Cleveland Cavaliers: Max Strus Doing WHATEVER IT TAKES TO WIN For Cavs vs. Indiana Pacers
How does one win start to help change the tone in the series? Uh, it really doesn’t to be honest with you. Uh, we just did our job, executed the game plan. Um, and guys stepped up. It was it was a great team effort, great win, and I’m proud of the effort that we we fought with. Kenny, Darius, everyone has talked about how important you have been at this point, forceful leader, as someone who’s just been in situations like this. like what what do you find is is your role in really taking command and leadership during this time. Uh just trying to do whatever I can to help us win. Um every game is going to ask for something different, but um like you said, I’ve had experience. I’ve played in some big games, so um kind of just understanding the moment and keeping guys locked in and um just trying to do anything to win. I mean, I don’t really know how to explain it, but um yeah, I mean, I love this group. I love these guys and we’ll do anything for them. Obviously, it helps when you have guys actually coming back even if they weren’t all at 100%. How different was it with them back on the floor? Yeah. No, they were huge help. Um it was awesome. It was great to have DG back. It was great to have Evan back. Uh they were a huge help. Um and they’re talented and we we appreciate them fighting through whatever they’re going through. Um and we’re grateful for them and hopefully we can do it again on Sunday. Can you speak to how critical it was to control the glass tonight? Yeah, I mean that’s critical in any game. Um got to win the glass, got to win the rebounding battle and um I thought our two bigs were outstanding. Max, why have you guys had so much success uh besides the fourth quarter tonight caliber basically just kind of shut him off passing scoring at all? What are you guys doing? You think that’s sort of uh disrupting him so much? Just executing our game plan. Uh he’s a hell of a player. Um, just trying to make it tough on him. Huh? What makes your zone so effective the way it was tonight? Um, I don’t know. You watch the game, man. You tell me. Oh, yeah. I’d like to get your thoughts on this. I don’t know. Our length probably has something to do with it. Um, having a guy like Evan at the top is u definitely helps. But I just we’re we’re competing on at whatever end zone we’re in, man. Uh guys are stepping up, guys are competing, and that’s all you can ask for. Kenny was talking pregame how tonight you guys just had to lean into your identity, be who you are. In what way do you feel like tonight was representative of who you guys are? We finished the game. Um we played the right basketball. We played great basketball. We played team basketball. Um we’ve been doing that all all year. Um it’s led us to be pretty successful. So um just relying on that, relying on each other um and we’ll continue to do that. Donovan in the fourth quarter when they come up to 11 with like eight and a half left. You guys had a timeout. He comes out, hits a couple shots and an assist to you for three. Um how instrumental was that in you guys finishing the right way? And how impressive was Don? Yeah, I mean that’s why Donovan Mitchell was Donovan Mitchell. That guy’s a superstar and he showed you why. Um, we’re always going to rely on Don to carry us and take us home and, um, he did just that. In what ways has Sam affected the defensive end in ways that maybe people don’t see. Sam’s sensational. Um, Sam’s been phenomenal on the defensive end. Just his overall IQ. Um, his physicality, the way he approaches the game, the way he approaches every single day. Um, I couldn’t be more proud of Sam and what he’s become. And, um, he’s a huge factor in helping us win all these games as well. you seemed like you in particular put a lot of effort in def uh denying Tyrese the ball. Seemed like you even matched up on him on the one jump ball situation. I was wonder if you you’d ever like kind of done that before where you picked out a guy at the jump ball and just like trying to deny it to him. It was just my matchup. Um just trying to take the challenge and and make it tough on
Max Strus had yet another gritty performance for the Cleveland Cavaliers and was a huge reason why the Cavs cruised to a 22-point victory over the Indiana Pacers. Strus finished with 20 points on 8-12 shooting to go along with seven assists and rebounds each.
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2 Comments
Great effort Winter Soldier!
Max been playing phenomenal. Respect!