triple double in limited minutes uh just speaks about the impact

That he can have on a game and I you know I loved his aggressiveness how he was attacking the basket to start uh he had a a couple of bunnies that I’m sure he would like to have back um but I thought he was aggressive his mindset

Was right um and when he’s aggressive defensive make tough choices and he makes the right one 95% of the time and when this team is firing on cylinders like this do you need Evan to be aggressive like that every night or do you okay with him just picking and

Choosing those moments I think like again we we talked about it pregame and the message to every one of our guys is be the most aggressive confident version of yourself uh that’s it you know whatever your role is whatever your skill set is uh you know do it to the

Maximum and I think again the guys that bought into that so we want them all to be aggressive aggessive JB I’m sorry if you mentioned this already Max makes a play in the in the front Court after sabonis gets a rebound it’s for out kind of sneaks up behind

Him how big of is kind of a momentum shifter is that kind of play I mean it’s it’s gamechanging and uplifting for us um again you know the guys appreciate what Max does every single day uh the way that he plays the game you know it’s just pure effort um and grit and

Determination like he doesn’t give up on plays uh and so when he makes a play like that the guys just appreciate it and respect it so much that it makes them want to do more and you know we all talk about our guys you know and how they lead uh and

How this is you know all of their team and all of them have a voice and a say and they all lead different ways and you know that’s Max’s way of leading uh to get his guys to follow him and uh again he does a tremendous job of it last one

SP spener Davies Cav cider going back to Evan when he’s in the triple threat position what are you kind of looking for depending on what defensive match up he has on him cuz I mean he the last couple games he’s been in attack mode in that situation yeah I mean again he’s

He’s hard to guard with his size skill and length you know he can put the ball on the floor and in one bounce he’s at The Rim um you know at the same time he’s good enough once he puts the ball on the floor to see the defense and then

Make the whatever the right next play is uh so again as long as he’s going forward uh good things are going to happen and you know that’s what we want and again he’s just going to continue to do it guys are going to get more used to

Playing with him again uh and it’s going to make us that much more effective and then 30 36 assists is obviously hard to get but you guys have been playing the selfless brand of basketball for like a good month and a half now we’ve seen it in like five six game stretches before

In the past but this is a legitimate you know almost two months now that they’ve been doing this what do you think the key is behind that and how has it been so sustainable to play this kind of basketball uh sacrifice um you know putting the team above yourself and

Every single one of those guys in the locker room has put the team above themselves uh they’ve embraced one another and all they want to do is see each other be successful in their role uh so whatever the role is they go out and try to help their teammate be the

Best at that that they possibly can uh and again you know you look at our minutes played tonight like you know not up we didn’t have to play guy ton of minutes um because we have that depth and everybody got an opportunity to flourish um and it’s selfless

Basketball one more goad how much is that selfless basketball that you guys are playing comes from you and the and the coaching step uh I mean again that that’s what we believe Works um so that’s been the message from day one um is trying to you know making sure the

Guys are buying into something greater than themselves and that’s something we live by every single day you know we ask our coaches um you know they’ll never the players will never do something that the coaches aren’t willing to do so um you know our coaching staff I think does

A great job of pouring into our guys um giving them love teaching them helping them develop helping them improve uh and not just on the basketball court um you know doing more for them as human beings and they do as basketball players and our guys Embrace that and they follow the lead

Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff spoke to the media following a 136-110 victory over the Sacramento Kings on February 5, 2024 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.