Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Atlanta Hawks | January 28, 2024

Toronto Raptors Media Availability | Postgame at Atlanta Hawks | January 28, 2024

All right Grady obviously a tough one tonight um but it looks like you guys just continuously battled throughout the game uh walk me through the final two possessions the one that you had the assist to Scotty and then the last play I mean it was crazy you know it happened

So fast um a game like that where you know both teams are so competitive you know those those the fun moments you know of a season but I mean all I remember is going up for a rebound I probably should have you know grab it with two hands um came off and running

Back you know I kind of thought at that point um good chance of being overr right then but um Scotty was able to you know create another um chance for me to get and throw it to him and um just happened you know in a Flash so it’s it

A lot but um you know not a way we wanted to end it but at the same time super competitive game and it was a good good time on the forehead as well from Scotty there yeah that’s Scotty you know I wouldn’t expect anything different but

Um you know yeah it was fun it was a cool play we talk about of course your three-point shooting and just the level of confidence it takes when you’re out there there um what are you seeing in terms of what’s allowing you to to step

Into that shot a lot easier now um just how the defense is playing me um I think that’s the first thing I try to look at is um you know take what they give and um if that’s you know space and maybe to a little to my left whatever um try to

Get there and you know get my work done early and that’s kind of you know being set before the pass gets to me and um kind of what you know Shooters try to look at and um the film that I’ve watched is really just those spacing

Type things where I try to get to and get my shot up I know when there was a foul call or whether or not you’re checking out you kind of go up to Darko or your players just say like my bad my bad what are you noticing in terms of

Maybe some of the mistakes you’re making in time that you’re trying to communicate with your team um it’s more of just letting them know that I see it it’s not that I’m um you know trying to ignore it or anything or I don’t know it

At all like if I see you know I should have been where um I could have got a stealer or whatnot you know I’m going to let them know I think just part of communication and um they give that to me so I’m going to reciprocate and um

Just try to build a whole uh good relationship between us all and you know yeah that’s basically it it feels like we’re seeing just um maybe it’s confidence but I want to say confidence but just you’re stringing together some solid performances in the past month is

Um what are you seeing out there in terms of just where your biggest learning curve has been I think exactly what it is it’s just learning um it’s definitely a long season um these 80 some games and um it’s been a journey you know to this point and um I think

Through you know coach Darko and just this organization as a whole um their faith in me you know through it all and just wanting to you know help me as much as I can learn is um you know you can’t really get there anywhere else I feel

Like so it’s it’s one of those things that um improves me you know not only you know on the court but off the court my work habits and I’m just habits of you know time management in general you know just little things like that where you I’m not doing homework all the time

So I’m I’m having to learn what to do you know outside of the court and you know when you have people like that 24/7 that held me along the way it um it makes my transition you know on the court easier speaking of pe oh speaking of people who are maybe helping you

Along the way we saw you speaking to Kyle corver um before the game what what type of advice or what did he tell you in that in that moment oh he’s great um you know a shooter like that and just a player in general like that um be able

To talk to him and you know get little tibit and advice from him is huge um I remember summer league um running into him one of the first times you know before kind of the draft stuff but um you know every time I see him I get to

You know talk to him like that and um we were talking about just different kind of workout drills we were doing before hand and um different things that helped him and um just really trying to give me advice and you know it’s hug I try to

Take everything that I can from him and a player like him what did you see from the intensity that Jordan was able to bring to the floor tonight and is that intens intensity contagious to the rest of the group of course you know Jordan’s an amazing player and um you know I’ve

Been watching the last couple years and um actually got to build a great personal relationship through you know football with him with the bills and our little stuff that we do our best against the Chiefs and the bills stuff like that but you know on the court you know he’s

A dog and um when you see a guy play like that you know like you said it is contagious and you know helps us want to do the same we uh spoke to coach we spoke to Grady obviously a tough uh one down the stretch but what did you see

Out there in that last final possession uh just got a rebound uh I think you know I had an all right game but got to finish the possession at the end uh me personally I think I just let sadik pushed me out the way and he got a got a

Tough rebound so I’ll take the I’ll take the hit for that one uh that one was definitely I think on me at the end I got to finish with a a box out and can’t until somebody push me that easily so you guys were fighting though throughout

The entire game and you you had a pretty solid performance tonight and also as this was your first game playing over 10 minutes as a raptor how did it feel overall uh it felt good um you know this is my first time you know this season really playing this much uh you know

It’s it’s tough at times being in the situations I’ve been in um just staying ready you know since I’ve got here all these coaches have been super super welcoming I’ve been in the gym working you know endlessly with these guys you know com in early last one to leave um I

Know what I’m capable of I think these guys can see it too um I just got to be willing to work and listen to what they they they want me to do and uh just just improve every day Jordan the final 10 seconds of the game usually if someone’s

Bringing up the ball someone would maybe like do a quick foul just to kind of like alter the pace but then you decide to kind of go after and that sets up Grady who then sets up Scotty what did you see there uh I just knew um Grady

Was on my left and Trey’s been blow was blown by Assa game so I just just thought if I can cut off that the sideline he’s going to try to try to beat me and you know if there’s enough time if I can just get in front of him

And and he if he gets around me somebody else can foul him and we’ll still have a chance to go the other way uh luckily I was able to do it and you know get a force a turnover you know when you think about uh you on Trey a bunch of times

During this game what is it that you think he does differently to create that level of space that he has to take those shots um know he’s a great player uh you know his his size he’s super fast um you know sometimes it’s tough he’s great at

Finding angles and you know once he has you at an angle just about he draws so much attention help then you’re just playing off those reads and you know he’s great at that that’s what makes him a great player and you know it it hurt us today a little bit gr was talking

About the relationship that you guys have been able to slowly build over football but outside of that um the second unit seemed to spark a lot of energy into the game that the team needed was there a commitment that you guys all made together or what what what

Kind of goes on behind the scenes that this when the second unit is called upon you guys show up um I think for us you know a lot of guys just locking in a lot of guys spend a lot of time in the gym at least since I’ve been here I see it

Um you know days off guys in there working uh you know staying after practice working on some defensive stuff not just you know myself you know a bunch of guys you know uh the other day our last practice we had had you know nine 10 guys to have just work on look

At defensive stuff and stay out on the court a little extra with some of the coaches um and all that stuff is big and as you can see you know it leads to Transitions to the game so I know this is a very young team and probably even a

Little bit typical to see guys putting in that extra because they’re so young but um what stands out to you about this group of guys maybe skill-wise or just anything else as well uh I think the good thing about a team like this is like we’re all young we’re all hungry uh

We’re all you know dying to improve um and I think for everybody here you know we just want to take that next step um and we’re going to keep doing that you know spend a lot like I said spend as much time as we can in the gym that’s

All all we can do right now and just continue to improve and know as we continue to improve uh start start winning some games all right coach so obviously you guys are stuck with no time out there at the very end but can you walk me through the final couple

Possessions that you saw uh last couple of possessions we were right there uh we got that the lead uh at the end uh it came down to rebounding and the whole game was was about that uh um they got 20 offensive rebounds and uh really converted that tonight even on the last

Possession they they missed a shot and sadik Bay just walks in and pushes Us in the back and gets offensive rebound um last couple of posss their last two three minutes uh we got rejected on pick rolls couple of times just like the level of communication that needed to be

Better than here uh but uh overall I thought that that gave good effort um you know and kind of continue continue to try to build on this one we got a great opportunity for us going into Chicago and try to bounce back coach the final 10 seconds of a game usually if

Someone’s bringing the ball up the first kind of go-to is to Quick foul and kind of slow the game down what does it say about Jordan in the ways in which he’s just kind of able to hustle at those times to get Grady that shot um I mean

That was a great uh read from him over there uh to to get his body in the right position and showing hands uh it was great stuff that allowed us to to come up with a steal and and uh gain a lead again there at the end um unfortunately

We didn’t converted tonight but um I think I thought that overall Jordan did a really good job tonight as well as great are you impressed with a lot of the reads that he was able to make this evening absolutely I thought that uh playing golf uh off ball screens coming

Down the floor being aggressive to score uh you know just energy that he brought up and uh our conversations are always going towards defense and how he can influence and help us on on defensive end as well I thought that he did uh enough during the game for us to kind of

Put him on Onre young there unfortunately we had fou problems as well so um um I think that this was a great opportunity for him to learn our team and our system and how we’re playing Grady uh was three for five from three tonight what stood out to you

About his game whether it’s at the three-point line or overall uh he had uh Great Moments uh great reads uh great situations but also he had a rookie moments over there like getting offensive rebound and he’s just instead of just kicking the ball out and finding open man trying to finish one against

Two or three um the game just needs to slow down it is much better now than it was like couple weeks or months ago um but any minute that he spends on the floor it’s uh just great for him and I I really like the energy that he brings to

Our team the way he’s moving uh on the floor and also defensive strides that he’s making I mean I know that I had asked you before about how the team navigates with a lot of your starters missing from this lineup but when you think about the confidence of the second

Unit what was able to show itself um out on the floor there tonight I I just think that our guys uh are very resilient and very competitive uh you know they they want to do everything possible to to help the team win so our second unit coming there uh in the first

Half I thought that brought us great energy great defense uh we were able to get multiple stops in a row and you know we forced them kind of like to go back to their starters very quickly um I thought they did a really good job and

How do you like how Jon has been coming along specifically in the defens event um it’s a work in progress uh there are good moments but there are also like moments that that he needs to go with verticality to change the shot when he’s just like half of a second late um I

Thought that tonight he he had a couple of uh good situations but he had active hands got a couple of deflections um on defensive end that’s going to be really uh something that he needs to improve we all know that he can shoot a ball and

Help us spacing but on defensive end is going to be something for him to grow thanks for watching the Toronto rappers YouTube channel check out our latest video And subscribe for more in a crow wide open three here come the that was great

Players and coach speak with the media following the Raptors’ 126-125 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

0:00 Gradey Dick
4:07 Jordan Nwora
7:47 Darko Rajakovic

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