Dallas Mavs Postgame Interviews vs Warriors: Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, PJ Washington, Jason Kidd

Dallas Mavs Postgame Interviews vs Warriors: Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, PJ Washington, Jason Kidd

Look I know look I know it’s always a next man up mentality but how much did you guys miss Derek liary out there tonight a lot you know he comes in after the Gord uh protects the pain you know rolls good uh so we miss him a lot here it seemed like

The game was getting away from you guys you were down 11 about 7 minutes ago in the game what does that say about your team that you was able to come back and tired of at one point no no we never we never give up

Uh I think we had three great looks uh PJ had a catch and shoot Kai had catch and shoot I had catch and shoot open Catch and shoot three times so I think we had a great look uh that we can go up we just didn’t make

Them you finished the road trip with a 4- onone record what are some of your top takeaways as a team from this road trip I think it’s a great road trip uh especially we had to fly to Texas and back to California so it’s a long road

Trip uh long as I ever been part of uh well I think it’s a good road trip you know 401 on road trip I think it’s great what do you think you’ve learned most about this team in the last couple of weeks uh during this 11-1 run and

This long road trip we’re a good team in what ways are yall a good team in all the ways I’m serious I me our defense has stepped up big uh our offense good so so I think we have a great team you feel like you guys are a

Contender an an elite Contender you always have to believe that there’s always going to be a chance so you always have to believe that hey Luka uh how do you think that your relationship with Kyrie has grown on and off the court over the course of the season oh great amazing guy amazing

Person uh this helps not just me but everybody in the team you know he he keeps us together uh so on and off the hood on and off the court just amazing guy yeah look what what type of impact did Draymond have on the game tonight particularly down the

Stretch uh good you know that block was was big uh you know we could tie the game there I think so uh that block was great for for him you know he’s a defensive guy uh he controls their offense you know he leads the guys I

Think had very big big impact to me you get to see these guys again on on on Friday but first you played the Hawks on Thursday just talk about that game coming up on Thursday night yeah I we just got to go game by Game game by game yeah all right just real quick we saw you uh shooting half court shots with Steph before the game would you like to play him in a game of horse and if so who do you think would win depense with shots any shot wor is any shot you want

I think it’ll be a close one if he just started shooting thre you know I’m not going to beat him no chance but yeah I think it’ll be a close game okay thanks thank you thanks Kyrie it’s been a long trip five games 10 days uh did you feel it out

There uh yeah a little bit I mean human just like the rest of my teammates so you know 10 Days on the Road um definitely feeling his last game we wanted to get this one really bad um but we just didn’t do enough on the offensive end defensive end and um it

Showed tonight they they made some adjustments from the last game that we played them Seth was out there playing uh Klay was starting so they made a few changes and um you know it felt like kind of a playoff atmosphere tonight as well the way we were going back and

Forth fourth and um just some of the chess moves that they were making and uh you know Steph and Klay didn’t play particularly well tonight uh on the offensive end but a lot of the other guys got going so I think that was the tale of the game today um you know the

Other guys got going and uh they made timely shots and got timely stops tough to lose Lively kind of suddenly like that uh how do you think you guys will be able to kind of regroup and I don’t know how long you’ll have to play without him but yeah how will that

Process be just got to do do the best we can yeah uh what are the challenges that Draymond Green poses a team as a short roller and then also his defensive versatility uh I mean he’s always mucking the game up um that’s always been Dre’s personality um and that’s not

Just like on the physical and it’s just on the IQ uh he has a very very high IQ he’s been a winner uh for a large portion of his NBA career uh so he he Garners the respect of a lot of his peers and um when he’s going against

Guys that are a little bit more athletic uses his brain a little bit more and then if he’s going against smaller guys uh he uses physicality so he knows how to play um kind of the in between game on the defensive end and then offensively he makes uh those guys jobs

A lot easier just putting the ball in the right spot um I think you know the difference between someone uh getting a great pass between getting a good pass I think he’s mastered giving those guys great passes and mastered uh hitting them in their in their U shot Pockets so

Easier shots great screener too Kyrie what does that say about you guys you were down about about 11 points we a little bit over seven minutes to go but 3 minutes later the game was tied yeah I I don’t ever feel like we’re out of it out of any game um especially how

Powerful we are offensively uh we got a lot of great looks in that fourth quarter just didn’t hit him tonight uh so we look forward to playing them again in the next two games and uh you know seeing where we uh where we match up then it seems like their bch got the

Best M of you guys tonight is that the way you saw it um I mean I guess you could use those words I wouldn’t particularly use those words but I mean if that’s the way you want to describe it then I guess I could agree um you

Know they they did the little things tonight so it was a collective effort from them to get this win and they know they needed to do all the little things in order to beat us and um I think that’s the Telltale sign that we’re becoming even better team um because you

You got to really beat us down to the ground until you know the zeros AR on the court uh on the clock and that’s the way you should want it as a competitor Kyrie uh before the game coach kid was talking about the chemistry and trust

That you and Luca built all the way back in training camp and how that kind of set the tone for this team um how do you think your relationship with Luca has evolve throughout the season both on and off the court um man it’s been a while since I got that question

Uh uh man it’s it’s been a fun ride so far it’s been it’s been a great um you know learning experience since the beginning of the Season uh we were in Abu Dhabi and Madrid um you know got a chance to see where Luca pretty much

Played a lot of his younger years and where he developed as a professional um and I think those trips are needed for teams um that are new and around each other uh so we got a chance to spend some time as um not just as a

Duo like me and Luca but a lot of us spent time together as teammates and that really helped us get to know one another off the Court tell our stories to one another U have a lot of good laughs um have a few good drinks when

Some of us were still drinking and uh just enjoying the the you know kind of the NBA life as being a brother being a peer to some of the greatest players in the world so um outstanding of that uh it’s been fun to see him mature and grow

As a basketball player I knew he was special before I got here but being up close and seeing it every day uh you don’t take it for granted you see somebody like that that comes in the history NBA or the history of basketball and he’s doing some remarkable things so

Uh for me as an older player now um you know I just don’t take those moments for granted when I get to play against some of you know play with some of the special players in the world and Luke is one of them oh sorry one one one last one uh

What were your overall takeaways uh from the road trip uh considering you guys won some big games and tough situations uh he’s a great Road trip um I’m trying my best to let my ego perfectionist side you know seep in right here and say I

Wish you know we should have gone 5 and 0 um but I’m I’m we’re not seeking Perfection we’re we’re seeking uh incremental progress and uh being able to be tested in situations like this so we could be prepared for the playoffs um that’s how I see it so this this road

Trip was definitely great learned a lot about each other and uh I think we made up for some of the other games that we had on the previous road trip where um we let our guard down or uh we were in the game um you know going into the

Fourth quarter but we were down maybe eight to 12 points and we had to make a comeback so we need games like that to get in better conditioning number one and then also be mentally and physically spiritually um prepared emotionally prepared as well thank you very

Much PJ uh is there any do you have any sense that you guys might have uh over here to your yeah you have any sense that you guys might have kind of run out of gas at the end of this long road trip uh no I thought we fought hard I mean

Holding a team like that to 104 in their building is is very good I mean I think um obviously there’s some things we can work on and uh learn from from this game um I’m happy with the the way we came out and fought though for the whole game

So I’m not uh disappointed or or I don’t feel like we we are we’re in out of gas this game I just feel like uh there are some things we could have cleaned up and uh we could have definitely won this game PJ what did you guys has missed by

Not having Lively out there tonight um just his presence I mean him being down there and uh just seeing him down there a lot of guys don’t even want to go up with shots so uh I think uh live has been great for us um as long as I’ve

Been here I’ve seen him uh take strides and even being better rebounding blocking shots and running the floor so and even making decisions in the pick and roll so I mean I think he was missed but um his next man up mentality and uh we just got to come and

Play how would you sum up this this road trip cuz it was a long trip but 4 in one no it was great I mean uh I think we’re all excited with with the results um we we played in some tough places to win and uh we went four and run so that’s

That’s exciting and uh honestly I’m just ready to get back to Dallas so you got some uh good looks toward the end of the game there in the fourth quarter um you’ve been here a couple months just what’s it like being out there with luuka and Kyrie on the court

In late game situations and what is that how does that open up your game uh it’s great I mean they they draw so much attention and uh you can’t leave those guys on the island by themselves so it brings up open shots for everybody else and uh everybody else just got to be

Ready and uh step up and make them what kind of p over here what kind of impact did Draymond have on the game tonight particularly you know he got those two go te in call down the stretch um I think draymond’s a great player for them obviously he’s like the

Quarterback for them uh he pretty much runs the offense and uh I mean he had assist rebounds and he did his part on the defensive and getting force steal so um I’m just we we got to be better and clean it up and then I think the fourth

Quarter just down the stets we got to be better as well thank you guys Jason I thought uh when you guys got down by 13 in the second quarter you might be running out of gas but then you guys like a 23 to2 run where do you

Think you guys summon that from yeah I think it’s in the past that could have easily been a a uh bigger lead at halftime where it could have been 20 down at half but it’s tied and we just felt we didn’t play well um we had some

Great looks on the offensive end um but I think it’s just the character of the group when you look at um this this road trip uh we’ve been down we haven’t played well um we’ve stayed together and we’ve understand that there’s two halves

To the game and um again we get off to a good start in the third they make a run um but again that fourth quarter our defense kept us in the game we got some great looks um that you know when you look at luuka and Kai and PJ we we

Had some great looks that just didn’t go down and that just happen sometimes but um the road trip um you were on it is long but we’re not going to use that as an excuse we’re we we truly believe we put ourselves in a position to win

Tonight’s game but we came up short how much did you guys uh Miss loty tonight I noticed you didn’t get a lot out of your backup center position yeah yeah anytime uh we miss Josh too I mean we miss dive and Josh uh but uh you shoot up the guys

That can play and and DP gave us eight good minutes um out there um looking at Maxi and Gaff we just couldn’t take advantage when they were small to get the you know offensive rebounds um and that’s something in the past that we’ve done but um give them credit they they

Played hard uh they they found a way to win um there’s a lot of good things that we can take from this game um being able to execute late um being able to you know execute late game plays offensively and defensively I thought Max had a heck of a block there um you

Know after the Trap and then we get an opportunity to score so there’s a lot of good things um we’re sitting in a good seat um now we got to prepare um for Atlanta hey coach kind of building off what you just said uh you weren’t able

To finish the job tonight but how confident are you in this group uh in finishing games particularly with Luka and Kyrie out there yeah we got you know our our two leaders got great looks if not they were making plays for other guys uh and PJ makes a big three there

Um at the top of the floor um just the trust that they have with one another on both ends offensively and defensively so there’s a lot of um you know positive things um there’s a lot of trust and chemistry is at a highlight right now so

I I truly believe in this group um we’re going to learn from this and get better Jason well welcome home first of all good to see you good to see you too given the playin and the cluster of teams that are 7 8 9 10 what’s the

Mindset let’s say that you try to instill in your players coming down the stretch because one win here or there can dramatically affect what your your playoff Situation’s going to be yeah I think it’s that’s a great question it’s you know taking one one game at a time

We can only play what’s in front of us and and tonight was the Warriors and on the road um we put ourselves in a position to win uh they made plays we came up short and this just something that we can learn from but again our

Defense is is at a very high level we’ve been talking about that of late if we’re not making shots we got to be able to get stops and and tonight we did that uh we just couldn’t capitalize on the other end but it’s just taking one game at a

Time and and and learning from wins and losses and then going forward with the next game and that’s Atlanta that’s the only one we’re focused on we can’t score Ball Watch we can only take care of what’s in frontal of us and we control

What what we be seated at the end of uh seven more games what challenges did you see uh facing Draymond Green in short rolles especially in the fourth quarter yeah you know that’s uh something that he has uh perfected um being able to play make

Out of the short rle um and so uh being able to try to you know he he found a way to score and find and find guys and so whenever you put two on the ball with Steph uh you when draymond’s involved in

A pick and roll um we just have to be a little bit better um we play those guys here shortly at the end of this week and so um we can see what we can do better to to make it tougher on him but he’s seen every defense step is seen every

Defense and so we just got to try to keep those guys off Balance thanks

Dallas Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic, PJ Washington, and Jason Kidd spoke to reporters after the team’s loss against the Golden State Warriors on March 31, 2024, during postgame interviews.

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