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Speaker 1: Rockets last night knock off the Clippers twelve thirty one

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on Sports Talk seven one eight is Matt Thomas Showood

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Ross and we were pleased if you joined for the

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next ten minutes by the head coach after winning that

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game in a very bizarre ending and with many regards

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coach is Matt Ross, good afternoon. Do you did that

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last twenty seconds or so? Felt like it took about

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fifteen minutes to play?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, it was obviously the reviews and looking at

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play grants and offensive ol defensive oul took a little

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bit of time, but you guys kept the composer and

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pulled it out.

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Speaker 1: Some clutch plays are made down the stretch. You got

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a little bit of help. You're heavy lifting. I mean,

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it was a night where Kevin Durant was felt like

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he was double team to eighty percent of the time.

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Other guys stepped up. It had been a while since

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the team had played. How much do you attribute that

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to Russ? How much do you attribute that to Clippers

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of something to prove coming out or bottom line is

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you know you it's a forty eight minute game and

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you'd like to play all forty eight brilliantly but sometimes

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it's just not going to happen.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Like we were in wed a little bit, especially

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in the first half. You know, they're a team that

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we want to play with some pace, get up and

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down and then really move them, and it felt like

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we were playing at their pace and a little bit

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slower than we would have liked in the first half.

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Credit to Read and Aaron and some of our bench

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guys coming in and kind of injecting some energy and

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some juice into the game, and that's what really helped

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us get the lead. In the third quarter.

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Speaker 1: That was a really good quarter and in fact, Kevin

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was probably in his best and that during the game.

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Is is he and you've known him for a very

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long period of time, does sometimes a game come to

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him and he goes, all right, I'll take what they

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give me. And then sometimes as you have to force

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his way because it felt like to me, especially after

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the way he kind of performed in the first half,

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that he had a little bit of extra spice in

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his going and he wanted to get things going offensive

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for himself in the third quarter in particular.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, I mean he's gonna, you know, let the

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game dictate teams are going after him. He has no

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problem getting off the ball and letting other guys be

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the recipients. But at the same time, you still want

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to be aggressive and look for your spots in your shots.

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And you know, at times if they're doubling and we're

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picking them apart and you're up fifteen to twenty, teams

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have to kind of relax on that and he'll get loose.

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But it being a close game, their game plan was

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seeming to work in the first half, so he up

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to the aggression up this pace. I think we set

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some really good screens and he got downhill a little bit,

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got to a spots.

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Speaker 1: Rocket Tech coach Imo Dooko was here on Sports Talk

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seven ninety and we mentioned at the start of the

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interview about how long the end of that game took.

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What is your opinion just in general about the review system,

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the challenge system now to where they got rid of

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the final two minute stuff, to where you want to

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get the calls right, but you got to also find

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the balance of the games not dragging out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think getting it right is the

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main point there, and so you know they're going to

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take a look at certain things, you know, the offensive

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hal was one thing, but you know, we clearly thought

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he got Jabari got fouled before that, and they didn't

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overturn it. So we were kind of surprised by that.

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But credit to our like I said, they kept that composure,

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moved on and we went from an unfortunate play to

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Aaron taking the charge and playing really good defense there.

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And so as the ebbs and flows of the game,

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I think getting the right is the most important thing.

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And although we thought that it was still wrong with it,

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like I said, we held our composer and got it

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pulled it out. Well.

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Speaker 1: I'd like to congratulate you coach. This will be about

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the five hundred time you've been asked about turnovers this season,

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So congratulations on that. But in terms of you know

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a lot of talk about improving the turnovers and not

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playing in a crowd, and so what is that process

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for you, like working with the team, how much is

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that game tape or practice or talking to guys individually.

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What are the are the steps that you take to

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trying to improve that.

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Speaker 2: It's literally all of the above that you just mentioned.

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Obviously we pointed out in film sessions with the group,

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you know, especially halftime we had we had nine or

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nine and half time, and I think we up to

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ten in the second half. So we talked about the

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reason that they're in the game is because we're gifting

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them these points, and then didn't get it's better than

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the second half. So we do that a lot of

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individual work with you know, defenders and showing the crowd

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and wanting to get off the ball, and then like

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you said, individual meetings as well, and understanding the Alpre

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and Kevin the attention they're going to draw, and you know,

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for our guys getting to the space and you know,

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sprinting to the outlets and kind of not just leaving

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these guys on the island. And so we go about

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a little bit differently. Obviously with Fred in the past,

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our turnovers have gone down significantly with him handling. But

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we got multiple guys. Now, Kevin's gonna initiate times, alpron

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is going to initiate. Our man's going to initiate. And

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it leads to some of that. But the balance that

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will bring us in the end of the season I

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think will pay off.

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Speaker 1: Does Alpi Still a practice is bringing the ball up

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a courting mean is that a science? Is that just

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key fundamentals of being a basketball player, because you do

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give him quite a bit of responsibility and doing that.

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Speaker 2: You know, he starts on fast break and I think

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some teams that you know we have twenty four fast

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break points. A big part of him and a man

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rebounding and pushing, and you know, it's great to have

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a center that can leave the bake and get out

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and run and kind of find guys all over the

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court and just puts the extra amount of pressure on

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defenders and so something that does naturally well, we encourage it.

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Of course, he's one of our best pastors and more

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cerebral players, and so we want him to do that

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every chance he gets.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure you man, if we were doing Denver Radio,

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we would say, well, Jokicic does this, But I'm worried

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about the rockets. Says, are you the assist combination of

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a men to alpi and then vice versa. How many

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combinations in the NBA can do that where each guy

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works as well with each other to finish the baskets

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on the outfitsive side of the floor.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a uniqueness that they have. Both guys can

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handle or be the recipient setting the screen and rolling

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and popping and all those things so tough to guard,

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you know, put people in different positions. But a man

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works so well either way, you know, handling or sending

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those screens and getting hit unders. He's great. You know,

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some hard rolls last night, and he's done that over

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last year. It's not just been a ball hammler, but

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played in the dunker playton, you know, sitting screens and

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doing some different things. So he has a lot more

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versatility to his game now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, May there are still James Harden fans in this town.

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And you and I talked before the game about the

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an amount of times against the free throw line, and

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that wasn't much of an issue. In fact, I think

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more than half their shots last night were from three.

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That seems like not nearly as prevalent as it those

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four or five years ago. But was that a huge

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part of this kind of report is you know, what,

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if they're going to take those three, give them their

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chances and kind of live and die by what they

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do permanent wise.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know Kawhi Leonard only got three and

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Harden only got five, and so you know, we know

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those guys are two of the most hardens averaging nine

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and Kauai about five and a half, you know, kind

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of foulbators, and so we wanted to be disciplined, show

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our hands and other than one one slap down and

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think by Reid and then the foul on the three

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pointed by Jabbari did a pretty pretty good job on James,

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you know, making them finished shots and Kui as well.

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So the three pointers we were living with certain guys,

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we showed a crowd and encourage other guys to shoot.

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It made a few early, but the numbers came back

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to their norm and I think that really helped us out.

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Speaker 1: Long road trip coming up. And in years past team

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was a little bit younger. You talked about teaching guys

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about handling themselves, taking care of themselves on the road.

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Is that a little bit less of a point of

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emphasis these days are still something you talked to the

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team about.

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Speaker 2: No. I think guys the most cured they understand, you know,

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the routine they need to be in. You know, we're

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going on a long one thirteen days, you know, six games,

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but holiday season and all that and you know family

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and you know, Christmas Day games, and so we still

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mentioned that you know, handling business, taking care of business

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on the road. But it was good to get to

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get this mini break here, play this one game. Now

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you get three days before seeing Denver again, so loading

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up for that. I think guys understand the task at

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hand and this important time of.

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Speaker 1: The year, by its nature, you have to have this

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mini break because you don't know who the NBA Cups are.

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You got to schedule games and whatnot. Generally speaking, I

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know we're all accustomed to it, but do you like it?

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I mean, would you like to have had two days

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in this break, maybe scattered during later on during during

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the course of the year, or is it Look I

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look at account and we just play what's in front

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of us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I kind of just played with in front of you,

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you know, was make it to Las Vegas. It's a

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little bit different like we did last year, but you

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take advantage of it for sure. You know, we're coming

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off of five games and seven nights leading up to

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this break, so it was needed with somebody who's banged

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up and hopefully returning from injury soon and sickness with Alfi,

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and so we took advantage of it. Like I said,

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try to sharpen up some things and look at what

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we did well and not so well in the first

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twenty one games, and then you know, rest your body

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up and get ready to go. So we'll do the

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same thing. Take a look at Denver the first game

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and be off of three days of the rest. Have

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a good amount of energy going to Denver.

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Speaker 1: Lastly, you were talking about Alpi. Defensively, Zubats had a

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great game and that's not just his solo responsibility. But

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is it a good warm up for Jokic or is

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Jajokich a one of a kind type of player that frankly,

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he spends just as much time outside the arc then

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he does inside of it.

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Speaker 2: No, it's very unique. It's two different things. You know.

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We we had Jabbari on on Zubach and you know

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we're trying to take away Leonard and hard and more

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often and encouraging the other guys to shoot or make plays.

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You don't want somebody going thirteen for fourteen. But you know,

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if he's if he's getting post ups and low post looks,

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that's taken away from what they're mainly trying to do.

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And so we'll allow done to get his shots. We'll

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allow Zo about to get his shots, and that's very

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different from yolkic strategy.

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Speaker 3: Of course, are you.

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Speaker 1: Bringing two suitcases? I've never brought two suitcases on NBA

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road trip in my entire life.

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Speaker 3: He man, I don't know. How are you handling this

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long trip we're about to go on.

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Speaker 2: I'll definitely be packing two suitcases for sure, Okay.

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Speaker 1: Because I mean, like, I just don't want to do it,

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but I feel like it's too damn long.

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Speaker 3: I wanted in cleaning on the road.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 1: That's how it works, unless equipment one for closing, one

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for pickball equipment. Oh that's right. How is the pick

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a ball game? People want all the update? How are

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you feeling on that?

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Speaker 2: I'm feeling good. They had a bad day the other day,

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the worst performances I had, But other than that, I've

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been been solid.

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Speaker 3: Do you blank talk on the court like you did

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as a basketball player or no?

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Speaker 2: A lot of yelling?

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Speaker 3: It seems like an easy yes. Coach said, yes, sorry,

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it's all right, we got your back. Judge. That's right.

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Thank you for the time. Pray we'll see you Sunday

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before the trip to Denver. Thanks for the time. As always,

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thank you guys, all right, see you later.