On his favorite thing from tonight’s game
“I thought we did a good job for the most part of passing and moving the basketball. Passing up good shots for great shots. But we also went through a little stretch there where I thought we became a little bit too isolated and stopped moving the basketball. For the most part we did a good job there. I thought we did good defensively for a little while, but for the most part we started to get broken down and balls in the paint. That’s what we have to eliminate.”
On the importance of the bench tonight
“I thought they played well, I thought they played exceptionally well. Josh (Hart) has played that way for a while for us now, probably the last 12 to 15 games he’s been really good about the bench press. I thought he did a great job off the bench, but I thought it was a good team win. I thought Lonzo (Ball) did a good job with the pace of the game and keeping us running. Obviously, Zion (Williamson) did a really good job for us, especially in the first half getting us in the bonus and going to the free throw line. Other guys on the floor did a good job defensively. It’s the way we are going to have to play, the big thing for us is we don’t have to count on anyone, we just have to take care of business on our end and we will see what happens.”
Thoughts on playing against Melo (Carmelo Anthony)
“He’s Carmelo, his resume speaks for itself. He’s a crafty player, for him to not be in the league for a few months, I don’t know the exact time period, he’s still a great player. Its always tough for me to matchup with players like that but I love the challenge.”
What do you think about another game with thirty-five plus assists as a team?
“I think its great for us. It gets started moving in transition, especially when Zo (Lonzo Ball) gets it, I think we all just kind of break free and find our lane. Everybody’s unselfish so we always make that extra pass, I think as long as we keep those assists numbers up we’ll be fine.”
Do you consider this an important game against Portland tonight as you guys are battling for the eighth (playoff) spot?
“Honestly, for us at this point I think every game is important. It’s really like a college season now for us like every game matters so, we take a loss, it’s a big loss for us. We got to come ready to play every game, lock in, can’t have no slow starts and if we do, we can’t dig ourselves in a big whole.”
