Mark Daigneault | Toronto Raptors Post-Game | Feb. 09, 2022
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00:00 - Nick Gallo, KC Thunder.com.
00:02 Just your thoughts on the game overall tonight
00:04 and maybe what they were able to get to early
00:08 to kind of take command,
00:09 especially Siakam in that first quarter.
00:13 - Yeah, I mean, they're bigger
00:15 and more athletic at this point than we are,
00:18 but we always talk about the difference
00:19 between strength and physicality.
00:22 You know, strength is strength
00:24 and they're probably the stronger team.
00:25 They're a little older and more complete,
00:27 but physicality is a choice, you know?
00:31 And I thought we left something to be desired there
00:34 to start the game.
00:35 But then I thought we got that into the game
00:37 and got ourselves back,
00:38 especially late in the second quarter.
00:39 You know, we stood up a little bit, which was good,
00:41 but a good lesson for us, 'cause that's a team,
00:43 you can't really counter punch that team,
00:45 you know, especially with how well they're playing.
00:47 - And it seemed like you all were at your best
00:49 when you were playing fast.
00:50 Just your thoughts on the offense
00:53 and the assist rate that you generated tonight
00:55 and the balance scoring.
00:57 - Yeah, I thought offensively wasn't the issue tonight.
00:59 I really liked how we attacked.
01:01 They're a pretty unique defense.
01:03 They require you to play with the pass.
01:05 And I thought we, on a lot of possessions,
01:06 we used their aggressiveness against them
01:08 and we generated open looks.
01:10 We didn't shoot the ball particularly well
01:11 and we're still able to, you know,
01:13 have a good ball movement night, a good assist night.
01:16 You know, we needed a couple more of those to fall
01:18 and then we needed a little bit more defensively
01:20 in order to give ourselves a chance in that game.
01:22 - Paris Lawson, OKCThunder.com.
01:25 Poku gave you some really efficient minutes tonight.
01:27 Seven of nine from the field tonight.
01:29 Just what stood out to you about the way
01:30 he was able to get his looks
01:32 and the way he was able to finish tonight?
01:34 - It was obviously really good offensively.
01:35 He shot the ball really well.
01:37 I actually thought he was better, you know,
01:39 overall floor game against Sacramento.
01:42 I thought his second half defense tonight was better.
01:45 First half, you know,
01:47 wasn't as good as what he was capable of.
01:49 So he's just got to continue to be a complete player
01:52 and really compete.
01:54 But it was really encouraging to see him, you know,
01:56 play at the pace he played at tonight.
01:58 He shot the ball confidently.
01:59 I thought he took the right ones and benefited from that.
02:02 - Is he one of the guys who can really benefit
02:04 from a game like this?
02:05 You talk about the difference between strength
02:06 and physicality and a guy who's still developing physically.
02:09 - Yep.
02:09 - Is that kind of a good test for you to get him
02:11 to get a chance to get a look
02:12 at these sort of film opportunities?
02:14 - Yeah, they're big and they're athletic
02:16 and they have an aggressive mindset
02:18 on both ends of the floor.
02:19 That's just like the identity of their team
02:22 is just aggression.
02:23 They're going to live and die with aggression.
02:25 And so I just thought, you know,
02:27 they came in the game with that mentality and, you know,
02:29 against a team like that,
02:30 you got to really stand in there physically.
02:32 And I thought we had a lot of plays where we did that.
02:33 And then we had a lot of plays where we didn't.
02:35 And that's the type of team that when you don't,
02:37 they make you pay.
02:39 - Christine Butterfield, 1077 of the franchise.
02:41 Kind of picking off of Paris's question about Poku,
02:44 Tao Maldon also gave you a lot of good minutes tonight.
02:47 And just when you think about how much experience
02:50 they had in the G-League coming up here,
02:51 what does it say about the patience of these players
02:53 to finally kind of cash in on all the work
02:55 that they've been doing?
02:56 - Yeah, I mean, the G-League minutes
02:58 and all the invisible work, you know,
03:00 the non-game minutes that these guys put in is critical.
03:04 And there's a cumulative effect of that.
03:06 And, you know, when you do that,
03:08 you slowly improve and you have some peaks
03:10 like those guys had tonight offensively.
03:13 And it's also not linear.
03:14 You have some regression, but you just got to stay with it.
03:16 And those guys have stayed with it.
03:17 They've hit the process well.
03:19 I'm happy for Tao because he did not play well
03:22 the other night.
03:23 I didn't think he played aggressively the other night.
03:25 And then came out tonight and tried to be more aggressive
03:29 and didn't get off to a very good start.
03:31 You know, his first stretch, you know,
03:32 it was kind of, kind of rough.
03:34 And I give him credit.
03:35 He just kind of plowed through that.
03:36 He stayed aggressive, stayed confident,
03:38 and then benefited from that.
03:40 And I was happy to see him have the night he had.
03:42 - And then everyone that came off of the bench
03:44 played more minutes than the starting lineup,
03:46 except for Lou Dort.
03:47 Can you just go, can you just talk about
03:49 the reasoning behind that?
03:51 - I mean, some of that's just management of the schedule.
03:56 Some of that's like how the bench was playing.
03:57 Like I thought those guys gave us a good lift
04:00 in the second quarter and late in the third, you know,
04:04 so it's just kind of a combination of those things.
04:06 I thought those four guys did a nice job off the bench.
04:08 And then, you know, most of the starters, you know,
04:11 we're kind of managing the schedule.
04:12 Obviously we're low on guys right now.
04:15 We've got some injuries
04:16 and we have a pretty condensed schedule.
04:17 We don't have a two day break,
04:19 really in this whole last stretch.
04:20 We haven't had one and we're not going to have one.
04:22 So just trying to be opportunistic,
04:25 especially when the bench guys are playing well,
04:26 to get a couple extra minutes out of them
04:28 and manage the schedule a little bit
04:30 and not operate in a vacuum.
04:32 So.
04:33 - Joe Masato, the Oklahoman.
04:35 Mark, you said before the game that, you know,
04:37 Mamadi had filled well as a kind of a stopgap center.
04:40 Now you guys are definitely light on big men now.
04:44 What do you, you talked about like physicality
04:47 being a choice, but what are you hoping to see from them
04:49 when you know, like going into a lot of games,
04:51 you're going to be undersized?
04:52 - Yeah, I thought our, the physicality I'm pointing out
04:55 was on the perimeter more than it was at that spot tonight.
04:58 You know, so, you know, I'm the first one to acknowledge
05:02 the things that, you know, you can't control.
05:04 You know, if they play over the top of you,
05:06 you know, if you get out muscled on a play
05:09 where you're really starting to stick your nose in there,
05:11 you know, we're fine with that.
05:12 That's part of the game.
05:13 And we understand having a younger team that,
05:16 we know we're not going to be fully formed physically
05:19 when you've got guys that are really early on
05:21 in their careers.
05:21 But we also are trying to build the mentality
05:24 and we're trying to build standards.
05:25 And one of those mentalities and standards
05:27 that are really important to us is our physicality.
05:29 And, you know, if I thought we just got overpowered tonight
05:33 and gave great effort, I'd say it, but, you know,
05:35 we've got to be better there
05:36 if we're going to continue to build the right habits.
05:39 - And then one more for me,
05:40 there was kind of a weird possession there
05:42 in the second quarter, Ty dribbled at the whole possession.
05:45 There was a shot clock violation.
05:47 What, do you know what happened there?
05:49 - Which, when was it?
05:51 End of the second?
05:52 - It was in the second quarter.
05:53 Yeah, with about 50 seconds left.
05:55 - Yeah, so part of that's on me.
05:57 I'm trying to, there's 54 seconds there.
06:00 I'm trying to slow play a two for one, which is common.
06:03 You know, a lot of teams do that.
06:05 So I'm trying to make sure we end up
06:06 with the last possession, which I think we did.
06:09 And so it's really not a 24 second possession.
06:12 It's an eight second possession
06:13 'cause we're initiating so late, you know?
06:15 And so doing that puts you up against the clock sometimes,
06:17 but the trade off of that is you get an extra possession
06:19 at the end of the quarter.
06:20 And so, you know, obviously we didn't get a shot there,
06:23 but that's on me.
06:24 - Here goes Loren.
06:27 All right, coach, we have one on the Zoom.
06:29 Daniel Bell, go ahead with your question, Daniel.
06:31 - Yeah, coach, recently you guys have been keeping
06:35 the turnovers relatively low,
06:37 but the last two games you got 18.
06:39 Is that something you need to address
06:42 or is this something you just let correct itself?
06:45 - Yeah, it's like one of the toughest things, Daniel,
06:50 because, you know, you want confidence
06:52 and aggressiveness offensively is so critical.
06:54 You know, you want guys playing in flow
06:57 and you want guys going out there
06:58 and really playing with a lot of confidence,
06:59 especially guys that are younger in their careers.
07:02 You can really bite into them, you know,
07:06 in terms of aggressiveness
07:07 when you kind of over-coach turnovers, shot selection.
07:11 You know, so we really try to give them some concepts
07:14 that we want them to play to that's very much controllable
07:17 and then coach that and not necessarily coach the outcomes.
07:21 So like, for example, playing fast with quick decisions,
07:24 hitting the gas when you're inside an action,
07:27 like if a player doesn't do that and turns the ball over,
07:29 then we definitely correct that,
07:31 but we don't correct the turnover, we correct the behavior.
07:34 And then there's some nights
07:34 where you just kind of turn it over a little bit.
07:36 And so that's how we try to do it,
07:38 but that's a tough one.
07:40 You know, it's really delicate balance
07:42 between making sure you have some ball security,
07:44 but also making sure that your guys are going out there
07:46 and playing with a lot of confidence.
07:48 All right, guys, see you.
07:52 - Great players next.