Josh: I'm doing well, thanks.
Obviously, you guys
haven't shot the ball
as well as you usually do,
particularly your guards.
After looking at the film,
how do you feel about the looks
that they've been getting?
Is this just something you think
the law of averages
will take care of
or can they be getting
better looks?
Well, I think you could always
be getting better looks, Josh.
I think our readiness and prep
to shoot's gotta get better.
I think, just kind of
in general,
the looks that Fred got
were pretty good.
He got a lot of
pretty good ones.
I didn't think Kyle has gotten
great looks,
so I've got to do a better job
of getting him some--
some cleaner looks for sure.
Josh: I also wanted to ask you
about the Steve Nash hiring.
What was your reaction
when you heard the news today
and how do you think
he'll do as a head coach?
It caught me off guard,
that's for sure.
I've known Steve for a long time
and I've talked to him
quite a bit
and I've talked to him
quite a bit recently.
So he kept all that to himself,
close to his chest.
So it caught me off guard.
But he'll be great, man.
He's one of the
greatest players ever.
And for sure, you know,
I consider him a friend of mine
and wish him well.
Josh: Thanks, Nick.
Appreciate it.
-Good luck tonight.
-Yep.
Coordinator: Next question
is going to
go to Michael Grange
from Sportsnet.
Michael Grange: Hey, Nick.
In Game 2, the second
and third quarter,
you guys played, I'm sure,
the kind of defense
you would love to play
for longer stretches.
When you looked it over,
what did you see
in the second and third quarters
that you could really build on?
Well, it's just-- it's just
pretty sustained, Michael,
I think, you know, and it was--
it was challenged.
I mean, even--
even some of the plays
in the fourth were-- those were
challenged shots, man.
They weren't like we were--
we were a million miles away
from some of those shots,
but, you know, we did have
a few breakdowns,
we did lose them
a little bit in transition.
We got to do a little better job
of locating
and transition threes
throughout the game.
I think we get--
you know, we just can't--
there's just, you know,
each possession's critical.
We just got to make
each possession--
each possession tough.
And we've done-- we've done,
you know,
a pretty good job of that.
But there's been
a few too many--
few too many where we haven't.
So we've got to--
we've got to trim those down
and eliminate them.
Michael Grange: And when you
looked at the game
and broke it down,
did you feel better?
Like, you know, did your move--
did your move kind of--
were you kind of encouraged
by what you saw or did you--
or did you kind of go,
"Wow, okay, we really
got to step--"
I mean, I don't know.
I mean, I think-- I think,
you know, it really...
You know, yeah, it felt better
than Game 1 for sure.
At least, we came out
and played, you know?
In Game 1, we didn't show up.
So we certainly played
and competed
and did a lot of really
good things
and had our chances
in games, too.
But just-- just couldn't--
couldn't get the ball
to bounce our way.
Michael Grange: Thank you, Nick.
Yep. Thanks, Michael.
Coordinator: We're going to go
next to Doug Smith
from the Toronto Star.
Doug Smith: Hey, Nick.
How are you today?
I'm good, Doug. How are you?
Doug Smith: I'm good,
thank you.
Obviously, your top 6 guys
are going pretty well,
but when you get to 70,
where we pick three,
there's a bit of
a drop off there.
Are there better matchups
you can get you think
for those guys like Norm
and Terence
or Rondae or Chris,
whoever comes in there?
Well, I would say I probably
was a little too quick with Norm
the other night, Doug.
I didn't get much of a chance.
You know, I probably take
the responsibility for that one.
I got-- I got to give him
some run, get a chance to go.
And for whatever reason,
I was quick to get him
out of there.
And, you know, then he just
kind of happens
to be in an unfortunate
few minutes of the game, right?
That looks-- it looks--
you know, it doesn't look good
for some of those guys
that are playing off the bench,
although the first step
in the first half,
you know, was pretty good for...
You know, I thought
Chris played well, right, there,
but got to give Norm a run.
We really need--
we really need Serge.
Obviously, Serge has been solid,
but we need, you know,
we need Marc and Serge
to man that position
between the two of them, right,
both ends of the floor.
Doug Smith: Thanks, Nick,
appreciate it as always.
Yeah.
Have a good one, Doug.
Coordinator: Next question goes
to John Schuhmann from NBA.com.
John Schuhmann: Hey, coach.
I'm curious, in between games,
if you lean more towards
with your players going--
going over everything
that sort of went wrong,
or if you lean more towards
trying to sort of push
for better execution
in the future
without harping too much
on the-- on the past
and sort of
how you balance that.
Yeah. I mean, I think, John,
that you're always trying to--
trying to teach
in between games, right?
And I think that always has
a balance of showing things
that are correctable,
maybe showing a few things
that--
that need to be done better,
you know,
sprinkled in with
a lot of things
that we've done well.
Those are teaching moments
as well.
Try to-- try to air on the side
of probably--
it's one more positive
than negative, that's for sure.
John Schuhmann: Appreciate it.
Yep.
Coordinator: Next question
goes to Bruce Arthur
from the Toronto Star.
Bruce Arthur: Nick, one thing
you guys have done so well
this year is take away
superstar players
and limit what they can do.
And for Boston,
I think that's been
Jayson Tatum in this series.
Who have you liked best
in that matchup?
And have you seen stuff
that you maybe
want to change in terms of
the looks he's getting,
or is that just a great player
making plays?
Well, the biggest thing,
Bruce, is is that he's gotten--
he's gotten a lot of
random baskets, right?
He's had several--
several threes in transition.
I think-- I think he had
three last game
and he had one on an
offensive rebound
kick back during the fourth one.
He obviously shot a lot of
free throws last game.
We need to do a better job
of not letting him
get to the line.
You know,
I think in the half court,
we've done okay.
You know, they've given him
the ball a lot
and put him in
a lot of isolation situations,
and we've actually done
pretty good in those, I think.
I think Kyle's guarding him
great.
But we got to-- we can't--
we've got to eliminate
kind of the randomness stuff,
right?
We've got to find him
in transition better for sure.
You can't lose, you know,
one of their best players
in transition
and get him freed up
and get him building
confidence on that.
Bruce Arthur:
And with Steve Nash,
I presume that that friendship
just comes through
that kind of roads
of basketball,
but the specifics would be
interesting.
And what kind of stuff have
you guys been talking about,
especially lately?
Well, the friendship starts
in about--
I gotta think about
what year this is, 1999-2000.
This was kind of before he was
Steve Nash yet,
but he was--
his brother was on--
was playing soccer when I was
coaching in Manchester, England.
His brother was playing for...
Steve was over--
watching soccer games
and kind of randomly
called up our office
looking to want to know
if we were a training camp
and we were and he came over
and participated in
training camp with my team,
the Manchester Giants,
to stay in shape.
So that's kind of
where it started.
That's the origins of it.
And the things we've been
talking about recently
are private matters
between me and him.
[laughter]
Bruce Arthur:
That's really great.
How do you--
how did you like him
as a player back then?
Well, he was-- he was good,
he was incredibly like--
like I was out there actually
playing against him
at that point
in some of the practices
and I couldn't believe
how strong he was,
like banging into him
and pushing him around
and that kind of stuff.
You know, maybe you don't think
you kind of see that
when you look at him out there
playing,
but he's-- he was a tough,
tough, tough physical guy,
be very-- you know,
great measure and really smart,
all that stuff.
-Bruce Arthur: Thanks, Nick.
-Yep.
Coordinator: The final question
is going to go to Jared Weiss
from The Athletic.
Jared Weiss: Coach, I'm going
to try to ask this in a way
that won't get you in trouble.
But, you know, the way
the games have tightly been
called at the end lately
has been
a major discussion point
all across the NBA.
And it used to be
in the playoffs
that generally
a lot of physicality
was allowed at the final place.
So I'm wondering,
what is your preference,
especially for your team
to have--
have things be relatively
loosely called
or tightly called in the games?
I don't think either one
is my preference, Jared.
I think that you want it to be
called fairly and consistently.
Your players are taught
to adjust
to how the game is being reffed.
And you want consistency on that
at both ends
and you want consistency
at all times of the game.
That's what you're--
that's what you're hoping for.
And that's it.
That's all you're ever
hoping for,
is that they call what they see
and they call them consistently
on both ends
and they do that
throughout the game.
