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Auburn F Sebastian Williams-Adams - Texas A&M Preview · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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  when you look at your guys on defense,
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  you guys on defense, just what do you
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  think is kind of the biggest area y'all
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  need to improve right now?
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  >> Um, definitely being in the gaps um you
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  know, within teams, especially teams
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  that can drive, see a lot of space and
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  you see kind of a open floor. I mean,
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  anybody who can play college basketball
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  can drive it um either hand. So I think
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  at times we were a too flat and nine our
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  gaps. Um so that gave them the
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  confidence to drive which you know you
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  get a couple easy makes than the hard
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  shots going in. Um and then two we
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  opened up way too much. Like if we they
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  were right-handed we would shade that
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  right hand so much that we basically
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  opened up the left gate. Like I said
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  we're all D1 basketball players now.
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  We're in SEC play all high major. you're
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  you're going to be able people are going
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  to be able to drive with their off
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  hands. I mean, even if they're not the
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  best at it, they will still will be able
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  to drive with it. So, I think that's um
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  the step we obviously need to take
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  forward um to just kind of growing what
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  our defensive uh presence needs to be.
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  >> Sebastian, uh Stephen mentioned that um
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  Phil Jovic played the best defensively
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  against Georgia. What was that to say
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  about his hustle, his work ethic, how
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  much he's improved just over the last
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  couple months?
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  >> No, I mean Philip has obviously improved
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  a ton. Um, you know, I love getting to
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  see that in person. Um, just dayto day.
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  Um, Philillip I mean there was some I
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  watched the game back with Bird and you
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  know there are just some clips where you
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  see Phil get switched onto a guard and
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  he just absolutely sits down and he's
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  just a monster defensively. And you
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  know, at times, you know, I felt that in
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  practice, you know, when back in the
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  summer when we would play one-on-one
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  against each other, you would kind of
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  feel like, okay, like like it's not as
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  easy to score. Um, but, you know, he's
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  now finding his rhythms, finding his
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  way, and you know, I you know, I love
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  Philip, so you know, uh, it's it's
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  really it's it's happy for me to see
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  just because I know that's something
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  he's been, um, beating himself up for
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  for a while at times.
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  obviously very unique in how they play.
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  What do you see in them? Just the way
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  they press and you know the way they
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  they operate on defense.
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  >> Um no. So as somebody who was recruited
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  from&m for all four years of high school
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  is definitely very different than&m I
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  knew. Um but you know they're going to
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  get after you. Um I still say they
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  they're going to play hard. Um you know
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  they press after misses, they press
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  after makes. Uh just going to be kind of
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  one of those things where you know we're
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  going to have to take care of the ball
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  obviously. uh not get sped up, but um
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  you know,
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  if they decide to press us, we're just
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  going have to show fours and the ones
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  are going to show we can handle the
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  ball. We can handle that pressure and go
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  out and attack like we can do and what
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  we have done when we face presses in the
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  past.
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  >> You guys, you know, up front, this might
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  not be as big court, but you guys are
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  number 13 in the country in offensive
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  rebounding. You're getting better on the
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  defensive glass. What's that kind of
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  said about y'all and just the effort
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  y'all put on the glass every night.
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  >> No, I mean it definitely it I mean
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  offensively, you know, when we crash, we
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  all crash. We see as a scoring
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  opportunity. Um, you know, we Philip,
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  me, Key, Murf, um, even Elijah when he
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  gets in sometimes at the four, we all
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  use as a scoring opportunity. Um, and
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  then defensively, you know, it's kind of
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  just limiting them to one shots because
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  we know
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  um obviously our guards worked really
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  hard to get them to shoot maybe a
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  terrible shot or you know they're
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  contesting. So, and let's say we haven't
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  really been involved in ball screens or
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  something like that, the least we can do
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  is get the rebound in that possession.
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  Um, so it's just kind of one of those
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  things, you know, playing for each
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  other. Um,
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  and you know, just kind of trying to uh
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  build up our build up um our defense
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  from our rebounding. And you know, when
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  we get rebounds, we get to go out and do
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  what we like to do, which is play in
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  transition. So for us, that's even more
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  fun.
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  >> Like the third straight game, y'all are
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  going to play against a team that's
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  going to play fast, run a lot of guards
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  out. For you as a big man, you know, I
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  know you have to switch out a lot or go
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  out on the perimeter. was the key to
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  defending teams like this, especially
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  for some of the bigger guys out there.
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  >> Uh for I mean for some of our bigger
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  guys, um you know, really staying
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  disciplined. Um in terms of, you know,
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  the moves that they make, um you know, a
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  lot of cars, they're do a lot of head
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  fakes, a lot of pump face, a lot of
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  jabs, just kind of get us moving one way
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  or the other. But, you know, if we stay
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  down, use our length, you know, it's
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  it's really hard to um go go against it.
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  like they're, you know, we may not be as
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  fast as them or as quick as them, but I
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  mean, they aren't as tall as us. So, if
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  they have to take a longer route to get
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  to the basket, a that allows time for
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  help side to get over if necessary. And
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  B, you know, that gives us because
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  they're while they're going around in a
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  curved line, we go in a straight line,
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  we can still meet that at the rim and
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  still have a little bit of protection.
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  Sebastian Steven was saying that he was
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  looking forward to this game
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  specifically for you because he gets the
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  ball be in your hands a lot beating the
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  press. What's your mindset when when
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  you're doing that?
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  >> Um I mean first off to be decisive. Um
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  you know indecisiveness when teams press
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  you will kill you.
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  >> Um and that's just um point play period.
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  Um but you know just to go out there and
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  just kind of be aggressive. Um you know
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  I obviously offensively didn't have my
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  best game against Georgia. Um, so kind
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  of bouncing back and playing like the
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  player I know I am. Um, just is kind of
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  that's kind of what I'm looking forward
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  to with this game. Um, you know, not
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  only just create for myself, for my
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  teammates as well. So, yeah.
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  >> You played 42 minutes in your first SEC
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  game. How would you kind of looking back
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  at your game as a whole? you were
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  talking about just a second ago about
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  needing to, you know, want to do more on
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  offense, but just, you know, going
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  through that grind like that, you know,
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  kind of how would you kind of assess how
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  you did?
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  >> Um, well, 42 minutes obviously, you
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  know, that was a bit of a surprise that
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  everyone else had played that much in
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  the game. Uh, I know my jersey felt like
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  it, but you know, I'm used to sweating a
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  ton. So, um, but just going through it,
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  um, you know, just keeping the main
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  thing the main thing, um, you know, I
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  know,
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  uh, defensively I still got to be solid.
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  I still can't have any lapses. Um, you
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  know, I think, um, just kind of trying
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  to persevere, persevere through the
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  fatigue at times just because, you know,
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  it is really easy to, oh well, you know,
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  I'm a freshman. and I'm in my 40th
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  minute like know I probably could have
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  gotten a sub like for a second like but
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  no like the team needs you the team like
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  like every guy on the court matters and
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  is on there for a reason so you need to
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  you know mentally stay sharp uh you know
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  kind of be there especially like on late
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  in the game where we didn't really have
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  a point guard and we were running plays
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  I'm trying to like help with Ke knowing
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  where he needs to go KO needs to go
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  where Elijah needs to go just because
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  we're kind of make that I mean that's
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  not a lineup we typically run at
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  practice um or ever run in practice. So
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  you know just kind of um out living in
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  that situation um
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  just yeah I'll say just kind of just
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  trying to stay focused and you know
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  focus on getting the win obviously which
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  we didn't get but you know that was I
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  mean it was a definitely
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  experience that I won't ever forget.
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  All
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  right.