Mark Daigneault | Denver Nuggets Post-Game | Jan. 09, 2021
Mark Daigneault | Denver Nuggets Post-Game | Jan. 09, 2021
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00:00Nick Gallo, KC Thunder.com.
00:02Mark, just what changed after that first quarter for you all?
00:06What do you think you all were able to get into the game
00:09that you didn't to make this one a good one?
00:13Well, I thought in the first quarter
00:14we played the right way to start the game offensively
00:17and just didn't make shots that ended up
00:20falling at different points in the game for us.
00:23For them, they were drilling shots early.
00:27We were maybe a step slow.
00:29But just like the Minnesota game the other night,
00:32they came out and they were 10 for 18,
00:34I think, to start the game.
00:35And the difference between tonight,
00:38where the progress was tonight for us,
00:39was we got our grip on the game, the same thing
00:43that we didn't really do the other night.
00:45We allowed them to stay in rhythm the other night.
00:47And tonight, even despite a hot start, we got more physical.
00:51We played harder.
00:52We played more connected.
00:54And we stayed the course on offense.
00:56And that's what got us back in the game.
00:58So I give a lot of credit to the guys,
01:01not only for the effort tonight, but the carryover
01:03from the stuff that we could have
01:04learned from the Minnesota game, the second Minnesota game.
01:06And then your four rookies, I think,
01:09combined for like 38 points, 18 assists, seven steals.
01:14Just maybe your perspective on your entire rookie class
01:17being able to impact a game against a high level
01:20veteran team like that.
01:22Yeah, I mean, they just continue to get better and better.
01:25Jeremiah had a rough night the other night
01:27and then started shooting the ball poorly tonight
01:30and then got himself back on track.
01:32I thought he played really well.
01:33He gave us really good minutes on Jokic.
01:35And he also guarded.
01:36He played a lot of minutes at the four tonight.
01:39Yeah, I thought Giddey got off.
01:40It was just kind of a slow start for him.
01:42He wasn't as involved as he's been
01:45and just kept himself in the game.
01:46I thought Wiggins has obviously started,
01:48did a good job coming off the bench tonight,
01:50giving us a lift in the second unit.
01:51I thought Trey gave us really good minutes.
01:53So they all continue to improve.
01:55Most impressed with just how they internalize
01:58these experiences.
01:58They're guys that you can bet on to get better
02:00because of how they approach when you give them opportunities.
02:03So we're going to keep giving them to them.
02:06Joe Masato, the Oklahoman.
02:07Mark, I just wanted to follow up on Trey there.
02:09Just his ripping the ball away from Jokic,
02:12the behind-the-back pass to Wiggins,
02:13and just the energy that he brought.
02:15Yeah, I mean, he's small
02:18and he's physically underdeveloped at this point.
02:22It's a big summer for him and a couple summers
02:24in his first couple of years as a pro.
02:27But he can play in the games.
02:30But in order to play defensively in an NBA game right now
02:33with where his body is today,
02:36he's got to be scrappy and he's got to be feisty.
02:38And that was one thing early.
02:41You know, there's a play we were playing Dallas,
02:43the first Dallas game.
02:46Moses Brown was underneath the basket.
02:48He was kind of down there
02:49and he kind of like just kissed him on the cheek.
02:51And Moses got an and one.
02:52And we took him out of the game.
02:54We didn't go back in.
02:55And it's been a point of emphasis for him.
02:57It's like, you know, we're not asking you
02:58to block Moses Brown's shot.
03:00But if he brings the ball in front of you,
03:02like, go get the ball.
03:03And he's steadily finding those plays.
03:07And he had two of them that were pretty good tonight.
03:09And the second one was loud.
03:10That was a big-time play.
03:11And that's the type of plays
03:13that scrappy little guards have to make.
03:16You know, and that was a huge point of progress for him.
03:18I thought we had a lot of moments tonight
03:19where there was visible progress,
03:21both in the game and, you know, with where we are in the year.
03:23It seemed like Darius would fit into that, as well,
03:25with a couple of big blocks that he had.
03:27He already has a career high in blocks for a single season.
03:31Just how have you seen him grow in that area as a shot blocker?
03:34Well, you know, even, you know,
03:36that's another point of progress.
03:38Jeff Green dunked, I think, his start of the fourth quarter.
03:43You know, he was late on that play, you know,
03:45and it's like a few plays later,
03:47you know, a little bit later in the fourth quarter.
03:49Fast forward, he's in the same situation,
03:50and he goes and gets the play.
03:52You know, those plays are vulnerable plays
03:55because the guy's cocking the ball back,
03:57and he's thinking dunk,
03:58and, you know, it's a decision you got to make.
04:02And Darius, you know, he's certainly learning
04:05and anticipating better.
04:06Things are slowing down for him out there,
04:08but it still takes great toughness
04:09to stick your nose in those plays,
04:11and he's done a really good job of that.
04:13That was a big-time play tonight.
04:14Might have changed the tone of the game and really ignited us.
04:18And then were you trying to get a challenge
04:20there at the end of the game on the Barton play?
04:23No. So that was a defensive foul on Dort.
04:27I agreed with the call.
04:28Barton swung his elbow through and caught Dort in the face
04:32to the point that they're looking at Lou Dort right now.
04:35So that's, to me, at least worth a look for a hostile act.
04:40So I was looking for them to just review for a hostile act
04:44because the foul would have stood.
04:46They wouldn't have overturned it to an offensive foul,
04:48but if you get a flagrant one there, you go to the line,
04:50and I would be willing to bet that in the third quarter,
04:54you know, they would have looked at that play.
04:56And in that situation,
04:58I got no explanation as to why they didn't look at that.
05:00Not only did they not look at it,
05:02which I thought was a no-brainer
05:03to at least go and look at the monitor
05:04after we saw the replay,
05:06but for them not to look at it,
05:07for no explanation of not to look at it,
05:09like, I was a little baffled by that, quite frankly.
05:13Paris Lawson, OKCFederal.com.
05:15Talked to Aaron, Trey, Darius,
05:17really the entire second unit
05:18seemed to bring a lot of energy and a lot of boosts,
05:20especially in that second quarter
05:21when you guys were looking to claw back into the game.
05:23Just overall, that unit as a whole,
05:25what did you see from them?
05:26What did you like from what they brought to the game tonight?
05:28Yeah, I thought, you know,
05:29obviously we got off to a slow start,
05:31and those guys, I thought, did a really, really good job,
05:34you know, stabilizing the game late in the first quarter,
05:37into the second quarter, gave us a little juice.
05:40And then we handed the game back to them in the fourth.
05:43Denver jumped out on us a little bit early.
05:46The green play that I mentioned was one of those plays.
05:49Ken Rich then had a turnover, then they came down,
05:51and we had a breakdown on a post-up with Trey,
05:55and it opened the game up to, like, six,
05:56and at that point, that was tight.
05:58And then right from there, I thought, like,
06:00they cranked it back up and give them a lot of credit,
06:04like, the toughness of that unit tonight.
06:06Because our start, you know, Shea didn't have his best game.
06:09I didn't think Dort had his best game.
06:11Giddy was average offensively tonight for where he's been.
06:14And that's what teams do.
06:15You know, they lift each other up.
06:17You know, not everybody's going to be perfect every night.
06:19And good teams can rely on one another on those nights.
06:22And, you know, I thought those guys, you know,
06:24gave us really good safety net
06:27with just their competitive juice.
06:29And you talked about the physicality,
06:30bringing that into the game tonight,
06:31helping to close the gap.
06:32The 14 points off their turnovers,
06:34the 16 second chance points,
06:36how much are those indicators of that physicality
06:38and implementing that into the game?
06:40Yeah, I mean, that's decent.
06:41It's a good barometer.
06:43And, you know, it's just, it's an eye test thing.
06:46You know, it's like, that's a strong veteran team
06:49that, you know, is physically developed.
06:51Those guys are men.
06:53And so we're not going to outstrength them
06:55and we're not going to outsize them.
06:56And so if you're not punching first
06:59and getting back up when you get punched,
07:01you're not, you're not beating a team like that.
07:03And I thought the reason we gave ourselves a chance
07:05to win the game tonight was because we punched them.
07:07And when we got punched, we got back up.
07:11Andrew Schleich on Zoom, go ahead, Andrew.
07:16Yeah, Shea struggled from the field tonight,
07:18only two of 14.
07:19And I was wondering physically after that fall,
07:23was he affected by that?
07:24And then maybe other things that you saw tonight
07:27that limited him.
07:29Yeah, on the fall, I'm not sure.
07:30Good question.
07:32I took him out just because it was kind of
07:34his normal rotation anyways,
07:35and he stayed down a little longer.
07:36So I don't really even know.
07:38No one said anything to me about it.
07:39So I would assume he's okay with how he finished.
07:43Yeah, I thought it was more progress tonight
07:46in terms of, he's a really good player, obviously.
07:49And when you play with a guy like that,
07:51especially when you're a younger team,
07:52it's easy to become reliant on him
07:56to the point of addiction.
07:57And I thought on a night where he wasn't great
08:02offensively and just didn't have his best night,
08:04the team elevated us.
08:07And we weren't just like looking at him to save the day.
08:11I thought other guys really stepped up
08:12and I thought he showed great maturity
08:15to just play through it.
08:16Him and Dorton, either of those guys
08:18were great offensively early.
08:20And I just thought they stayed inside the team
08:22and kept investing in the team.
08:24And I thought the team did a great job of
08:27lifting us back up.
08:28And that's what great teams do.
08:29And that's the type of habits and mentality
08:31that we're trying to develop.
08:33I also wanted to ask if you considered
08:36leaving Trey in the game.
08:38He was a huge offensive lift for you guys down the stretch,
08:41kind of helped lead the team to have
08:44a lead there down the stretch.
08:45I just wondered if you considered leaving him in.
08:48Yeah, those are tough decisions.
08:49I think a lot of that comes down to,
08:52do you really want to play a guy that long of a stretch?
08:55I think we subbed him out with four to go, maybe even less.
08:59And I thought he was a little gassed.
09:01I left him for a little bit longer stretch
09:03because he had it going for a sec.
09:05Usually if I'm going to close with a reserve player,
09:09I'm going to sub them out and then back in.
09:12So, we went with Dort.
09:14And I think it's important to double down on those guys,
09:17especially when their intentions are good.
09:19And I thought the first unit guys
09:21didn't have their best night,
09:22but their intentions were good.
09:24And I don't want to punish them for that.
09:27Go ahead, Trey Trowell.
09:29Yeah, Mark, this is the second straight year
09:32you guys aren't winning
09:33as much as the Thunder historically has.
09:36Sam has talked about this,
09:37but he doesn't worry about excessive losing,
09:40building bad habits or developing bad attitudes.
09:43You agree.
09:44And what have you seen that gives you confidence
09:45that your players aren't overly affected by the results?
09:51I think the way that the teams responded
09:54to some of the tougher losses this year.
09:56You know, obviously we had a really tough loss in Memphis
09:58and then we turned around
09:59and responded really well coming out of that game.
10:02You know, tonight was another example of that.
10:03You know, the other night against Minnesota
10:05wasn't our best game.
10:06And every team, when you play 82 of them,
10:08it doesn't matter how good you are,
10:09you're going to have nights like that.
10:11And I think the way that we've kind of gotten ourselves
10:13back up is a pretty good barometer of resiliency
10:16and perseverance and engagement and commitment.
10:20And at the end of the day, like these guys are,
10:23you know, they're playing for something
10:25in terms of their own individual careers.
10:27And I do think our guys think that we're building something
10:31and, you know, we're not asking to skip steps on that,
10:34but our sleeves are rolled up
10:35and our players' sleeves are rolled up.
10:37And I think between, you know,
10:38the stakes for their own individual careers,
10:40you know, to try to establish themselves in the NBA,
10:44and then, you know, the stakes for our program
10:46in terms of trying to establish ourself
10:49and build habits that we think can stand the test of time
10:53as the team continues to grow.
10:56You know, I think that's an easy bet for us.
10:59There's not a day that, you know,
11:00I show up to work where I think
11:02that our team's reacted to an outcome.
11:03I thought yesterday was one of our best practices
11:05of the year, as an example,
11:06coming out of the Minnesota game.
11:07And so we got to keep the fight and keep punching,
11:12and that's how you get breakthroughs,
11:13and that's how you grow and improve.
11:15You know, the alternative is, you know,
11:16apathy or to stay on the mat,
11:18and that's not how any of us are wired.
11:20Last question.
11:24Yeah, Coach, you guys had a season high in assists with 29,
11:28and then tied the second least amount of turnovers
11:32we had in the game with nine.
11:34Can you talk about how well you guys moved the ball,
11:36and then specifically talk about if there was an emphasis
11:39on not turning the ball over
11:41after the last two games with 18 and 20?
11:44Yeah, I mean, we've been a pretty clean
11:46turnover team this year.
11:48You know, a couple people asked about that before the game,
11:50and I told them, you know,
11:52we certainly don't want that to be a trend,
11:54but at the same time,
11:55we're not going to overreact to like singular outcomes.
11:58You know, those games,
11:59even going back and watching those plays,
12:01there were a lot that were uncharacteristic,
12:03and so with some of those, it's, you know,
12:05you can sometimes just not say anything
12:07and let it course correct,
12:08and I thought that was the case.
12:09You know, we didn't make a big deal about that
12:11out of those games,
12:12and we kind of got back to the way that we've been tonight,
12:15and then with the assist, it's a good observation
12:17because it's when you score 95 points or 93 points
12:22or whatever we had,
12:23and shoot as poorly as we did from three,
12:26and to have 29 assists,
12:27I mean, the ball was zipping around tonight,
12:29and guys were really sharing it and playing the right way,
12:31really from the jump.
12:32You know, even when we were struggling early
12:34and we had that early deficit,
12:36we were playing that way on offense,
12:37and so we had a lot of potential assists tonight,
12:41and if a couple more of those shots fall,
12:42it's a really loud offensive night
12:44and a really loud assist night,
12:46but to have 29 with how poorly we shot it from three
12:49is a good night.