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Speaker 1: Where to spend ten minutes right now with the head

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coach of the Houston Rockets. Rockets here in Memphis is

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going to take on the Grizzlies tonight. We'll have it

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for you here on seven ninety beginning at six o'clock

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with the launch pad seven o'clock tip time. You may

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doka with us here. You may first of all, thanks

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for joining us. These conversations sometimes aren't fun, especially after

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the way the performance of the last couple of.

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Speaker 2: Games has it been.

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Speaker 1: I mean, obviously the answer is yes to this, but

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to the level I want to get your thoughts on.

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Those two games against Miami and Atlanta were fun, interesting

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buzzer beaters. You beat some good teams, you get on

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the road, you got some teams that are probably worrying

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about the end of the season in Chicago and then

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the Minnesota game without aunt. I guess the level of

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frustration for you about this team's inability to stay consistent,

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especially in this time of year when you're trying to

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juggle for seedings in the Western Conference.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say, you know, it's been a problem

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of ours throughout the year. You know, we look and

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feel and played like a different team at times against

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the big matchups, you know, kind of get up with

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those and then have lows against them.

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Speaker 2: Of the lessive teams with.

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Speaker 3: The losing records, and so obviously something we want to

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change and be consistent regardless who were playing. And even

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in those games, you know, we got really good stretches.

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It was a poor quarter or two that kind of

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slot us behind. Obviously the first court in Chicago after

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a good win, but even the end of the Miami game,

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letting them come back like we did, and then the

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first court in Chicago outside of that played a great

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dead quarters, didn't play our best, you know, most of

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the night against Minnesota, probably a C level game and

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put together you know, good last three minutes and a

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great start to overtime, but have to be more consistent

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and sustain that effort, that defensive mentality and then offensively

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being aggressive and confident.

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Speaker 1: Was there anything that Minnesota did in that last half

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of the overtime? I mean, look, that was minutes fifty

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three and fifty four of the game. What went from

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so good in that fourth quarter to you know, align

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with those free baskets that they were able to make

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that comeback and of such a short period of time.

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Speaker 2: I mean they started going after Kevin a little bit.

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Speaker 3: They blitzed a few times, we got the outpring in

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the pocket and Zubari had a white open three missed

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a man in the pocket one time, and had some

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white open shooters and LP in the dunker spot and

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kind of shot over a few people.

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Speaker 2: So a few miscues outside out of the.

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Speaker 3: Blitz and then some some turnovers a second violation obviously

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in some turnovers.

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Speaker 2: That got the mount of transition. But that was the point.

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Once we got the lead.

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Speaker 3: You know, our defense wasn't set because they were getting

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out running and scored pretty much, you know, seven to

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ten seconds on the shot clock a few times in

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a row.

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Speaker 1: You're so late in the season here, it's not about teaching.

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It's not about an extra practice, it's not about uh

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intense film setting. It's it's a little bit of I

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guess the psychologist part of your job as a coach

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to say, look, guys, we've let a lot of these

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kind of games slip through our fingers, and if we

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want to be where we want to be and make

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a playoff run, we got to get this corrected down.

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With about ten games of the year is that the

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way you're kind of approaching things.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, because even in those games that we haven't played

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a full four quarters, we've had really great stretches, really

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dominant stretches, and obviously, like I said, so go down

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twenty one in Chicago and come back as fast as

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we did in the way we did. Obviously we played

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really good basketball and guard at a high level.

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Speaker 2: So how can we sustain that?

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Speaker 3: That's the main thing, coming out to start games with

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the same intensity that we bring when we get down.

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And so that's the real thing. I mean, I think

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we all know we can get back and want to

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be playing our best going into playoffs and have a

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chance to still do that.

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Speaker 4: ROCKETECT coach rom mid Dooko with his here on Sports

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Talk seven ninety.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Obviously, when you go through bad stretches out here, one

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of the things that pundits like to go to is

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vibes or body language or things like that, and there's

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been some national people picking up on that. Just your perspective,

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how do you feel morale, chemistry, vibes, whatever you want

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to call it.

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Speaker 3: With the team, I would say everybody's frustrated when you lose,

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and nobody's going to be happy about it. And so yeah,

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body language isn't going to be totally upbeat when.

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Speaker 2: You're you know, down twenty or giving up a big lead.

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Speaker 3: But you have to have some resiliency and some determination

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to get back in these games the way we have

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or you know, to be even keeping it close when

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we're not playing our best. And so we look at

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that thing, those things overall and how can we, you know,

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manage to play a better quarter here so when not

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down in the deficits. So I don't put a ton

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in that. I think our guys are all on the

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same page, rooting for each other, chairing for each other,

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and you know, when it's going well, we're upbeating all that,

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and you just got to maintain that even in the

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down times.

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Speaker 2: And so I don't look too much into that.

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Speaker 3: I think all our guys know what says stake now

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and how we have to play at a more consistent level.

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And so we don't look at that. I don't really

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hear it, but you know, we go about our business

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and try to put a full game together to night

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against Memphis.

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Speaker 4: Now, as you mentioned, just going about your business is there,

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what do you do as a coach? You try to

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keep it just business as usual. Do you try to

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do anything differently when these types of stretches pop up.

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Speaker 2: No, you definitely talk about it. You don't sleep it

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under the rug and act like it's okay.

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Speaker 3: Like we're playing our best basketball, are most consistent, and

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we make that at a point and see how we

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can get to it and show the great stretches that

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we've had to you know, come back from down eleven

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in the last three plus minutes and then take a

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thirteen point lead. We did some really good things. We

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were physical into the ball. They were the aggressive most

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of the night, and we flipped it there. And if

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we can come out with that to start show them

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all the good things, the positive things that obviously we

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look at what went wrong as well, but you understand

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what can get you there and how consistant you have

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to be.

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Speaker 2: And so we look at.

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Speaker 3: Both, you know, put on the table and see the

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ways for us improved and how we could do it

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in these last nine games.

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Speaker 1: How have you liked a men since the change when

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you put reena start line up the last handful of games.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been great, regardless, I think even going back

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to his last twenty or so games. Even before Reid

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was in the lineup, he's been playing an extremely high.

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Speaker 2: Level on the ball off the ball.

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Speaker 3: It just gives him more variety when readers in to

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not have to handle as much. You know, you can

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get back into some of his dunker spots and screening

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and rolling and do the offensive rebounding.

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Speaker 2: So just gives them more varieties.

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Speaker 3: If Wasty can score, waste, he can attack and not

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just having the ball and setting up.

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Speaker 2: So he's still doing that.

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Speaker 3: Some obviously want him to continue to grow in that role,

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but he's so good to the other things you don't

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just want to limit him.

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Speaker 1: You know, you've got the Memphis Grizzlies in the night.

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This is a team that said twenty nine different players.

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What is it like for even for a division opponent,

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you will see him for the four third time this

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year to have to basically draw up a new lineup

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or at least film study wise of a bunch of

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guys you've largely have never seen before collectively play together

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at the same time.

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Speaker 3: Well, you just take a look at Chicago and Washington

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and all these other teams that are you know, guys

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that are auditioning for roles for their futures. And you know,

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they had a close game of Boston the other night.

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They'd beat Denver a few games ago in their last

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five and so you don't look at the names on

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the back of the jersey as the NBA, and you

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can get beat any night if you don't come out

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with the right mindset. And so for us, it's it's

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about coming out aggressive, guarding them just like they're anybody else.

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Speaker 2: And we got to.

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Speaker 3: Get back to our physicality on that end, offensively, taking

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care of the ball, sharing the ball, and you know,

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being aggressive attacking there and not looking for fouls or

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calls or anything like that. And so, like I said,

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it's more about us. Honestly, We'll go about our business

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tonight like we have to, but we want to see

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a consistent four quarters and then carry it on to

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the next game as well.