Latest / Bleacher Report / Tyrese Haliburton & Pascal Siakam Talk Advancing to the ECF _ 2025 NBA Playoffs

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Tyrese Haliburton & Pascal Siakam Talk Advancing to the ECF _ 2025 NBA Playoffs · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Nine minutes. That's the first time nine minutes I had
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: enough life. No, here we go.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: How you said before that this platform feels.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Different because last year, you guys it was like your
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: first time. This time you're expected to be here. How
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: does that make this win feel different to you?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, man, it's uh, it's a special feeling. To be
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: honest with you, I'm not gonna sit here and talk
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: like I got so many years of experience, you know,
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: in my fifth year.
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  Speaker 2: But something I've learned from my.
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  Speaker 4: Vets and just being in the NBA for enough time
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: is to not take winning for granted, you know. And
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: this is a special time. Uh, you know, back to
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  Speaker 4: back Eastern Conference finals.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: We're not done.
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  Speaker 4: We still got you know, ways to go. But it's
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  Speaker 4: a special feeling, man. And you know, watching the lottery
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  Speaker 4: last night, I remember being at the being our representative
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  Speaker 4: at the lottery a couple of years ago and uh
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  Speaker 4: not wanting to, you know.
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  Speaker 2: To go back. So it's special. And this group is special.
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  Speaker 4: We've you know, this has been built by many different
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: you know moves and add and p has you know,
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  Speaker 4: been huge for us and we just kind of went
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  Speaker 4: from there. But yeah, man, I don't take this for granted.
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  Speaker 4: It's a lot of fun and uh, winning, winning is fun.
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  Speaker 4: So you know, we just want to continue to do
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  Speaker 4: what we're doing and just take this a day at
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  Speaker 4: a time. Enjoy this one tonight, but you know, be
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: ready for whoever's next.
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  Speaker 3: You guys hadn't had thirty points, score the whole post's
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  Speaker 3: and tell you today what does that say about your team?
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  Speaker 3: And of course what the night you just had.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, just a balanced staff. For man, we
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  Speaker 4: just we're different than every other team in the NBA.
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  Speaker 4: You know, we don't just have one guy who scores
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  Speaker 4: all the points or you know, we we I think
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  Speaker 4: we defeat teams in different ways.
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  Speaker 2: We moved the ball, the ball is playing.
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  Speaker 4: We got a lot of different guys making shots, making plays.
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  Speaker 4: We've preached our depth all, you know, for the last
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  Speaker 4: couple of years, and you know it's paying off now.
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  Speaker 4: So you know, I had a great game, But you know,
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  Speaker 4: I think a big part of that was guys were
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: finding me, putting me in the right spots. And you know,
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  Speaker 4: we did panic after that rough start to the first quarter.
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  Speaker 2: We knew they were gonna throw a punch. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we talked about that.
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  Speaker 4: We knew that they were gonna you know, throw hey
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  Speaker 4: maker there, but I thought we weathered the storm the
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  Speaker 4: right way and God going from there. So really proud
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  Speaker 4: of our effort, and you know, proud of this group.
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  Speaker 3: Uh Pascalba just a minute ago requesting but that it is,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the championship window is potential, thereity to day
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  Speaker 3: more whens you've won one before. What makes you believe
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  Speaker 3: this team can't do it?
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  Speaker 1: Well? First of all, do I count as one of
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  Speaker 1: the events.
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  Speaker 2: Oh?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, sure, I appreciate that, But no, I think I
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  Speaker 5: think for me, I, like you said, you can't take
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  Speaker 5: it for granted, like I've I've always told his stories
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  Speaker 5: like i've once I got to in twenty nineteen, we
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  Speaker 5: got there and I was like, you know, I was
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  Speaker 5: in my third year in the league, and I just
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: felt like automatically like I'm gonna be right back, like
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  Speaker 5: we're gonna we're gonna do this again. Obviously we had
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: that year after that where we did well, we went
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  Speaker 5: to the to the conference final or something like that,
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  Speaker 5: but after that, you know, it was it was rough.
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  Speaker 5: So you can never take it for granted. And and
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  Speaker 5: and for me, it's just like we have a great
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  Speaker 5: opportunity last year, like we literally will is out last year,
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: and you know when we got in the summer, we
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: talked about getting better, like you know, this is this
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  Speaker 5: is the opportunity now to get better, show that we
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  Speaker 5: took a step and and and that's that's the that's
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  Speaker 5: the mentality that we're going you know we have going
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  Speaker 5: into the.
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  Speaker 1: Next game is we have a real opportunity and we can't.
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  Speaker 1: We can't. We can't take it for granted. I can't
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  Speaker 1: stress it enough.
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  Speaker 6: I tell you, if you use the word wear down
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  Speaker 6: effect Latyers playing this team, how much did that explain tonight?
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  Speaker 6: I guess that the the trajectory, the way this game went.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, how much does the way you guys were
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  Speaker 6: able to come back, you know, erasing nineteen pointly like
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  Speaker 6: what he did?
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  Speaker 2: How much that explained?
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  Speaker 7: I wear it?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean just you know, picking up full court,
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  Speaker 4: amping up our pressure.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think we can pick a wear down
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  Speaker 2: in many ways.
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  Speaker 4: But you know, from our defensive effort and energy and
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  Speaker 4: output from everybody. You know, when our second group comes in,
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  Speaker 4: then you know, TJ. Harassing guys full court is important,
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  Speaker 4: you know, I think you know what Andrew.
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  Speaker 2: And Aaron do on the ball is amazing.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, I think me and people see what
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  Speaker 4: those guys do in our first group, and that makes us,
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  Speaker 4: you know, want to get up and pressure full court
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  Speaker 4: as well. Obviously that's a big part of the way Aunt effect.
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  Speaker 4: But I think offensively our pace. You know, it's hard
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  Speaker 4: to play at our pace, you know, for over a
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  Speaker 4: seven game series. You know, it's hard to play at
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  Speaker 4: our pace in a one game series, you know. So
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  Speaker 4: I think we're doing a great job playing our way,
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  Speaker 4: controlling what we can, and you know, I really, I
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  Speaker 4: really feel like that's important. Coach has been stressing that
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  Speaker 4: the last two years. Just you know, it's not about
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  Speaker 4: one game. How can you wear on teams for forty
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  Speaker 4: eight minutes every game, every day? And I feel like
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  Speaker 4: we we did that with our physicality, We did that
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  Speaker 4: with our pace many different ways. But I guess I'm
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  Speaker 4: just really proud of the you know, the output from
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  Speaker 4: this whole group.
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  Speaker 6: The two fouls, you guys got down by nineteen, you
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  Speaker 6: had games to spare, you had a home game Thursday
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  Speaker 6: if you needed it.
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  Speaker 2: What was it?
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  Speaker 3: I think you sort of drew on to, you know,
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  Speaker 3: make sure that tonight was the night.
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  Speaker 5: Oh, I mean, I think, like Ty said, like we
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  Speaker 5: we we always know that, you know, with with our
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  Speaker 5: physicality and where we.
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  Speaker 1: Play, we can we can always be in the game.
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  Speaker 5: And it's just a matter of time until you know,
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  Speaker 5: like our pressure and the things that we do get
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  Speaker 5: to a team so and and we've been in the
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: situation before, so we don't really like, we don't we
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  Speaker 5: don't panic. I think obviously it's not a good happy
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  Speaker 5: to have, you know, getting down, But I think for us,
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  Speaker 5: it's just I just try to get the guys to
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: continue to calm down, play our game, follow the game plan,
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  Speaker 5: and you know, once the game keeps going, like we
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: we just believe that we can we can always you know,
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: be in the game.
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: How you pick up the two early fouls, obviously gonna
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  Speaker 6: take a seat early, How does that change the rhythm?
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  Speaker 2: And what was like for you to work your way
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  Speaker 2: back into it?
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  Speaker 6: Obviously if that hit five threes in the second quarter,
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  Speaker 6: what was that like just in terms of changing your
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: rhythm and getting.
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  Speaker 2: Your back into and what gud you going?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, suspect first two fouls, but I you know, coach
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  Speaker 4: took me out. I was a little frustrated. But I'm
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  Speaker 4: a guy who you know, I don't follow a ton.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I have a really low foul.
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  Speaker 2: Rate, so it didn't really change anything for me.
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  Speaker 4: I tried to, you know, be smart when he got
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  Speaker 4: me back in there, I had like one shot going
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  Speaker 4: in this second quarter, so or maybe two, so I
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: was trying to be aggressive, shots started falling, just trying
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  Speaker 4: to play the right way and let the game come
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  Speaker 4: to me. But yeah, those first two files were definitely frustrating.
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  Speaker 4: But you know, I thought Andrew did a great job
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  Speaker 4: of keeping us afloat Androing p and and the guys,
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  Speaker 4: you know, kept us afloat there. And then when I
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  Speaker 4: got back in, just tried to be who I am,
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  Speaker 4: and you know, guys did a great job of moving
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  Speaker 4: the ball. I feel like in the first quarter we
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: were floating outside on the on the perimeter too much,
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: not getting downhill enough. We got to the penalty pretty
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  Speaker 4: early in the second quarter and then just kind of
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  Speaker 4: hooped from there. But you know, I think we just
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  Speaker 4: gotta keep stressing getting downhill. You know, we get to
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  Speaker 4: the paint, can put teams in blender, that's when we're
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: at our best. So though we did a much better
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  Speaker 4: job of that as the game went on. But yeah,
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  Speaker 4: I was trying to play the right way. Uh and uh, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: I don't know about them files though.
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  Speaker 1: You guys kind of both mentioned it.
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  Speaker 6: But the difference of going to the conference finals this year,
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  Speaker 6: the feeling you guys had versus last year, just how
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  Speaker 6: would you compare it?
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  Speaker 5: I mean, I think it feels good, but I think
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  Speaker 5: we're be like, like we we're greedy at the end
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: of the day, like we we feel like we've been
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: here before. So I don't think like last year we
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  Speaker 5: could have been like, man like, this is the first
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  Speaker 5: time in a while that we did.
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  Speaker 1: Like we're just here last year.
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  Speaker 5: So I think for us, it's just that focus got
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  Speaker 5: a shift, like we gotta be wanting more and and
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  Speaker 5: to me, that's why I'm gonna continue to appreciate the guys.
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: And you know, I can I can sometimes sound like,
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: you know, like the I'm trying to kill the party
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: kind of thing, like where it's like, you know, everybody
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  Speaker 5: want to be excited.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm just like I'm just like like, man, like
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  Speaker 1: I want more, you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 5: Like that's the that's the feeling that I have, and
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  Speaker 5: I want to continue to to to just get that
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  Speaker 5: to my teammates and make sure that we all have
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  Speaker 5: that mindset of wanting more, because, like you said, was
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: just here, we did it, you know, so now we're
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: having an opportunity to get better.
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  Speaker 7: You guys have mentioned physicality, and I think like there's
• 7:49
  Speaker 7: a narrative to this series that you guys beat up
• 7:52
  Speaker 7: the Caps and and do you feel like that was
• 7:55
  Speaker 7: kind of the key for you to be extra physical
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  Speaker 7: with them? Kind of to the wear down question? Is
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: that something you could sense when you get a couple
• 8:02
  Speaker 7: of wins here in games.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: One and two.
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  Speaker 5: Oh, I think we was just ourselves, like we're playing
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: paces basketball, and I don't think we were thinking about
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: any any of that stuff. You know, we just we're
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: just beating us good.
• 8:17
  Speaker 6: You guys are talking a lot about just how help
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: other you know, big plays make a difference that aren't
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: just shots or whatever. Miles Turner has that chased down
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: block of Donovan, who make it It seem like Donald was
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: trying to slow down to get him. There's trying to
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: draw it out, but he gets it clean and then
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  Speaker 6: Drew has the block after that.
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  Speaker 2: How big is that played? That they could have gone
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  Speaker 2: up ten on that bucket.
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  Speaker 6: How much of that would make a difference for you guys.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, unbelievable play man.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: I think, uh, we sh had so many different guys
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: make plays throughout the course of the game. But I
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: thought that play was huge because you know, we started
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: the third quarter hustle, bullshit, sorry for my leg, and.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: We started supposed to keep you in line, man, That's
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: why I'm here.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: We start third quarter rough, rough, and uh, you know, Miles,
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  Speaker 4: I thought, made a huge play right there, and Drew,
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: you know, came came down, made another big play.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: As he as he should because he turned it over.
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: But I think that right there kind of got us
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: going there in the third when we were we started
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: slow and then we just kind of rode away from there.
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: But I mean, there's so many, so many plays in
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: the stretch of the game. TV after getting blocked, thought
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: he got filed. It's a big steal, fast brick dunk,
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: you know, kind of ignites us. I thought, we's had
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: a lot of different guys chipping man, so sonal team effort,
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: and just like I said, I really proud of this group.
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: Shot out Mouse because he you know, obviously he could
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: have been frustrated.
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  Speaker 2: You know what.
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  Speaker 5: Again, maybe he didn't you know, get involved as much
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: the offense or whatever, but that's what Miles do. Man.
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: He just kept kept fighting and you know, made a
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: big place for us.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you, guys, Thanks everybody.