3-9-24 Phoenix Suns Postgame Media Availability: Frank Vogel and Kevin Durant

3-9-24 Phoenix Suns Postgame Media Availability: Frank Vogel and Kevin Durant

Yeah I mean I thought we battled you know I was proud of how hard we fought um I didn’t like how many loose balls we we weren’t getting in the in the beginning of the game you know and how we rebounded um got to have better urgency against team with the best

Record in the NBA um but I thought we we caught ourselves and and played a spirited game uh throughout the rest of it um you know giving him uh 15 threes I thought we we could have pushed up more I mean I thought we did a decent job

Pushing up on our shooters for the most part you know knowing that that was a that’s a big part of their off offensive attack but you know there was too many possessions where we didn’t and they bombed a three on us and you know we just can’t you can’t have those uh those

Errors the margin of error is Slim against a team like this um but I was proud of how we fought like when you went to the they found free throw and G I saw Kevin look at the bench like like what what were we supposed to do how

Would you assess the zone defense against yeah um you talking about start of fourth yeah yeah yeah Kev wasn’t in no no started was like I say I say third qu yeah I mean I’ll have to look at the film for that but it’s something that

We’re trying to trying to uh build into our package you know what I mean it’s uh it’s been really good some nights imperfect some nights um you know it’s it’s one of those things against a a great three-point shooting team you don’t think you want to use it but

Against team that you have matchup problems it it makes sense you know so you you sprinkle it in uh see how it looks if they beat it then you you move on from it think that bow know he obious had the 13 points but I’m assuming part

Of his how much he plays depend on how he plays on the defensive end I’m curious what you thought of him on that end and is that a factor in what’s leading to him maybe not playing as much yeah we got to have a matchup or we got

To be able to play The Zone you know he’s been the guy we putting putting the zone out there A lot of times for you so we can take advantage of his offense and and be able to protect him some on the defensive side of the ball um we weren’t

Able to do that uh to start the fourth tonight but but um you know so we slid him over to five and try to keep him in you know but you know he’s a he’s a unique player you know I mean he’s he’s got to be in the right situations but um

I like how we played tonight only thing I had was the challenge of the rotation where you could want to stay big with ner then you what was the thought process and whether leave him in or leave him out when it came to that yeah

I mean we were down I want to see uh you know we were down and there there spread five offense you know that you know they make a a big Center like nerk run around the three-point line so um we want to look at a stretch while we were down of

Uh you know being a one through five red with five Smalls out there uh Eric actually had to be pulled out of the game uh with u i don’t know what was wrong with his knee but something happened to his knee and uh he had to

Come out so that’s why we went back to nerk you know to um you know because he’s the next best guy to go in there at that point coach we’ve asked you about Katie a lot but to have that type of shooting performance the degree of difficult especially against the switch

Heavy defense Big Time Performance yeah hard it is to do what he did offensively wild garden an MVP candidate the the entire night I mean I don’t think people understand how how difficult that is um so just a a really really special performance uh by Kevin Durant tonight

Um disappointing that we couldn’t get the W for him but he was awesome tonight you look at the three-point shooting particularly some of the rooll guys were you happy with the quality of look just one of those nights or cont yeah I think for the most part I

Mean I thought you know a big problem with with our U our offense tonight was just overp passing in the paint you know what I mean mean I think the quality of Threes I have to look at the tape was pretty good for the most part um you

Know but overpassing in the paint caused the you know gave us probably five extra possessions that we lost you know that we just got to shoot the ball or we got to spray it back out I mean this team’s too quick with their hands um to turn

The ball over like that how would you assist the you guys offensively handled Boston’s cross trying to counter what they wereing we had some stretches where it was poor but it’s a unique um defense to go against and I thought for the most part for the totality of the game I

Thought our guys really had a a playoff type of intelligence you know trying to put the right people in the right action um which puts our our guys in positions where they’re not normally in uh so it just takes a little bit of getting used to but I liked our guys uh intentions

You know to try to get that right and it was it was pretty good most of the game but there was some stretches where it wasn’t how you try to get involved as a when they doing that type of thing yeah I mean he’s got to play his game and you

Obviously look for opportunities if if he has small on the punish the smalls down low which which he did I like to see him post between the blocks more you know than than off the blocks but when he did get the ball inside he was effective um they did it less against

Nerk and more against Drew um you know and that’s where some of the challenges came in and you know we knew with uh with us being short-handed you know Bridging the half you know with our bench um with as many guys as we have out was going to be a challenge we had

To win those minutes and you I got to look at the numbers but you know I think uh I think we didn’t we didn’t do well enough during no stretches Frank is anything going on with right now do you expect to be part of the Ching forward

Yeah we’ll see I mean if if a matchup um you know uh fits then then we’ll use him but right now he’s he’s behind Drew on a depth chart what what was it about tonight that you didn’t like the match up with him as far as no I’m just saying we we

Like Drews had him in the depth chart and unless there’s a game we feel like Drew can’t play which tonight was not the case did you get chord I don’t have an update on thats team Mak you know I just think they’re Personnel I mean they get start starting

Lineup is for basically all defensive team members you know and then Horford is one of the you know historically one of the best defensive centers in the game and um you know the guys off the bench Hower and and Pritchard they’re they’re tenacious you know what I mean so I mean they got

Great defensive Talent you know with in their scheme hey coach coach Missoula in his postgame pressor uh said Drew holiday is one of the most levelheaded players he’s ever coached how much of a headache is it to prep for a player that’s so good all around such an

Irritant uh can shoot the ball pretty much Jack B trades you said it right there Drew is a champion you know he’s one of the best players in the league you know and uh because of because of everything you you said right there what he does on both sides of the ball

Tenacious defensively he’s shooting the heck out of the ball from three this year and um he’s a huge reason for that that team success this year one guys were getting Bost was getting a lot of Second Chance points and lots of points off turnovers in the the second half you guys respond really

Well to that what did you see yeah we had to be first to the ball you I mean if you’re going to beat the best team with the best best record in the NBA you got to be first of the ball we weren’t in the first first quarter at

Least you know and I think most of the most of the first half but you know second half we had the the right to position to go win a game coach just talk about you being able to have that kind of night with 45 Garden tail uh how

Much was it tonight just feeling like you felt like you had to do do whatever was necessary for you guys to have a chance tonight uh yeah I mean just feel like every game we all got to do what’s necessary each game may be different especially when one of our main players

Are out so got to be prepared for any role we may step into um so I just try to tackle those challenges as best as I can and I was ready to make some Shots tonight curious with um you know I know there were time that you were trying to get guys

Involved early and that might have led to you over over passing how were you trying to find that balance of find a guy but then look for your yeah uh I think I had a turnover early in the game trying to make an interior pass and and

I I realized I’ve been doing that lately trying to make interior passes when I’m already in my spots to shoot um so some of them you just got to shoot him and I think a couple turnovers I had was in transition where we just I should have

Slowed down a bit and wait for my teammates to set up um you know so just I just just want to be aggressive regardless of it all and play through anything and was able to uh knock some shots down and loosen the defense up I think we were just right there so many

Times you know they made big plays coming out of each timeout they made they made threes got fou um when we tried to close the gap so you got to get them credit that’s what I was going to ask just really quick on the follow up you guys I think

Three late there what do you feel like maybe after that that didn’t lead to you all I think they made a three wide open three in the corner I think Horford made a three in the corner and that’s always a back breaker um I think it was miscommunication or maybe a switch and

We had to helping and they swung swung and that’s what this team could do to you 39 threes they get up 40 to 503s a night you know so and they stay home and lot on threes as well so you got to um figure out where your shots going to

Come from if you can’t just catch and shoot you know so um they got a solid strategy over there and it’s one of those one of those um strategies where it might be you might be play they might be playing a bad game early on but as

Course of the game it’ll come back around for him and I think that’s what happened and late in the game they was able to make some shots in terms of the three-point shooting did you like the quality ofs that you guys were getting yeah I mean when our Shooters can get up

Um six for Roy seven for me four for Grayson I mean which Grayson we we have got Grayson more looks um five for Brad three for Dr I mean we could we definitely could get up 10 more more 11 more threes up I think I

That one I turned over at the end when Jaylen Brown knocked it out my hand I probably should have shot a three there um but I like this I like some of the looks that we got do you need to get to 43s I mean that’s just kind of like the

Number I’m sure every team is emphasizing that it’s hard to get that many threes up you got to get stops for one and you got to get out and transition as well to get them up and you got to penetrate and break the paint

You know so it’s tough to get 43s up but like you look at the numbers of most of the good teams or any team that wins on any given night they usually get up a lot of Threes the cross matching isn’t something you’re going to see every

Night but how would you the way you guys hand it it yeah I mean we shot 50% from the field um I think we slowed down and uh um try to find out what our matchup was and attack that way and we was able to get some good looks we had 14 turns

But I had six of them so everybody else pretty good um we forced them to 12 turnovers so I don’t really think the turnovers killed us as much but they made six more threes than us and outrebounded us well not but not that many I mean I think the three-point

Lines really would beat us Kevin when you’re looking at Deon Al getting close to to being back how much is it going to be good to get him back you yeah I mean another guy that can create for himself and create for others and um phenomenal leader somebody that

We look to all game you know so I’m excited to get him back you know but we definitely don’t want to rush him back cuz this is an important part of the season and we need him healthy as possible so you know we could buy a

Couple more hours a couple more days for him to get right you know we definitely uh could do that but we we we miss him out on the floor Kevin you got these guys again next week and I think the second hardest remain scheduled by wi percentage like how can games like these

And games like that the rest of the way kind of sh you up for the for the playoffs yeah I mean it’s good tune up for us when you playing against teams that you’re going to see in those uh in the playoffs you know and and they going

To play with high intensity every night so uh it’s good for us to get that warm up before playoffs you know so um I would want any other way as far as grinding against teams that are fighting for spots I think the games would be better

Head Coach Frank Vogel and Kevin Durant speak to the media following the Phoenix Suns game on March 9, 2024.

#ComingInHot

Subscribe to get all the latest Phoenix Suns Content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLxlWVVHz2a8SdCfxzVXzQw

Connect with the Phoenix Suns online and on Social:
🔵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suns/
🔵 Twitter: https://twitter.com/Suns
🟣 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suns/
💻 Website: https://www.nba.com/suns/?tmd=1
🟢 TikTok: @phoenixsuns
🟡 SnapChat: phoenix suns

🎟️ PayPal Sixthman Season Ticket Memberships https://www.nba.com/suns/tickets/sixthman/membership