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00:00 I read a scribe your feelings
00:02 Let it go
00:05 So feel good. No, I felt good
00:08 It's a play that we work on during shoot around pretty often. So I feel good to execute and
00:14 had to trust my teammates out there and
00:16 Being lucky enough and fortunate enough to hit a left-hand floater outside the
00:21 Frito line
00:23 I thought I got a little closer in the paint
00:24 but when I looked at looked at it at it after the game and I was a
00:28 pretty far out but
00:30 you know shots that I work on and
00:32 Just being ambidextrous and being able to trust the the skills that I work on when no one's watching and you know
00:38 Fortunate enough and went in tonight. Yeah, you obviously work on your left a lot
00:42 How much do you work on your left in the mid-range area?
00:44 They're pretty often man pretty often. Sometimes I spend you know, just an hour straight just working on straight left-hand stuff and
00:51 You know being a small guard for a large part of portion of my life
00:55 I consider myself a space out for now, but um, you know
00:58 You know
01:00 but just being a small guard you just got to have a multitude of finishes and that's something I've been working on since I was
01:06 A kid and we playing in the most athletic league in the world and you know full of athletes
01:10 So those guys make up ground pretty quick. So just try to work on things that uh, you know defense is not really expecting
01:16 Can you take me through it's obviously a split-second decision, but just the decision to
01:22 Launch a lefty hook in that situation kind of take me through what you're seeing
01:27 Yeah, man, majority of his instinctual and comes from preparation for hours again that no one sees
01:34 So I saw a joke it's taking away kind of my pull up going left
01:38 I had hit a few or I had hit one or two tonight
01:41 So I know that he was gonna come up, but I didn't know he was gonna commit like that
01:44 So he was forcing me inside the three-point line
01:46 And soon as I felt him kind of behind me
01:50 I was like, oh I have my left hand, you know, it's wide open
01:53 So why not go to it and I think that's what happened the way I saw it just instincts, man
01:58 Kid kid said it was you know, obviously a play with two different options
02:01 The food was also an option when did you realize like you were probably gonna get the ball, you know
02:06 Did you have an expectation going? Yeah before the play happened. I pretty much had expectation. I wouldn't have
02:11 Gotten that shot off without Luca tying the ball game
02:14 He was unbelievable tonight and making a lot of clutch plays getting to the free-throw line
02:19 So I gave a lot of credit to him and getting us to that position and then
02:22 Allowing me to get that game winner at the end
02:25 It was just a full combination of a team effort
02:27 But that three that he hit to tie the game was just as huge as the game winner
02:30 And then just your perspective on this team
02:33 You guys have played twice in Denver got beat in the paint on the class all of these second chance points
02:38 With with you know it, you know new trade deadline acquisition players
02:43 Yeah, but also just you know continuing to build this identity that you can you know play you can play
02:49 Fully, you know a team that is usually the opposite like what have you seen that this team is able to do?
02:53 I feel like we match up with pretty much anybody well, especially on the defensive end
02:58 We have the ability to switch one through five
03:00 And we also have a foundational defense that we've been going to pretty much the whole season since I've got here. It's just gotten here
03:08 Yeah
03:09 I felt like we've just consistently worked on our communication and then also our trust that we have the intangible skill sets to be able
03:16 to stop teams and then we also have the skill sets offensively to
03:19 You know dominate teams and really get out in transition and not so much playing half-court in the ISO game and just watch me and
03:25 Luca play if we if we get a few fast break points and again if we score over 15 fast break points is gonna be
03:30 A long night for any team
03:31 So I feel like we're playing to our strengths and then when it gets tough
03:34 And we face a little adversity throughout the game
03:36 We're able to slow the game down throw it to the post or go to our you know our commonplace
03:41 For Luca missed the other night
03:43 17 in a row you guys have played together, which is the longest since you were traded here
03:47 How much does that help and where do you feel like it looks good, right?
03:51 Looks good right now that we got a sample size
03:53 Everybody could judge off of instead of like every other game yet now it feels good to be able to play those kinds amount of consistent
04:00 games and
04:01 Get a feel for one another and really show what we've been working on in practice, too
04:05 You know, we look you guys don't get a chance to see all our practices and you know
04:09 It's me and Luca playing against our second five
04:12 But we got a great chemistry and when we got guys making shots alongside of us, it makes the game a lot easier
04:19 you've made a big shot or two before but
04:23 something like this in a season like this when you now you've had two games where it was pretty playoff intense and
04:30 One lost a tough one, but how much does all this kind of combined up to help the team?
04:38 Moving forward. Yeah, I think I could say it after the game now, but you know before the game
04:43 You come in to the arena and you know, you're going against defending champs, you know, it's gonna be a tough one and
04:49 Dropped last game and we're kind of fighting for this six spot seven spot
04:54 Whatever it is and it's on your mind and as a competitor you want to play well and especially in a high intense environment
05:01 And I felt like we answered that call majority of the game. We made some mistakes
05:06 throughout the game which is gonna happen, but I feel like we were very resilient and
05:10 We have that mindset and mentality that we still have more work to do and we're not satisfied just with
05:15 You know going in and being competitive with some of the best teams in the in the West or in the league
05:19 We want to beat them and same mentality other teams have against us
05:23 And I think we gave ourselves a chance to prove that tonight and we were successful
05:27 So we just want to continue that moving forward. What do you see as a realistic ceiling for this team?
05:33 I mean championship is the ultimate goal. So that's what we're playing for
05:37 Kyrie I'm going on kind of your creativeness feels like every game Mavs fans team see something new that we haven't seen before
05:45 Where do you get your creative drive from and getting new new ideas? So many people probably get ideas from watching your games
05:52 What do you mean just who?
05:55 Is from to figure out all these different layout packages because people look at you for inspiration usually when it comes to that
06:01 I mean, that's a great question
06:04 Or is there any
06:06 No, I like to say I'm a mix of all the greats that have come before me and I've watched a ton of film on
06:12 Them and also the current players that are playing and also the younger generation
06:15 I still moves all the time just like people still moves for me
06:19 It's just little tricks of the trade, you know comes with being a professional and also
06:24 Approaching it like an amateur every single day as a student of your craft and you know
06:28 I'm never too great to learn something from someone else or I'm never too good to learn something from someone else
06:33 So I just take that approach and I watch a ton of guys I go home like, you know right now
06:38 I'll break my fast in like an hour or so and I'll just be sitting in front of my computer
06:42 My wife will bring me my food and my kids will be running in and out
06:45 but I'll be on YouTube for hours like I used to do when I was a kid and
06:48 Just create that balance space where I could go home and get all that
06:52 Competitive drive out, you know, because I do still have adrenaline after games. It's still very competitive
06:58 I'm trying to calm myself down right now
07:00 You know, you know the game ended like an hour and a half ago
07:03 but yeah
07:04 I just try to
07:04 Take as many little tricks of the trade from people that are very successful and also those that are ascending in the on their journey
07:12 Now you've been asked this before but speaking of that fast and Robin and how how difficult or not difficult is it playing?
07:18 Kind of just give us a light to that situation. Yeah
07:21 man
07:24 Ramadan is a special month. So it's a special time and
07:28 Yeah
07:29 it's just you try not to think about the suffering too much and really focus on the journey with God in the path that you're
07:34 On and and just stay focused on that and stay disciplined. It's a difficult journey and
07:38 You know to be able to play 48 minutes
07:41 And not do it with having a drink or any food in my in my stomach. There's nothing short of a miracle
07:48 So there's definitely a universal God out there that's protecting me and I got to give credit to Tim
07:54 Sorry, this is kind of random but Peyton Watson's a guy who's really come along for the nuggets this year and developed
07:59 Yeah, you mentioned getting to play with you and some other NBA guys when he was back in high school
08:03 I'm so what it would have been say
08:05 What if they say?
08:07 About that that day
08:09 Well, well, there were a couple days. He said that once he was able to beat you going back
08:14 I know he said that that's all I'm saying. I
08:16 Already say I want to know exactly what he said verbatim. I don't have that you don't had a quote
08:21 He said the first time it wasn't quite like that, but he was kind of just star struck to be in the room
08:25 Yeah, no, I'll tell you about payment I walked into the gym I'm like who is this little kid right here
08:33 That's you know towering over me, you know and picking me up dang near like above half-court and it was just pickup
08:39 But the crowd on the side
08:42 It was like a small gym and they started getting into it and me and Peyton were going at it for like eight straight possessions
08:47 and I will admit that he scored on me a few times and
08:51 We were going at it and that was kind of my telltale sign that he was gonna be a good player in this league for a
08:57 Long time. He had no fear. He didn't back down and
09:00 He got me better that day
09:03 Anything stand out just about the enthusiasm and energy that he plays with. Yeah. No, that's what I'm saying
09:08 You're on a random pickup day. You're playing pick up on a Wednesday
09:11 You're just trying to get better master your craft and here comes Peyton Watson trying to pick you up, you know
09:15 Dang near three-quarter court
09:17 So it gets your wheels going as a competitor
09:19 but I'm grateful that he did that because
09:21 it made me work harder for the rest of the summer just waiting for those young guys to kind of approach me in that manner and
09:26 And you know, I've relished in those moments to you know
09:30 Going against guys that are taller bigger faster stronger and it only gets me better
09:34 Okay, first of all, how are you doing after that celebration? Yeah, I'm good. I'm good, man
09:39 I was telling my teammates that me and key for like underneath the crowd like the the mob that in
09:45 And just smiling because it was just so excited man
09:48 You know, we always
09:50 Kind of look at each other all my teammates and I will always look at each other when someone hits a left-hand floater or left-hand
09:56 Shot and especially me so to have a game winner like that was pretty special. I don't take it for granted
10:00 Finally said Marquis friend the fastest. He's every
10:03 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh we go you said
10:07 We're going to be okay. We're going to be okay
10:11 This team has been five and two since that moment
10:14 Well, what have you seen from this team that you would like to sustain moving forward?
10:17 just that same mentality that you know, whether the game looks really good in beginning or
10:23 It's ugly to start off or we're not hitting shots or we're not on our defensive assignments
10:28 We have to build that resiliency and and also persevere through those tough times. We were learning through our adversity. Like I said before and
10:35 Our work is still not done. So we're not satisfied at all. But we also understand that the position race is happening
10:42 We don't have to keep talking about it, but every single day
10:45 Is a chance for us to get better and enjoy the journey, you know
10:49 We're gonna make shots sometimes and blow teams out and other times we're gonna be in some tough battles
10:53 And we just got to be ready to battle for full 48 minutes and live with the results after that. No fear
10:58 (slurping)