Latest / Bleacher Report / Jalen Brunson & Mikal Bridges Talks Game Winner & Facing the Boston Celtics _ 2025 NBA Playoffs

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Jalen Brunson & Mikal Bridges Talks Game Winner & Facing the Boston Celtics _ 2025 NBA Playoffs · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Jalen, can you take us through the game winning shot
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and how sweet was the kiss to the crowd? Just
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: find a way to uh? Christ in separation shot a
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: little earlier than I wanted to, but I mean, I mean,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Is just a great defender man. And just
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the fact that I got them a space, I mean,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I had to shoot it right there. Happy to balling in, Jalen.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Four straight, four games this series were decided by three
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: points or few. I think that's the only the second
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: time in an NBA history that that happened. You know,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: what does that say about your late game execution and
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: sort of your your will down the stretch.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's all about us think poise and having that composure.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Obviously we want to have it throughout the game, but
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: it's most important at the end. We all have each
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: other's backs and we all know what we want to do,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: and I'm just thankful for my teammates and coaches Rol.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: Jason, excuse me, Jayleen. When you take a shot like that,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: or maybe after it goes in, do you feel the
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: weight of it in terms of the alternative of how
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: things could play out if it doesn't go in and
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: what that means for this team and what's next in
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: terms of Game seven and possibly beyond that. You're asking
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: me if I felt though, like, if you feel when
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: you let it go, Like in that moment, do you
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: feel the weight of not just this game, but this series,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: your guys, a season, and how that could possibly change
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: if that shot doesn't go in? I mean, yeah, I
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: mean if it doesn't let me go, hopefully going overtime,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: you had a lot of time left in the game.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: They've all the good one, So that's that's all I care.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: About, Jalen. Obviously, you've been in clutch situations time and
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: time again. Just what do you do? When I talk
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: to people about clutch situations, they say that their heart
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: rate goes up, that it's difficult to stay composed and
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: poison those moments. What do you do to to I
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: guess do you feel that when when the pressure is on?
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Do you feel like your heart rate is up? Do
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: you ignore it? What do you What do you do
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: to remain calm in those moments?
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: I say poised and I rely on the the trust
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: and composure that my teammates give me. I wouldn't be
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: in that position about this man next to me, the
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: way he played the night, And yeah, obviously everyone's gonna
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: say a lot about the last shot, but throughout the game,
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: the ups and downs a bit, we all stay composed,
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: and the way he played and it was, it was tremendous.
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: So give a lot of credit to my teammates. I mean,
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: none of this happens with them.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: Michel.
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: Your aggressiveness throughout the night, attacking the basket, I mean
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: he talked about that a little bit, and then the
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: put back you had as well. Can you kind of
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: take me through that play?
• 2:40
  Speaker 7: Yeah, just being aggressive, I think, just us playing fast
• 2:43
  Speaker 7: and knowing the weapons we have, just trying to be aggressive.
• 2:48
  Speaker 7: You know, they try to take them away, and you
• 2:52
  Speaker 7: know we got punched him sometimes when they just you know,
• 2:55
  Speaker 7: trying to just deny him and let other guys play
• 2:58
  Speaker 7: and just trying to play the right way. Just trying
• 3:01
  Speaker 7: to win, honestly and.
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: Put back, just just.
• 3:05
  Speaker 7: Trying to find a way to win, just being there.
• 3:07
  Speaker 7: You know, my coaches be on me all year, all
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: playoffs to rebound, so just trying to do my best. Yeah, oh,
• 3:16
  Speaker 7: I'm sorry.
• 3:17
  Speaker 6: Please go ahead, Michael. You've been his teammate on different
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: teams too, and you've seen him make some big shots before.
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: What was that like when you saw him, you know,
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: with a shot in his hand, and how does he
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: keep his composure?
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: He didn't really care, Let's be honest, man.
• 3:35
  Speaker 7: I just I just know him so well and I
• 3:37
  Speaker 7: just think high pressure situations happened. That doesn't phase him.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 3:42
  Speaker 7: I've just been around so long, and no, he's even
• 3:45
  Speaker 7: killed throughout the whole night, no matter if he's struggling,
• 3:48
  Speaker 7: no matter if he's hooping, you can never tell. So
• 3:51
  Speaker 7: I just thought was just hopefully you get some separation.
• 3:54
  Speaker 7: And once he got a separation, then you know it
• 3:56
  Speaker 7: was curtains. You know, when he shot and made it,
• 3:59
  Speaker 7: I felt like I made it. I was so geeked up,
• 4:01
  Speaker 7: so you thought I hit the game winner, so you
• 4:04
  Speaker 7: know needed that Cale.
• 4:06
  Speaker 8: I Uh, you og had the block and you recovered
• 4:10
  Speaker 8: it and ran down the floor. I think we were
• 4:12
  Speaker 8: all waiting for you to to kind of lay the
• 4:14
  Speaker 8: ball in and you came down with this dunk. Just
• 4:16
  Speaker 8: I feel like that's the sort of play that the
• 4:19
  Speaker 8: fans that we talk about the combination of you guys
• 4:22
  Speaker 8: as a wing duo, that do they have that kind
• 4:25
  Speaker 8: of capability? What did it feel like to kind of
• 4:26
  Speaker 8: put that dunk down and in a in a big
• 4:29
  Speaker 8: game like this, and just those sorts of moments that
• 4:32
  Speaker 8: it seemed like every one of you guys in the
• 4:34
  Speaker 8: starting fight had a big moment or two in the series.
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: What was that like for you?
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 4:37
  Speaker 7: Man, felt great, felt great. You know, I wish I
• 4:42
  Speaker 7: had in front of our bench to see the reaction,
• 4:43
  Speaker 7: that I could yell in front of their faces. But uh,
• 4:46
  Speaker 7: it's nice to see, you know, getting back on defense
• 4:49
  Speaker 7: and you know, seeing them guys all run around, jumping around.
• 4:52
  Speaker 7: So you know, I just I love my teammates.
• 4:55
  Speaker 6: Man.
• 4:55
  Speaker 7: I just try to go out there and make a play,
• 4:57
  Speaker 7: and you know, I play for them.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: There's is for both of you. I know you both
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: have played in the higher stakes series, So I don't
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: want to oversell it.
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: But in terms of the one would we beat them
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: in game seven? That serious you're talking about?
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Well, my bad? Oh. The uniqueness of this series in
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: terms of the physicality, in terms of every game being close,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: every minute seeming close. Is this a different one for
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: you guys in the in the playoff setting. Again, I
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: don't want to oversell it to the first round, but
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: how it went.
• 5:34
  Speaker 7: I don't know. I just feel like being a West
• 5:36
  Speaker 7: my whole career and coming here in the past, but
• 5:38
  Speaker 7: three years, two and a half, East has just you know,
• 5:43
  Speaker 7: always been a little bit I think, just more physical.
• 5:48
  Speaker 7: I think that goes with just I don't know. Maybe
• 5:50
  Speaker 7: it's the weather outside it makes people mad or frustrated,
• 5:54
  Speaker 7: but but I think it's the players as well. You know,
• 5:57
  Speaker 7: you got guys like Gyiannis who have always been in
• 5:59
  Speaker 7: the East, you know, and teams are just big and physical,
• 6:02
  Speaker 7: embiid big, feel like just it's always been things since
• 6:06
  Speaker 7: I've been in the West. But yeah, this is I
• 6:09
  Speaker 7: mean from the jump from this, from this series, from
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: Game one, you could feel the energy, feel how everybody
• 6:15
  Speaker 7: was real physical, And yeah, I.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: Guess for both of you, does a series like this,
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: this kind of atmosphere help prepare you for what's next.
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: I think every every series is different, but we can
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: learn from our experiences as we go on. I don't
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: want to like say it's it's gonna be different, but
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: obviously we're playing against the defending champs next time, so
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: it's gonna be a lot different playing this team that
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: we just played. Not I'm not discrediting them at all,
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: But like they have experience, the Celtics have experience and
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: playing these guys, they were just physical, They just they
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: were They brought the fight to us and then we
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: had to respond, and then we did. But every series
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: is going to be different, and you ever respect each
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: opponent you play and then you gotta go from there
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: and make adjustments. But every everything is different from the
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: first quarter the first thing. Every everything's gonna be different.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Jalen.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: Obviously people are gonna be talking about your shot and
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: the move for god knows how long. But with a
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: defender like us are and the way he was playing,
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: you're just what made you go to that move that
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: snatched back?
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: What?
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: There were so many things that you could have done.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: Did you know that was gonna work?
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: What?
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: What made you pick that movie?
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: I don't really go and think, all right, I'm gonna
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: make this move right here. It's just an instinct. He
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: beat me to the spot, he cut me off, just
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: went back the other way and I found a lot
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: of space and those take a shot man, that du
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: it was tough to play against. He's he's a big
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: time and I told him straight to his face after
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: the series, I mean, he made me work, So I
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: got a lot of respect from him after the fact. Yeah,
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: during the course of the game right now, but like
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: seeing it, yeah.
• 8:10
  Speaker 6: I got I got to the idea that the starters
• 8:14
  Speaker 6: all wore black sneakers. Was that a concerted thing? It
• 8:17
  Speaker 6: was just random random?
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: Josh didn't we're all black either, My bad. They're a
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: shade of purple.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: I could.
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: We were sitting too high to see that. Yeah, Michel, the.
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: OGI were all black. I don't even I don't think
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: ogre black. I don't know. Maybe yeah he did. He
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: switched of course, og switcher shoes. Yeah, you know, I was.
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: We did not talk about.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: That at all.
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: Okay, Michel going up against Tatum and Brown, I mean,
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: how much of a task and you know how horrid
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: will that be in the next series?
• 8:50
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, now they're hell of the players, and
• 8:55
  Speaker 7: you know, I got moves for days and physical Yeah,
• 8:59
  Speaker 7: definite gonna be challenge. But you know it's never one
• 9:02
  Speaker 7: on one. You know, you got four guys behind you,
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: your teammates, so you know, just team defense and just
• 9:07
  Speaker 7: help each other out.
• 9:09
  Speaker 9: Michael, when they go on that long run in the
• 9:12
  Speaker 9: fourth and the crowd is going crazy, I think they
• 9:14
  Speaker 9: were up five. What what's the key to staying together
• 9:18
  Speaker 9: as a group in those moments?
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: Just just staying with it. I think we had the
• 9:24
  Speaker 7: same situation out here game game four, he was down four.
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: I think I remember Kate hit the MIDI called time
• 9:32
  Speaker 7: out and it was probably three minutes left out of
• 9:34
  Speaker 7: my shore, but we was down four and just we
• 9:38
  Speaker 7: just know, it's just one possession at a time. You know,
• 9:40
  Speaker 7: it's a lot of time left, you know, and we're
• 9:42
  Speaker 7: gonna stick with it. You know, we built for it,
• 9:45
  Speaker 7: work too hard, So just finding a way and just
• 9:48
  Speaker 7: keep fighting.
• 9:51
  Speaker 10: Chilling.
• 9:51
  Speaker 11: Regarding regarding Mkeel to your left, regarding Mkeel defensively when
• 9:58
  Speaker 11: he was up against k or whomever else he was
• 10:01
  Speaker 11: guarding Tobias Harris, he seemed to do really well all series,
• 10:04
  Speaker 11: especially once screens.
• 10:05
  Speaker 10: Came into the action. A lot of times, like you're
• 10:08
  Speaker 10: you're in that action. What did you feel like was
• 10:11
  Speaker 10: was working so well for for McHale in terms of
• 10:14
  Speaker 10: being able to kind of stay skating on those screens
• 10:16
  Speaker 10: and and just also one on one.
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: Situation staying skinny on those screens.
• 10:20
  Speaker 10: Yeah, that's what that's I mean.
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: He is a toothpick he is. Yeah, my fault, bro.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: I think the way we communicated it helped, But I
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: mean Michael is, I mean naturally has that and so
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: obviously I'm in my coverage. I'm helping out as best
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: I can. But it's the way that he plays at
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: defense that, uh is the It's the source of it all.
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: And so he's playing him, playing off his instincts and
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: doing what he does. I mean, that's just who he is.
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: And so yeah, I may help a tad, but it's
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: it's it's all him and that's just what he does.
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: That's who he is. And when it comes to situations
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: like this, when it's a games on the line or
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: anything like that, it's when he plays his best. And
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: so that's what we expect. That's what we appreciate of him.
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: Appreciate