(22-34) PHOENIX SUNS, 101 VS. (41-15) TORONTO RAPTORS, 118 SCOTIABANK ARENA FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020
TORONTO RAPTORS QUOTES
NICK NURSE (HEAD COACH)
On deciding when to bring Serge Ibaka back into the game … I was leaning on doing it earlier than I did, then Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson) had kind of a nice stretch going there, so that enabled us to grab a few more minutes and then you get down to six or five you might as well do it and see what happens. Change the matchups and stuff and try and get him off (Deandre) Ayton so they can’t just throw it in the post and go right at him. It’s good though, he had a good impact there late.
On Serge changing the tempo of the game when he came back in … You just have to get your best guys out there and as well as Rondae played, Serge was a little bit of a bigger presence on the shot blocking, rebounding and spacing on the perimeter. He hit a big three there, he called bank on that.
On the defensive energy … I don’t know, we were really good tonight, I thought. I told the guys there were some great, great stretches of play out there. We really came out with a pace and aggressiveness, flying around and into the ball, challenging shots. Then the game lost its rhythm – and every ounce of enjoyability – there in the third quarter, so we just had to hang on. Nobody was having any fun out there and with about five minutes to go I said I am having about as much fun as you guys, probably less the way I feel right now, but we have to dig in together and go play. Then we got a couple of stops and Pascal (Siakam) makes roll, Kyle (Lowry) makes the three. There was some really nice execution down the stretch. On Rondae’s ability to guard bigger guys … He is strong, he has big base and he is not afraid. He is a strong dude but he has the lower half and gets down and holds his ground and not let them move him too much and he is kind of quick too, he will jump from side to side. You couple that with some pretty quick hands, if they do bring it down he will take a swat at it. Not afraid down there that’s for sure.
PASCAL SIAKAM (37 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, three blocks)
On the return from All-Star Weekend… I had a good time. Just hanging out with family (and) kind of getting away from after the All-Star Game … and getting ready for the second part of the season. So I just feel energized and obviously tonight, coming in with more energy and just playing with more passion.
Did it feel like you had some fresh legs in the first quarter? Yeah, I mean, you could say that. But at the same time when you’re making shots everything feels good and everything looks good. But I think I just liked the fact that I was more engaged and kind of showed some passion. I think that’s important and that’s something that I kind of try to make sure that I get engaged and find a way to get engaged and find a way to not just be out there. I think it’s easy to just relax and I think when you play with more energy and you’re more engaged, everything else kind of falls into place.
On expanding his offensive role… It’s a combination. I think everyone knows what’s the deal. We played (together) for a long time and the guys on the floor are the generals – the Kyles (Lowry) and the Freds (VanVleet) – they know how to put us in a position to win and obviously for me, just being aggressive, being assertive, and making sure I just go out there and show that type of energy every single night and make sure that I don’t get – I don’t want to say complacent because I never do – but just like knowing that you’ve got to at the other player that’s guarding your neck every single time that you get out of the cage or something. Having that mentality I think that’s something I have to work on and coming into the second half of the season that’s something I want to put more emphasis on.
KYLE LOWRY (13 points, 10 assists, five rebounds)
On expanding Pascal’s offensive role… I think it means more so letting him bring the ball down, playing a point guard a little bit more, kind of dictating offence from the top, making passes to other players and I think just getting more of a role of sometimes being the initiator of offence.
When the game loses its rhythm, how to you make sure that you power through? Well, we’re a good team, so we just continue to pick each other up, stay in the moment and understand that emotions are going to be high, but we’re still going to find a way to win the game. That’s all that really matters.
PHOENIX SUNS QUOTES
MONTY WILLIAMS (HEAD COACH)
What keyed the comeback in the fourth quarter? Just the aggression that we should have started the game with. Willie (Green) said it best in the back, it was just a tale of two halves. I think we were plus-seven in the second half – the first half I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t great. I’m sure they expected us to make a run, and then when we had it to six we just couldn’t knock down the open three or execute a certain play, and they got us in transition. I said it before the game started that was going to be the game; we just did not have the urgency in transition for the duration of the game to beat like that. I thought their physicality in the first half got us out of rhythm, and then in the second half we played our style of basketball and made it a game.
On the three-point shooting… We missed, I mean six for 34, they shot 14-37, and we’re both playing the first game out of all-star break, so we just got to knock down shots. We had a ton of open looks, like wide open shots tonight, we just missed those. We know if we hit six more, it’s a different game. We’re not even talking about 50 percent, we’re talking in the thirties, NBA average, it’s a different game. So that happens, I’m proud of the way we fought, the resiliency that we showed. Devin (Booker) and Ricky (Rubio) set the tone in the third quarter, just getting up and getting deflections and steals that helped us get back into it.
RICKY RUBIO (13 points, nine assists)
What got you guys going in the second half? They set the tone early, that’s why they are a championship team. Even when they’re missing a lot of guys, when a guy comes in (he is) really ready to play. We’ve got to learn from that. We did a better job of matching their physicality. I will say that we didn’t do anything wrong except not playing with physicality in the first half. They weren’t running crazy plays, they just outplayed us. We tried to come back. I think Book got a wide open three that put us at, I think, a four-point game. Then they made a bank shot on a three and that was the game. We were close to coming back, but we’ve got to learn to play 48 minutes right from the beginning.
How does the Raptors length challenge you as a playmaker? They’re athletic. They block a lot of three-point shots, too. We have to be a little smarter on how they close out and just pump fake and getting to the lanes. You have to give them credit. They are long and they are big and they play with a lot of energy.
What lessons can you take moving into tomorrow’s game? One, the way we responded going down by 24 at the half and not giving up and giving us a chance to put it to a seven-point game or something like that with five minutes left. Second, learning how they play hard from the beginning. So, setting the tone really won the game for them in the first half.
DEVIN BOOKER (21 points, eight assists, five rebounds)
On tonight’s game… Obviously it was a game two halves. I call it a set-up game, straight out of the break, all the way in Toronto for an away game so we knew we would have to overcome some challenges. Finding our energy and getting our legs underneath us to start the game was one of them. We picked it up in the second half. Hopefully we can gain from that and see what worked for us and implement it into the game tomorrow.
On the near comeback… We got it down a couple of times – that shows the fight. It shows that we are able to get there. I think I missed an open three from Ricky and then they came back. Serge banked one in and then two threes after that. It could’ve been a three-point game but went to 12 or 14. We had a chance tonight and gave ourselves a chance, which was an uphill battle after the position we put ourselves in in the first half.
What’s one of the biggest things you can take from playing a championship team? They’re all on the same page. They play on a string on both ends of the ball. There’s no confusion. Their timing is hitting on all cylinders. That’s what happens when you play deep in the playoffs with teams and you fight together. That’s a high-caliber team over there. It shows why they’re successful.
What was the biggest factor in the team’s struggles from three-point range? They’re long and athletic. They tipped a lot of shots and got their hands on a lot of balls. Like, I said, with the pace of the game it took us a while to catch up and just get our legs under us. I think we shot six-for-33 from three. We’ll definitely improve on that tomorrow. That’s not the team we are. We’ll build from this.
The view from left field 