Jacque Vaughn | Post-Game Press Conference | Philadelphia 76ers | 2.3.24

Jacque Vaughn | Post-Game Press Conference | Philadelphia 76ers | 2.3.24

Congrats on the win yeah thank you we’ll take it Megan for sure I just spoke to Cam Thomas in the W he like he felt like everybody had a hot hand what did you like and what impressed you about your team’s performance tonight yeah 35

Assists and uh to get up 53s uh I definitely think it’s a uh a mindset for our group uh Ben definitely helps that uh I think our first group started out really well and then Ben entered the game and then there was another level of uh pace for our group and uh really

Sharing the basketball multiple possessions where the drive and kick was probably some of our best of the year uh so it’s great to see our guys continue to connect on the floor it’s cam Thomas seventh career 40 point game um you mentioned about the growth that you’ve

Seen from him when you look at his play tonight just in what ways did you see that just take it to another level yeah you’re seeing it at all levels now whether it’s uh the ability for us to run simple pick and roll and he make the

Right decision uh he’s just doing it over and over again the the game is uh really revealing itself to him uh whether he’s going to take a shot whether he’s going to produce something for a teammate uh whether that is going to be to the big at The Rim or to a

Small in the corner so I really think the way he seeing the game is is really impressive uh and then the effort that he’s given on the defensive end of the floor uh again a clip of him at at halftime uh with a great uh box out and

So those things we’re going to continue to U um I don’t know promote and and glorify and because it it makes us a better team the drive and kick you’re talking about is that mainly a process of I hav to worry about in be they’re kind of

Shand in the middle of the louds it felt like they they collapsed in and lb you guys that yeah it’s a combination I think we’ve been trying to do that uh overall as a as a group is play that way just because we have multiple Shooters

On the floor to allow us to get you know uncontested or or open looks uh but the fact that uh Joel was not at The Rim definitely to our advantage tonight because we were able to get to the paint and uh not see him staring at us and so

That piece of it definitely was in our favor Jac I don’t want to jinx anything but is it fair to say that Lonnie has found his Groove post injury yeah again another 30 minute night for him and uh I think overall you know it’s allowed us

To uh get somewhat of a set rotation so uh I always think that helps guys to know when they’re coming in it’s just we we haven’t been afforded that opportunity to do that throughout the course of the year uh but I do think post injury for him he’s found the

Groove kind of that he had before the injury and sometimes it just takes a little while to uh to to get back into the groove of it but uh he’s understanding how he can impact the game for sure with Mel and cam both having 20

Again I know C at 40 but with both of them just kind of being in that group together um mainly with Mel first of all are you seeing him just more confident with that three ball now cuz he’s T he’s not just taken a lot but he’s made more

Last month and made five more tonight I I think it a a uh definitely a process as he’s that he’s taken in the sense of being an efficient basketball player and so you see he is uh even tonight you take the tonight how many mid-range shots did he take conversely had that he

Had been taken excuse me producing threes for us will make him more efficient I think the last two games 14 threes 12 threes before that uh and so that’s just going to be an area that he can grow in we do want him taking mid-range shots that’s part of who he is

But if we can push that towards threes even the early ones in transition that he’s been taken that’s a benefit for us and then both Cam and Mel having these these 20o games the last few I guess how much is that helping everybody else that it seems like as they’re cooking

Together and Ben being back the offense feels like it’s just kind of at another level with the two of them kind of being on the same page now yeah Evan when they’re both scoring at a a high clip that way we can uh manufacture points

With play calls we can do it in the flow of the game it just makes makes us uh harder to guard uh if you’re going to trap CT if you’re going toh try to keep the ball out of one of those dudes hands then we have other options uh and I

Think they’re learning how to it’s not my turn your turn kind of thing it’s really play Within the flow of the offense and letting it really come to them they’re going to play the minutes and so I think they’re learning how to devise ways to uh be productive this is

Kim’s fourth straight game starting I think has he done enough during the stretch to be a part of that starting unit when everybody gets healthy uh Eric I’ll see when when we get healthy um you know we we we miss doe we miss Dron uh good to see Ben back out there tonight

Um I’m not sure what our starter unit is going to be going forward uh but right now I think uh this group has uh put us in a position to win games and uh you know I always consider that as far as being the best option for our team the

Different combinations I have like the uh the subpatterns that we had who’s been out there playing with each other I think that’s been a benefit to our entire group so um I’ll always diagnose and see what’s what’s best going forward when you look at the defensive improvements you guys have had over the

Last month yeah I wish we would have kept not giving up those threes at the end of the game tonight that would have helped our defensive rating that’s all I was thinking about over there is it is there some I guess minus the fourth quarter tonight is there some

Overarching factor that you think has allowed for that or is it just a bunch of like small pieces of growth like maybe cam sort of adding together yeah it’s a combination of those things it’s uh the corporate knowledge a little bit it took us half of the year to get here

In some of those areas uh and you see Improvement by guys uh I that I complimented our guys about taking things that we’ve been working on and really implem them in the game whether it was the different coverages tonight we had on Maxi of being able to do that

In the game from practice uh then the other piece of that is I think we’ve honed in how we’re going to to play defense uh we were searching to see how we going to turn people over we’re actually turning people over more so than we were when we were searching for

Turning people over so it’s interesting how you can create turnovers by being aggressive knowing what you’re doing and positionally being in the right place last one ja what does it just mean as a group to get a win on the road to do it here against the Philadelphia team that

Had featured guys n straight time yeah and our coaches mentioned that to the group uh that they hadn’t beaten us uh a few times and uh whether who’s playing or not playing uh for us we’re trying to stack uh wins together so good to get a road win okay guys you got it

Jacque Vaughn spoke to the media following the Nets vs. Sixers on February 3, 2024