Coach Malone Full Post Game Press Conference vs. Timberwolves 🎙

Coach Malone Full Post Game Press Conference vs. Timberwolves 🎙

Michael a pretty interesting game you guys are up 18 in the first half and have to hold on late I guess what’s what’s the first message to your team in the locker room after a game like that well you know you always take a division

Win and to finish up the road trip three and one is outstanding uh not always going to be pretty and I thought in the first half we did a nice job third quarter to your point um just came out with no urgency and uh you know they

Become the aggressor and had us on our heels um so the message is what you got to play for 48 minutes but you just can’t go out there even though they have guys out with injury um especially on the road you know you have to put teams

Away and that’s something that we really have to get better at we’re building leads but now how do we sustain that lead and not just give it all right back um but to our credit in the fourth quarter obviously I think we went on the

18 to6 run Michael Porter Jr was a huge part of that um with with the shot making timely shot making and I don’t I don’t know uh did Anthony Edward score in the fourth quarter I don’t think he did one um so I I think you know the

Defense 40% in the fourth quarter Anthony Edwards defense was great obviously too many threes down the stretch to keep them alive but um I’d much rather watch film and clean things up after an ugly wind uh but you know we’ll take it man that’s a good team and

Uh anytime as I mentioned you know we tied with them and now you move a maybe a half game ahead of them that’s a good thing Michael they’re obviously missing a ton of their front Court including goar in that third quarter 17 points it

Was I think it was 12 until the last 40 seconds or so did you feel like you guys got away from anything in your offense or was there some stuff that they were really doing def no they just they just became you know well one the turnovers

Me our turnovers were awful all night long but you know the first quarter was turnovers and offensive rebounds and we kind of cleaned up the glass after the first quarter but the whole game it was uh you know poor turnovers dribbling into crowds uh and they became very

Physical very aggressive and and that fueled their break that gave them momentum that gave them life so give them credit for that um and then I think we kind of settled down and um you know we’re able to pull pull out the win in that fourth quarter but I would I

Wouldn’t say we got away from anything it was just giving them more credit to how hard and physical they were playing you mentioned the the defense on ant in the fourth quarter obviously he was he was rolling in the third quarter what do you think you guys were able to

Do to help cool him off there yeah we started sending a body at him you know you know so obviously one guy trying to guard Anthony Edwards is a challenge and U you know for anybody in the whole NBA and so we started throwing bodies at him

So now he’s playing against a double team get the ball out of his hands make somebody else make a play uh and to their credit you know other guys stepped up Conley hits four threes obviously um McDaniels hit uh 4 threes um but with a score like that you got to give them

Different looks and if the one-on-one coverage isn’t working you got to be willing to send another body to get the ball out of his hands because uh that’s the best way to stop an elite scorer is just don’t let him get a shot up so I think that was probably the the biggest

Adjustment that we made that helped kind of cool him down a little bit you talk about little moments in games and although the third quarter really didn’t do much only scored 17 but as you just said a while ago Five Points the last 40 second gave you back the lead was that

Kind of the momentum to propel you into getting this win even in out of a bad quarter yeah I mean it’s um I think we’ve talked about that so much as of late because it is important you I mean like you can have an awful quarter but

If you can find a way to salvage that last minute where you go on a semi small run to give you a little bit of life to give you a little bit of momentum and that carried over I mean again you know the Michael Porter minutes said that the

Run that he had um was just outstanding you know he knocked down big big shots um Reggie made some good plays Joker obviously playing through him um so yeah I think closing out that third quarter on that small run was definitely impactful what do you think led to that

Production from Michael Porter Jr and the looks that he was getting in the fourth you know I think um he went in we took a couple of starters out and uh you know Nicole was just getting so much attention you know they were switching they were doubling him um you know from

The get-go Dallas doubled him so like um I think when teams are putting two on ni Cola somebody’s getting a wide open shot I think in that Dallas game we were three for 13 on wide open threes so now it’s just a matter of stepping up and

Knocking them down and we know Michael Porter post All-Star break is shooting the ball lights out and obviously 26 more points tonight big free throws down the stretch by he and Jamal um and again that that’s another late game end of game situations that we can watch film

Of and clean up because yes you can give them credit for making tough shots but we can’t let them call a timeout run a play and hit a three we can’t let them come down and transition and hit a three when we know that’s what they’re trying

To get yet so our late game defense which is usually you know outstanding the last couple of games obviously uh we just have to clean clean some things up it’s is one of jokic’s lowest assist games in a while obviously part of that is just some Miss shots when they

Started doubling him but how how important is it also for him to sort of have gone into the attack mode that he was in in the first half when he you guys get Kyle in foul trouble and all of a sudden it’s it’s Luca Garza guarding

Him for a lot of the half yeah I mean it’s Nicole was going to read the game and um you know as I just mentioned and you guys saw you know they they were sending bodies at him in the post at the nail um so obviously you know he’s got

To give the ball up but to your point sometimes he’s getting in the ball in the middle of the floor where it’s really hard to double be aggressive play through the physicality um and you know you trust him you know every single night to make the right play so it’s

Funny I said at halftime he had zero assists in the first half I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before um if if it’s happened you know when the last time it did happen I can’t remember but um you know we were up 15 at the half so you’re

Taking what the defense gives you and other guys are stepping up and making plays all right thanks everybody

Hear what Coach Malone had to say after the road win against the Timberwolves.

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Coach Malone Full Post Game Press Conference vs. Timberwolves 🎙