“Feels Like We Have Our Mojo Back.” | Chris Finch Practice Sound | 01.16.24

“Feels Like We Have Our Mojo Back.” | Chris Finch Practice Sound | 01.16.24

Chris we talked a lot about kind of turnovers affecting offense are there any other things that you guys are working on clean up or doing differently to bring the offensive rating up to where you needed to uh yeah a couple things one is you know we’re trying to

Uh work on our spacing around some of these defenses that ant’s now seeing more and more of like you know delay Blitz traps type stuff overloads um that’s one thing and and transition we’re still trying to get better in transition we feel like there’s a

Lot a lot to be gained there still you know have those delayed blitzes and things is that kind of evolved as the season gone alonger newer things that you’re seeing yeah we’re seeing them at a higher frequency where you know now they require a lot more time and

Attention for sure what does Aunt have to do in those spots to uh well you know just a see them coming recognize like um what it really is and and how you know where his best Outlets are mostly you know so you don’t have all these M

Practices at this stage in the season can when you got a veteran team can you teach them almost with video without practices are practices important or yeah yeah we do a lot of video work here whether it be individual or team um and it’s the center of not only teaching but

Our accountability you know like how we how do we guys how do we get better you know how do we point out mistakes trends that are going the wrong direction also um themes you know a lot of themes through video um you know we don’t just throw up every single mistake we look

For the themes that matter most the got things that we could try to correct like right now quickly um and then you know the practice piece even if it’s a just a kind of a walk through or low intensity practice uh where you’re picking up on

The themes from the video room to the practice floor like that’s the the best connectivity to I think you know correct in advance correct in advance you know so you do a lot of that on your own no it’s a staff wide you say this is what I

Want to see well we talk about the trends a lot of times after games we’ll say hey these are things that we’re seeing for the edit tomorrow let’s have this ready um you know and if they Ed it doesn’t bear it out then of course we go

A different direction but uh yeah it’s a staff-wide Endeavor really so like the mentality of this team when it comes to finishing a game like especially coming off the clippers where they kind of making a surge but yeah I mean it was good um you know we we held on there

Enough you know made enough plays um uh you know every kind of finishing Situation’s a little different uh you know the Boston one was a lot of mistakes by us you know a lot of really good plays by them but a lot of mistakes by us turnovers um blown coverages on

Defense um this one it was first of all it’s was good to bounce back and win you know when a team’s closing you’re down like that when we when we failed to do that in Dallas or we failed to do that in Boston um but you know this was the

Hacka Rudy strategy is also difficult to play through sometimes and um we got to do a better job of what you know when a team is doing that like what we’re willing to live with at the other end of the floor like we can’t go one two for

Line and give up threes you know you just can’t do that you know so um you can’t foul and you can’t turn it over and we did all those things uh at one point in like a three four minute stretch is what tightened up the game so

Still a lot to learn from but uh is it Poss no B answer peret is it possible to sustain the level of defensive Excellence you guys have exhibited at home on the road uh carry over to the road you mean I mean is it possible to play that same

Level of Defense like the numbers very they’re very different and itest says they’re kind of different too like possible what’s the challenge of trying to take the way that this team has pretty consistently played defensively at Target Center and carry it out to the road yeah I think uh better starts on

The road would help I feel like we have slow starts defensively on the road I’d like to see if let’s get off to better starts um you know what happens on the road is like generally uh opposing teams role players make shots at a higher

Level than they do on the road so that’s a that’s a variance you got to try to account for maybe tighten up those guys a little bit more um you know and then uh you know obviously just some momentum swings in the game you know hurt you in

Transition or on the glass that kind of stuff so yeah but our goal is to how’s that makes sense what’s the biggest Improvement re has made in your mind the biggest Improvement this year ah I mean just I think it’s just overall kind of um he’s at pece of with

Who he is as a player um doesn’t you know he’s plays plays fast but doesn’t doesn’t Rush doesn’t live and die with all of his mistakes you know he’s maturing as a player um he you know he used to things used to sow snowball on him and that doesn’t happen

Anymore um that’s like the mental side to me the the just the maturity and growth there has been impressive defensively like you know he’s uh other than you know fouling a little bit too much at times like he’s really taking the challenge of guarding I mean we had

Him on Norm pal chasing off screens the other day doing a lot of things that he hasn’t traditionally done and he’s gotten better at it uh it was a big point of emphasis in the summer for him so he put the work in and I’m really

Glad to see that you know he’s enjoying uh the success that that’s bringing for him personally Chris you mentioned a few times a team that likes to play you don’t really have any guys that want or need to take half a back to back off and so what’s your overall sense of like

Just the freshness and health of this team kind of around mid season yeah I think it’s pretty good I think it’s I mean I I would say if we you know a couple weeks ago we were pretty fatigued you know a lot of things going on travel

Holidays uh tough schedule all that um guys feel feel fresher right now feels like we have our modju back in a lot of different ways uh which is important to us um you know we we have a three and four here which is you know we had one I

Think last week too so uh yeah so it’s important for us as coaches to make sure that we keep them uh in the right kind of pace uh to be able to play those games fresh but it feels like it’s pretty good right now you know kind of

Dependent on game situation but like what what time I like the shot like to start by uh just like in the regular flow yeah I mean I’d like certainly like to be uh into the offense a little quicker than we are I mean within I would say four to five seconds we’re

Usually six to eight seconds you know how much is that free up if you can do that it frees up a lot I mean it frees up usually one more play in a pass uh you know at least with a couple seconds you can make a play and a pass um and I

Think but the more importantly is like we don’t put the offense on their heels enough early in trans uh at the end of transition so to me it’s more about that you know getting them cuz we can be in the paint within seven or eight seconds then then we know something good is

Going to happen Chris were you sticking with Rudy no matter what through that hacka when when they went to it or like how how do you play that I mean that’s my intention all the time right now um but uh no I I I pulled him when I had

The chance to after he missed a couple and we had given up some threes so I was like okay we could shut down the three-point line get you know get him the next two minutes on the bench and then uh and finish with them you know so

Onag no thank you no comment no thank

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