Mark Daigneault | Miami Post-Game | Nov. 15, 2021
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00:00mcgallo kc thunder dot com. What did you see is some of the key differences
00:05between the first half and the second half, particularly just with the way
00:09they shot the ball and you all defended.
00:13Um, I thought our defense tonight was pretty good. You know, I thought, uh,
00:18you know, a lot of heroes damage came in that third. Uh, and I thought we
00:22really defended a lot of those plays. Well, I mean, he was just flame
00:25throwing and, um, you know, you got to tip your hat to the shot making on a
00:29lot of those plays. The ones that came in the third during that stretch. Um,
00:33I thought we defended well enough to win tonight. Um, you know, they
00:36obviously got loose a little bit. Robinson and hero really moved. But,
00:40um, you know, you got to give them credit. They really moved the ball.
00:43They move those guys around. But I thought, you know, our effort and
00:46competitiveness on that end was good enough to win. I thought what cost us,
00:50um, the game was the offense man on the floor. I thought they did a really
00:53good job on us, obviously. Um, and we just didn't move the scoreboard enough
00:58and, and that little flurry of shots, you know, it's probably the difference
01:01there. I was, I was gonna ask about the offensive end to just, I'm not sure if
01:05you all have seen that type of sort of full court pressure and then as active
01:09of his own defense as they play yet this season, would you think that that what
01:14impact do you think that that had? Um, I thought they, you know, they deployed
01:19it. I thought we had a nice little rhythm there attacking them. And then
01:23we went to our second unit. They deployed that a little bit and it threw
01:25us off rhythm a little. I actually liked how we attacked it. We looked at
01:29it at halftime, uh, and we got some decent looks that didn't fall. Um, but
01:34they did a good job of mixing defenses and then they did a really good job of
01:37just making us pass, you know, at every turn, you know, they just, they're
01:40gonna force you to beat them with the past. That's how they've been all
01:43season. Uh, and it requires a very disciplined approach to, to really
01:47crack them. Uh, and I thought we had some really good moments, you know, we
01:51assisted 26 times on a kind of a low output night. Um, so clearly, like when
01:56it was working, it was working, but we probably needed more possessions like
02:00that in order to win the game.
02:04Paris Lawson. Okay. See thunder dot com coach wanted to ask about pokus
02:07performance. He came in for you guys and gave you some really efficient
02:10minutes there in the second half. Just what did you think of his effort
02:13overall? Yeah, I thought he was good there in the third. Um, you know, he was
02:17ready to go coming out of halftime. Uh, play with more force. I thought he was
02:21pretty good defensively. Um, you know, kept the ball moving. He had a nice
02:25balance tonight. So, um, you know, that's how we need him to play, you
02:29know, when he's out there. And I thought, um, you know, he got the car
02:31on the road there. He didn't have a great first half and then responded
02:34really well and gave us really good minutes, uh, during that third quarter
02:38and into the fourth.
02:42Joe Masato, the Oklahoman mark is, is that the most you've seen the team
02:46throw it? Shea in a game this season, as far as the amount of times they
02:49doubled and trapped him.
02:52Um, not necessarily, you know, like he's seen it before. I think stylistically
02:57it's always a little bit different. Um, but it wasn't the most. I mean, I think
03:01that, you know, we're gonna see different looks every night, you know,
03:04as we one of the, you know, we're competing in a lot of these games. And
03:09what happens when you do that is, you know, teams are gonna start to scheme
03:13and Josh is getting schemed right now. Um, Shea obviously has been getting
03:17scheme since the beginning of the year. And I think one of the, you know,
03:21challenges, you know, for like developing creators is figuring out how
03:25you're getting played and all the different things teams can throw at you
03:29and then kind of calibrating that in real time as it comes at you. And
03:33they're still, you know, Josh is very early in that process, but she's still
03:36in that process. You know, teams are gonna are gonna key on him. We know
03:39that. Um, I thought, you know, he did a pretty good job of getting off it
03:43tonight. Um, you know, he only took 11 shots and I thought that was evidenced
03:47by him being willing to make the first one out of those traps and let the
03:50other guys create. Uh, and like I said, with the assist numbers, I thought, you
03:54know, we did a decent job on our best possessions, probably just needed a few
03:58more of them. Then wanted to ask about Aaron, just his second game. You guys
04:02are throwing him in there. He's the first half the bench tonight. What do
04:05you see from him and his second game? Um, you know, more of the same
04:09competitive, um, ready to play. You know, he's for a young player. You know,
04:16he's like never in the middle of the defensive mistakes. You know, he just he
04:19can guard really any perimeter player and he's a low mistake defender. Uh,
04:24and then on the offensive end of the floor, you know, I think that's going
04:27to take time for him to develop kind of his style of play and the balance
04:31between aggressiveness and and also playing inside the team. But, um, I've
04:36been impressed with him. You know, we've been impressed with him since
04:39summer league, you know, like I said, and he's shown nice progress and we
04:43wanted to reward him for that with an opportunity and see what it looked like
04:45against, you know, two pretty high quality opponents. And, um, you know,
04:49he had encouraging performances last night and tonight.
04:53One more for me just about Darius. He said a career high with five blocks,
04:57some and help side off the ball, some on the ball, some just kind of extra
05:02effort plays. What do you think about that aspect of his game? Uh, I thought
05:06he, you know, again tonight, you know, took on a pretty good challenge. Um,
05:11you know, on the heels of last night, you know, having a good challenge last
05:14night, obviously with Durant. Um, and now it's a completely different style
05:19and he's chasing Robinson and hero around. And I thought he did a nice job
05:23there. And then, you know, the block shots, I just think is a barometer of
05:26his activity. You know, um, that and rebounding. I thought he brought good
05:30energy to the game. Uh, and last night he struggled offensively. And, you
05:35know, I thought that drained his energy a little bit to a degree. And I thought
05:39tonight, you know, he got off to kind of a tough start. He was over four to
05:42start the game. He missed a dunk. Uh, and I thought he did a better job of
05:46kind of compartmentalizing that tonight. Uh, so that was a nice little tick
05:49forward for him.
05:50Yeah.
05:52That's the room.
05:54Right.
05:57Yeah. Mark, this is lose. Now got four straight games and 20 plus points. What
06:01are you just kind of seeing from him as he settled in here in year three that
06:05that's propelled his offense. Another step forward.
06:09Um, you know, he just he's a hard worker. Um, that's very consistent in
06:14his approach. So I think, you know, his professionalism and willingness to, um,
06:19attack the program, you know, are two things that stand out. And so I think
06:23as a result of that, he's steadily improved and has grown through all
06:26these experiences he's gotten. Um, you know, and I think that teams are, you
06:31know, like joe mentioned, you know, how she's being guarded. And I think if
06:35you're gonna, you know, deploy resources at Shea and josh to a degree, um, you
06:41know, other guys are going to be open. Other guys are going to have cracks.
06:44And I think, you know, he's taking advantage of that. And we need to
06:47continue to take what the defense gives us. And I thought, uh, like I said, on
06:51a lot of possessions tonight, we did a good job of that. I thought lose
06:54beneficiary of that at times space was as well. Uh, Jeremiah was and, um, you
06:59know, we have to continue to, you know, not fight how teams are choosing to
07:02play us and just, you know, take what they give us and attack accordingly.
07:08Thanks for the period. We're gonna have to go ahead with the question. Yeah,
07:11coach. Tonight you guys had a season high in turnovers and I just wanted you
07:16to answer the impossible question here. Is that three games and four nights or
07:20is that really good Miami defense?
07:24I'd probably err on the ladder. I thought, you know, I give them credit.
07:29You know, they were physical and they had a plan and they executed it well.
07:33You know, it's a battle tested team. Um, you know, it's a good experience for
07:37our guys. Turnovers have not been a very loud problem for us so far this
07:42season. We've been about league average there and with the amount that we want
07:44past the ball, um, there's an exposure risk to turning it over, um, that we're
07:50willing to, you know, take on. But tonight there were too many obviously
07:53and it led to too many points for them. Uh, and I thought, you know, like I
07:57said, we had some really good offensive possessions and attack them really well
08:00at times and didn't have enough of them. And it's probably some of those plays
08:04that we, you know, certainly, uh, would want back and would like to attack
08:08differently. So, uh, you know, we'll live and learn and make the corrections
08:13and, you know, be a better team hopefully on, um, whatever day is after
08:17tomorrow.
08:18Thanks, Coach. All right. Yep.