Latest / Gil I Am / NBA...Lakers Postgame April 9, 2025 LeBron Reddick Luka

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NBA...Lakers Postgame April 9, 2025 LeBron Reddick Luka · Gil I Am

0:00
Speaker 1: Lakers win for the first time since twenty twenty. The
0:03
Speaker 1: Lakers are in the playoffs. We will all be chilling,
0:05
Speaker 1: stress free during the play in tournament. They are one
0:08
Speaker 1: went away from securing the three seed and having home
0:11
Speaker 1: corn advantage for the first time since twenty twelve in
0:14
Speaker 1: the playoffs. But tonight is about Luka Doncic returning to
0:17
Speaker 1: Dallas for the first time, the place that he called home,
0:21
Speaker 1: the only place he thought he would ever play in
0:23
Speaker 1: the NBA, traded to the Lakers in February, an emotional return,
0:29
Speaker 1: a tearful tribute to Luca before the game, and how
0:34
Speaker 1: did he respond? With fourteen in the first quarter, seventeen
0:36
Speaker 1: in the second for thirty one and a half James.
0:38
Speaker 1: He ended up with forty five points And what a
0:41
Speaker 1: scene there at the end with the crowd channing for him,
0:44
Speaker 1: his teammates mobbing him. Pretty special night.
0:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, no place like home. And it
0:50
Speaker 2: feels like Luca went back home to Dallas where he
0:53
Speaker 2: spent seven years. And I'm kind of glad this is
0:56
Speaker 2: behind him now. I know that it was a big
0:59
Speaker 2: emotional trail. He played the game in Los Angeles against
1:03
Speaker 2: Dallas and then going home it felt like it felt
1:07
Speaker 2: like they were presenting championship rings. You know, he was
1:10
Speaker 2: poised when the game started, and boy, he carried them completely,
1:14
Speaker 2: you know, in the first half, and then came back
1:18
Speaker 2: after Dallas kind of made their comeback and then took
1:21
Speaker 2: over again and closed mount.
1:22
Speaker 1: All right, there's a Lebron James who had an incredible
1:26
Speaker 1: second half. He ended up with twenty seven points. But
1:28
Speaker 1: Rob President want to get you guys in on Luka
1:30
Speaker 1: Doncic in this return and just how he performed, especially
1:33
Speaker 1: in that first half. Rob with everything going on, it
1:37
Speaker 1: just says a lot about that young man.
1:39
Speaker 3: It says a lot about how he's able to control
1:42
Speaker 3: his emotions. You know, you saw him hitting hisself in
1:44
Speaker 3: the head, like get it out. That's the playoff game.
1:47
Speaker 3: And for me, I was really impressed how he came
1:49
Speaker 3: out and controlled the game.
1:50
Speaker 4: This one I think took the cake for the most
1:52
Speaker 4: emotional response ever. This really hit Luca hard and then
1:56
Speaker 4: he went out and drilled him by getting close to fifty.
1:58
Speaker 5: That was one an incredible performance by him.
2:01
Speaker 1: This one was so much different because he wasn't leaving
2:04
Speaker 1: in free agency after nine years. This was him being
2:07
Speaker 1: traded at the prime, and I mean just right there,
2:09
Speaker 1: the team around him, the crowd channel Luca, Luca Bombay
2:13
Speaker 1: through the whole Muhammad Adl thing, and that.
2:15
Speaker 6: Was that was that was awesome.
2:16
Speaker 1: Let's hear from JJ Redick, you speak with Mike.
2:18
Speaker 6: And the media. JJ.
2:19
Speaker 7: I know you said before the game that the message was,
2:21
Speaker 7: you know, kind of we've got your back, Luca. But
2:24
Speaker 7: how impressed were you with with how he played throughout
2:26
Speaker 7: the night and kind of what he was able to accomplish.
2:31
Speaker 6: Let me let me start by saying.
2:35
Speaker 8: The the moment with a tribute video and him sitting
2:43
Speaker 8: by himself and getting to actually live that and live
2:49
Speaker 8: in the moment and allowing himself to be vulnerable, and
2:54
Speaker 8: his teammates supporting. Some of his teammates got emotional, some
2:57
Speaker 8: of the coaches got emotional.
3:00
Speaker 6: Beautiful moment.
3:02
Speaker 8: I thought the video was great, but I think just
3:05
Speaker 8: his ability to then go perform lights turn on. You know,
3:11
Speaker 8: he's teary eyed still as we walk out on the
3:13
Speaker 8: court for the tipball. To have the emotional resolve to
3:19
Speaker 8: then go put on that kind of performance, It's it's superhuman.
3:27
Speaker 8: And I think all his teammates know that too, because
3:30
Speaker 8: I think all his teammates can empathize with what he
3:32
Speaker 8: just went through over the last couple of months, and
3:38
Speaker 8: maybe some anticipation, maybe some dread, but certainly a ton
3:43
Speaker 8: of emotions about tonight and then he went and did that.
3:48
Speaker 6: It's big time, and you know, he let us.
3:51
Speaker 8: I thought lebron in the second half, the amount of
3:56
Speaker 8: energy that he expended on the second night of a
3:57
Speaker 8: back to back on both ends.
3:59
Speaker 6: Of the court, teach tape stuff.
4:01
Speaker 8: He led our defense again, We challenged the guys at halftime,
4:05
Speaker 8: and I had a forty point second half. You know,
4:09
Speaker 8: we had a small little blip there to start the
4:11
Speaker 8: fourth quarter, but our guys certainly had Luca's back, and
4:20
Speaker 8: he had his teammates back for sure.
4:22
Speaker 7: And just to follow up on Luca, you you know,
4:24
Speaker 7: as a former teammate and then you spent years watching him,
4:27
Speaker 7: he's known to rise to big moments. I suppose it's
4:30
Speaker 7: fair to say, but to be able to do it
4:32
Speaker 7: in on top of the emotional setting is is that
4:35
Speaker 7: kind of a different level.
4:36
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I thought he was going to get fifty.
4:39
Speaker 8: You know, I was disappointed, so we let you down.
4:45
Speaker 9: Obviously, there was a lot of benefits, probably for Luca
4:49
Speaker 9: moving on from this, having this, being being able to
4:52
Speaker 9: put this behind him. But I'm curious though about what
4:54
Speaker 9: you feel like you mentioned kind of his teammates being
4:58
Speaker 9: able to live that moment with him when he came
5:00
Speaker 9: off the court. I don't know if you noticed it in
5:01
Speaker 9: the fourth the embraces he got, particularly the one he
5:05
Speaker 9: got from Lebron as he walked up the court to
5:07
Speaker 9: the fourth quarter, Like, what can this do for your group?
5:10
Speaker 9: As you guys are gonna you know, you're a couple
5:12
Speaker 9: of games away from like really getting tested in ways
5:14
Speaker 9: that you know, Teams that are put together this quickly,
5:18
Speaker 9: you know haven't always done.
5:19
Speaker 6: Very well with it can bring you together, It can
5:28
Speaker 6: bring you closer. You never know.
5:34
Speaker 8: The NBA is is a fickle thing. Greg, Greg and
5:40
Speaker 8: I were talking as that moment was happening, both kind
5:44
Speaker 8: of fighting back some emotions, and you know, Greg said
5:50
Speaker 8: to me, this is going to be awesome for our
5:53
Speaker 8: group to go through this with him and for him
5:56
Speaker 8: to go through this with them. Does that mean we're
6:02
Speaker 8: gonna win an NBA championship or get to the conference.
6:08
Speaker 8: I don't know, but it was an awesome moment for everyone.
6:14
Speaker 10: When he started rolling in the first quarter. It's the
6:17
Speaker 10: three in front of your guys bench. Tacked on a
6:20
Speaker 10: couple more threes that quarter. What was the feeling? Was
6:24
Speaker 10: there like a palpable kind of momentum? And did you
6:27
Speaker 10: feel in Luke at all an ease or any sort
6:31
Speaker 10: of comfort having gotten over the initial wave of what
6:34
Speaker 10: the thing was going to be about and then getting
6:36
Speaker 10: into the basketball.
6:37
Speaker 8: Yeah, I just I thought making some early shots, not
6:42
Speaker 8: getting off to a slow start, and then all of
6:44
Speaker 8: a sudden having depressed later. It just he got into
6:47
Speaker 8: the rhythm early, and you know, outside of that stretch
6:51
Speaker 8: in the second half where they were double teaming him,
6:54
Speaker 8: he never really lost that rhythm and just made the
6:58
Speaker 8: right decision and was able to score versus nearly every coverage.
7:08
Speaker 11: The goal was to make the playoffs out right, avoid
7:10
Speaker 11: the plan. I know you guys still have more work
7:12
Speaker 11: to do, but you guaranteed that for yourselves, your first
7:15
Speaker 11: time experiencing as a coach is how does it feel
7:18
Speaker 11: and what you guys told the group from that standpoint
7:20
Speaker 11: post game, if you're able to address.
7:22
Speaker 8: It after we did, I mean we we There's a
7:25
Speaker 8: few things that we talked about as a group, but
7:27
Speaker 8: I were totally were in Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. I
7:35
Speaker 8: think it's a It's an accomplishment, truthfully, it is. If
7:39
Speaker 8: you look at the Western Conference this year, it's an
7:41
Speaker 8: accomplishment to be in the playoffs. We want the third
7:44
Speaker 8: seed and we have two more cracks to guarantee that spot.
7:52
Speaker 8: For me as a coach, I don't know, I'm thinking
7:56
Speaker 8: about the third seed, to be honest with you, so
7:59
Speaker 8: I'll I mean, it's a cool moment to share when
8:02
Speaker 8: we found out, you know, with the staff, but uh,
8:05
Speaker 8: we want we want more.
8:08
Speaker 7: JJ after you had made that run to kind of
8:10
Speaker 7: reclaim control in the fourth quarter. That was that one
8:13
Speaker 7: crazy play. But you seem trying to stifle a some market.
8:17
Speaker 2: What did you see?
8:18
Speaker 6: I saw the Harlem globe clobe trotter was what was
8:20
Speaker 6: happening there?
8:21
Speaker 8: I have no I have no fucking ideas. I what
8:27
Speaker 8: is it a whirling dervish or something? Just we actually
8:30
Speaker 8: made some sick plays, you know. We had some crashes
8:34
Speaker 8: got it, got it, multiple multiple cracks at it. It
8:37
Speaker 8: felt like on that play, you know, you you almost
8:42
Speaker 8: want to make a h emphatic statement at the end
8:46
Speaker 8: of the play with some sort of dunk.
8:49
Speaker 6: Or three or behind the back pass and he got
8:51
Speaker 6: out of control.
8:52
Speaker 1: He got out of controls Lebron score thirteen is twenty
8:57
Speaker 1: seven points. In the fourth, Let's go inside the Laker
8:58
Speaker 1: locker Musa.
8:59
Speaker 12: Alley Roan, can you just take us back to the moment,
9:03
Speaker 12: obviously from the very beginning and just the emotions from
9:05
Speaker 12: the tribute video with Luca all the way to the end.
9:08
Speaker 13: Super dope, super happy to be a part of that
9:11
Speaker 13: that moment. Obviously, he saw the emotions on Luca's face.
9:17
Speaker 13: You know, it was just it was great. That was
9:20
Speaker 13: an unbelievable moment. Something I probably will never forget to
9:24
Speaker 13: be a part of that moment. And you know, the
9:26
Speaker 13: kid had a seven amazing seasons here. I mean he
9:31
Speaker 13: was from a kid to you know, a man, and
9:35
Speaker 13: you know for all those moments, just you know, it's
9:38
Speaker 13: all coming together today and just you know, it's pretty cool.
9:42
Speaker 12: I just saw him tells Assaults that after you watched
9:45
Speaker 12: the tribute video, he thought to himself, there's no way
9:46
Speaker 12: I could play this game. From that emotion to delivering
9:49
Speaker 12: the performance he did.
9:51
Speaker 6: He did that. He did that.
9:53
Speaker 13: You called out a hot of body experience then because
9:57
Speaker 13: he was locked in from starting to finish, you.
10:02
Speaker 14: Get to play with this guy. Uh, the playoffs starting
10:05
Speaker 14: in a week or so. What does having Luca Doctors
10:10
Speaker 14: on the team me and for the Lakers possibilities this posed?
10:16
Speaker 14: I mean he's battle tested, He's been in big moments.
10:20
Speaker 14: He's played in big moments throughout his whole career, literally
10:25
Speaker 14: lesson a year removed from the NBA Finals, So he
10:28
Speaker 14: knows what to expect and that's great to have, you
10:31
Speaker 14: know that going into the postseason when you have guys
10:34
Speaker 14: that's been battle tested and.
10:36
Speaker 13: Uh, he's special with it, So that's always a good feeling.
10:40
Speaker 10: Was this like a battle tested moment for the entire
10:42
Speaker 10: group though?
10:43
Speaker 6: To come in here win it? Have him feel that support?
10:48
Speaker 10: Uh, you guys were all chanting Luca, Luca on the
10:50
Speaker 10: bench when you checked.
10:51
Speaker 6: Out, for sure.
10:51
Speaker 13: I mean that's that was our only concern. That's for
10:54
Speaker 13: us to support him, you know, and be there for
10:56
Speaker 13: him in whatever fashion or whatever whatever way we could
11:00
Speaker 13: throughout the whole entire game. So that that was our
11:03
Speaker 13: only model, motto, only motive, our only thought process, everything
11:09
Speaker 13: was to make sure that we was there.
11:10
Speaker 6: For him in any way, shape or for him.
11:12
Speaker 11: From a team perspective. You guys did clincher playoffs spot
11:14
Speaker 11: with Times Victor. It's been a while since you guys
11:16
Speaker 11: got to the postseason without the playing tournament. How important
11:19
Speaker 11: is that for discer specifically, especially which all you guys
11:22
Speaker 11: have been there this season physically, you know.
11:25
Speaker 13: It's very important you get that week off, you know,
11:29
Speaker 13: being a part of the playing I think the last
11:31
Speaker 13: couple of years is just you know, anything can happen.
11:34
Speaker 13: So for us to know that we top six, I
11:36
Speaker 13: mean it, you know in the format that it is
11:39
Speaker 13: right now. Anytime you get some rest, that's.
11:42
Speaker 6: Sweet for myself.
11:44
Speaker 13: Anytime I can get a week off from not playing ball,
11:47
Speaker 13: I take it. I take it.
11:50
Speaker 7: And Luke of course would overshadow everything.
11:53
Speaker 14: This was your first game against a d who is
11:55
Speaker 14: a teammate of yours for a long time.
11:57
Speaker 13: What was that like for you to go against him?
12:01
Speaker 6: Different?
12:02
Speaker 13: You know, obviously we had our own emotions built into it,
12:06
Speaker 13: you know, so it was just different. I think that's
12:08
Speaker 13: the first time we played together since nineteen I believe,
12:11
Speaker 13: you know, when he was in New Orleans my second year,
12:14
Speaker 13: first year, second year, Well, I don't know what I've
12:17
Speaker 13: been here for a minute now, but just different man.
12:20
Speaker 13: And you know it's definitely I ain't got comfortable yet
12:26
Speaker 13: with him being on the other side. You know, for sure, we've.
12:29
Speaker 6: Walked by the locker room. We heard a lot of celebration.
12:32
Speaker 15: What was the celebration like when Luca came back in
12:34
Speaker 15: the locker room after this performance.
12:35
Speaker 13: Tonight, Like I just said, we've been here for him
12:40
Speaker 13: in whatever shape, any capacity we could be tonight. And
12:44
Speaker 13: it started from the moment we all walked into this
12:47
Speaker 13: arena tonight to the moment he walked into the locker room.
12:51
Speaker 13: So we're just happy to be a part of his,
12:53
Speaker 13: you know, his journey.
12:54
Speaker 12: What was the moment with you, Luca and I believe
12:57
Speaker 12: Austin on his putback done.
13:00
Speaker 6: Back, that was crazy. That was crazy, for sure. We
13:04
Speaker 6: loved that.
13:05
Speaker 7: We love that in a crazy place. Can you take
13:08
Speaker 7: us through the Harlem globe trotter whatever that was?
13:11
Speaker 13: I don't know.
13:12
Speaker 6: I have no idea what the hell that was.
13:15
Speaker 13: I would have started with a behind the back pass
13:17
Speaker 13: to Ruie that was out out and really saved it
13:21
Speaker 13: to me.
13:22
Speaker 6: And I tried to throw the ar and they are
13:25
Speaker 6: took a three. I tried to I saw the shot.
13:27
Speaker 13: Clock going down, so I was hoping I could just
13:28
Speaker 13: flip it up and hit the rim and air ball
13:30
Speaker 13: and thank thank goodness the game. Get me out of
13:33
Speaker 13: the game, doing too much, Get me out of the game.
13:35
Speaker 6: At picture, A little big picture.
13:38
Speaker 16: You have an extensive relationship with ad his first Olympics,
13:43
Speaker 16: you playing, He's playing with pretty much all future Hall
13:45
Speaker 16: of Famers. What do you think that moment did for
13:47
Speaker 16: him and that experience did for him?
13:50
Speaker 13: I mean, I mean, I think it just set the
13:52
Speaker 13: tone for his career, you know, to be around all
13:55
Speaker 13: of us in twelve and for him to have that
13:58
Speaker 13: moment fresh out from Player of the Year in the
14:01
Speaker 13: college national champion doing what he did, and then be
14:03
Speaker 13: able to practice with us every day, ride the buses,
14:06
Speaker 13: ride the planes with us every day, you know, when
14:08
Speaker 13: we're blowing teams out. He got in, got his moments
14:10
Speaker 13: in the game. I think it's just I think it
14:13
Speaker 13: was the perfect like send off into his career. While
14:16
Speaker 13: he is who he is today, part of it, you know,
14:18
Speaker 13: I think he learned so much from all of us,
14:20
Speaker 13: and I mean that's why he's top seventy five all
14:24
Speaker 13: time and Hall of Famer champion. Men accolades is out
14:30
Speaker 13: of his world. So he's a special talent and a
14:33
Speaker 13: better person.
14:34
Speaker 6: Appreciate it.
14:39
Speaker 7: Luca, how did you go from the emotions of the
14:42
Speaker 7: video and the fans and the reception and everything to then,
14:45
Speaker 7: you know, playing the way that you play?
14:50
Speaker 6: Good question?
14:52
Speaker 17: I don't we know, Like I said post game interview,
14:54
Speaker 17: you know, after that Vida, like I was like, there's
14:57
Speaker 17: no way I'm playing this game. You know, it was
15:00
Speaker 17: so many emotions and you know, I just went out
15:03
Speaker 17: there and just played basketball.
15:06
Speaker 10: When you checked out or there's a time out, I
15:08
Speaker 10: guess before you checked out, you had forty five points.
15:11
Speaker 6: Come to the bench.
15:12
Speaker 10: Some of the fans in the arena or chanting Luca
15:15
Speaker 10: and your Laker teammates are jumping up and down and
15:17
Speaker 10: chanting it too. What was that moment like for you?
15:19
Speaker 10: And how do you think this?
15:21
Speaker 18: Uh?
15:23
Speaker 10: Was an eventful day for the Lakers as a team
15:25
Speaker 10: and you being a part.
15:26
Speaker 17: Of them big time because they all had my back
15:30
Speaker 17: and what we talked about before the game, and everybody
15:32
Speaker 17: had my back from coaches to players and you know,
15:36
Speaker 17: we're trying to build something special here and that was
15:39
Speaker 17: really really really nice to see.
15:42
Speaker 11: I know we talked about this last night a little bit.
15:44
Speaker 11: You said it was gonna be an emotional night, but
15:45
Speaker 11: you weren't fully sure what to expect. I guess when
15:49
Speaker 11: you woke up this morning, even got to the arena,
15:51
Speaker 11: more so, even pregame like what were you feeling? As
15:54
Speaker 11: you know, you walked through this arena for the first
15:56
Speaker 11: time in a while, as you you know, you see
15:58
Speaker 11: these faces like what were what were you feeling? And
16:00
Speaker 11: those specifically, well, it was.
16:03
Speaker 17: A little bit of both, you know, happy and angry,
16:06
Speaker 17: but you know it's nice to see, uh, some familiar
16:10
Speaker 17: phraces here. You know, I spent a lot of times
16:12
Speaker 17: with them. Uh, But like you said, you know, it
16:15
Speaker 17: was a lot of emotions. When I woke up, I
16:18
Speaker 17: was tired, and you know, I didn't sleep much. I
16:21
Speaker 17: was excited about this game, and you know, I really
16:24
Speaker 17: appreciate the fans the way they reacted to me.
16:27
Speaker 9: Luca, what was the exhale like after the exhale, was
16:32
Speaker 9: there a sigh of relief for exhaustion from you? After
16:35
Speaker 9: after tonight to.
16:36
Speaker 17: Be able to put this, I'm tired. I'm tired, but
16:41
Speaker 17: you know I'm happy. I'm happy it's over. I can
16:44
Speaker 17: get some sip finally, but like I said, it was
16:48
Speaker 17: an amazing experience, you know, Like I said, the fans,
16:51
Speaker 17: the way they accepted me, you know, cheer for me.
16:54
Speaker 19: Uh, it was just some unbelievable Luka.
16:58
Speaker 15: You had that moment after you out where you got
17:01
Speaker 15: a standing ovation from the crowd, you got a standing
17:03
Speaker 15: ovation from the bench, and then you sat down and
17:06
Speaker 15: you were surrounded but by everyone standing. What was going
17:09
Speaker 15: through your head there when you kind of sat by
17:10
Speaker 15: yourself for like thirty seconds.
17:14
Speaker 17: Honestly, I don't really know. I wasn't even thinking. I
17:17
Speaker 17: was just I was just, you know, happy, I wasn't
17:23
Speaker 17: really thinking yet. I'm sorry, I don't know what to
17:25
Speaker 17: say because I wasn't really thinking. I was just saying,
17:27
Speaker 17: there it's over. You know, we won, and I hadn't
17:32
Speaker 17: had a great time.
17:34
Speaker 7: Look, Da've alluded to this a little bit, but not
17:36
Speaker 7: just tonight's win, but you know, beating okay, see in
17:39
Speaker 7: the way that you did hanging in in the second game.
17:41
Speaker 7: What kind of collective confidence does this give you, guys?
17:44
Speaker 7: As you know you still need one to secure the
17:46
Speaker 7: three seed. But what confidence doesn't give you as you
17:48
Speaker 7: approached the playoffs?
17:49
Speaker 17: I mean, first of all, it was a big time
17:50
Speaker 17: that we uh the week clinched playoff spot.
17:55
Speaker 19: You know, it's a big time.
17:56
Speaker 17: You don't want to play in playing you know, you
17:59
Speaker 17: get some rest, but obviously we want the third seat
18:02
Speaker 17: and we're gonna go after it for sure. Luca, if
18:05
Speaker 17: you can explain in Spanish and pers and espanel video
18:13
Speaker 17: one este partido.
18:22
Speaker 19: One which.
18:24
Speaker 17: Grog widow momentous in a Minaki the few uh he
18:38
Speaker 17: one and actually wan from ron partido simple yea at
18:45
Speaker 17: the land tape of.
18:47
Speaker 9: Like You, Lucas, specifically during that pregame video, what were
18:55
Speaker 9: some of the moments that found you made you most emotions.
19:00
Speaker 9: Was there anything in particular that really stuck out to
19:02
Speaker 9: you as you kind of looked back as a sort
19:05
Speaker 9: of you know, your basketball career in America kind of
19:07
Speaker 9: compressed into two minutes.
19:09
Speaker 17: Well, I mean all of it, for sure, but I
19:12
Speaker 17: mean I would probably say that the shot in the
19:15
Speaker 17: finals of the conference on the conference finals, you know,
19:19
Speaker 17: we were always the underdog.
19:22
Speaker 19: You're very serious.
19:23
Speaker 17: So the way we came together and played together, it
19:28
Speaker 17: was just another level and everybody, everybody was locked in.
19:32
Speaker 19: And I would say that that was the moment when
19:36
Speaker 19: I remember last year.
19:38
Speaker 16: Look that there was a lot of moments there with
19:39
Speaker 16: your former teammates. You had exchanges, you had embraces. What
19:44
Speaker 16: was that like for you personally? Just giving everything you
19:46
Speaker 16: just mentioned you've been through with them and then I
19:49
Speaker 16: saw you had a moment there with a D at
19:50
Speaker 16: the end, and what can you share about that conversation?
19:53
Speaker 6: Yeah?
19:53
Speaker 17: I mean those are that I say. You know, it
19:56
Speaker 17: was my brothers. I know we're not on the same
19:59
Speaker 17: team now, but I always have contact with them. We
20:01
Speaker 17: went through wars together and you know, it was just
20:04
Speaker 17: like it was nice to see everybody. Uh in the end,
20:08
Speaker 17: you know with d d Uh, we got traded with
20:10
Speaker 17: each other. So from now and everybody gonna compare us
20:13
Speaker 17: to uh. But I think he's an amazing player and
20:16
Speaker 17: I think he's gonna do really good in dollars.
20:20
Speaker 18: Yeah, look at you know, you spoke back in February
20:26
Speaker 18: about how it would take time for closure when you
20:29
Speaker 18: said after this game on the broadcast, it's.
20:31
Speaker 11: Time to move on.
20:32
Speaker 2: You feel like you have closure?
20:37
Speaker 6: It's a hard question.
20:39
Speaker 19: I mean it for sure, it's a little bit more.
20:42
Speaker 17: Uh, you know, talking about closure, Uh sometimes hard because
20:46
Speaker 17: like I said, I spend a lot of time here,
20:48
Speaker 17: great moments. Uh, but it's like I said, it's getting
20:52
Speaker 17: more and more and I gotta focus on different things though.
20:55
Speaker 6: That's one Rather an ex get strips her.
21:00
Speaker 16: Okay, give.
21:09
Speaker 6: You get the stand and.
21:14
Speaker 18: The middle.
21:21
Speaker 6: And stepped out.
21:23
Speaker 19: Here.
21:24
Speaker 6: Okay.
21:25
Speaker 19: You know, uh, he's similar, Thanks, thank you, thanks.
21:38
Speaker 6: That's wrong. When look gets going like that, how different
21:42
Speaker 6: it is to show him down.
21:45
Speaker 20: Very difficult, and he got it going.
21:48
Speaker 4: You know.
21:48
Speaker 20: He made the layups, he made the threes, and so
21:53
Speaker 20: whenever he gets going like that, it's it's tough. You
21:56
Speaker 20: try to take the others away.
21:57
Speaker 6: But he was really good tonight.
21:59
Speaker 4: What what did you think of the emotions of the
22:01
Speaker 4: night you especially starting off with the tribute video. I'm
22:05
Speaker 4: sure you look down there and see Luca crying. You
22:08
Speaker 4: see the here the fans, uh, you know, would.
22:12
Speaker 20: You think, I'm just it was incredible. It was the
22:18
Speaker 20: the fans were great, The tribute was great. Luca's performance
22:23
Speaker 20: was great.
22:24
Speaker 6: It was great.
22:24
Speaker 20: You know, that's who lucas. That's how I've said that
22:27
Speaker 20: as when he was with the MAVs. He's one of
22:30
Speaker 20: the best players in the world, and he displayed that
22:33
Speaker 20: again tonight.
22:34
Speaker 4: Is this kind of performance make you regret the organization's
22:39
Speaker 4: decision to give them up.
22:42
Speaker 20: No, I have a job to do, and that's to
22:44
Speaker 20: coach the players that are in that locker room. We've
22:46
Speaker 20: gone through the groceries, right, So the guys in that
22:51
Speaker 20: locker room I got put them in a better position
22:53
Speaker 20: to win, and I just didn't do that tonight. We're
22:56
Speaker 20: getting healthy, we're getting off a minute restraint, and so
23:02
Speaker 20: we have two games left to get things going in
23:04
Speaker 20: the right direction before we play Sacramento. And so that's
23:08
Speaker 20: all we're worried about. Understanding all the emotions and all
23:12
Speaker 20: the attention on this game. This game is over. There's
23:14
Speaker 20: nothing we can do. He's not coming back as a math,
23:19
Speaker 20: he's with the Lakers, and so we have to move forward.
23:21
Speaker 20: That's what we've done.
23:23
Speaker 19: How does how does the fan base just just move
23:26
Speaker 19: forward after this?
23:29
Speaker 20: You would have to ask them. I mean, that's you know,
23:32
Speaker 20: I'm not the one cheering or booing, and so I
23:36
Speaker 20: think time.
23:39
Speaker 6: And winning.
23:40
Speaker 20: I think that's what it comes down to. And the
23:42
Speaker 20: MAVs are used to winning. I'm here of late and
23:47
Speaker 20: this isn't a dig at anybody, but we've only won
23:52
Speaker 20: one championship as a Maverick, and so I understand that
23:56
Speaker 20: that's the next goal, is to win number two and
23:58
Speaker 20: uh and with the guys in that locker room, and
24:00
Speaker 20: so that's what we have to do.
24:02
Speaker 6: We gotta keep working and get ready for the next game. Yeah,
24:07
Speaker 6: I've had to leave there early in the fourth quarter.
24:10
Speaker 6: Then Lebron kind of took over a little bit. What
24:12
Speaker 6: did he do to turn to take it in there? Yeah,
24:13
Speaker 6: he did the same thing in La.
24:16
Speaker 20: We thought we were back in the game, and I said,
24:19
Speaker 20: we took the lead, and then all of a sudden
24:20
Speaker 20: he appears. And so when you focus so much on Luca,
24:24
Speaker 20: he took advantage of it, and he knows how to
24:26
Speaker 20: do that, and he's played this game for a couple
24:29
Speaker 20: of years and so he understands when to go, and
24:32
Speaker 20: he went at the right time, and there was nothing
24:34
Speaker 20: that we could do.
24:35
Speaker 4: You've obviously been on both sides of Luca being in
24:39
Speaker 4: that sort of a groove.
24:39
Speaker 6: Now, how do you kind of decide how much you
24:43
Speaker 6: want to commit to getting the ball.
24:45
Speaker 4: Out of his hands, you know, versus risking him gold
24:50
Speaker 4: for twenty eight or thirty I guess thirty one and
24:52
Speaker 4: a half.
24:53
Speaker 20: Yeah, I think there's two ways to look at it.
24:57
Speaker 20: We're in the game and he was going off like,
25:00
Speaker 20: we're right there actually doing just brought it up. We
25:03
Speaker 20: took the lead with the great performance. So it's a
25:07
Speaker 20: team game, you know, just understand, like we can always
25:10
Speaker 20: we're always look at the stars and point them out,
25:12
Speaker 20: but we put ourselves at home against a hot team
25:16
Speaker 20: and we just couldn't execute offensively, and then we couldn't
25:19
Speaker 20: get stops on the other end. And that's just something
25:21
Speaker 20: that we have to go back and we'll look at
25:23
Speaker 20: as we get healthy and guys start to play more
25:26
Speaker 20: minutes and get used to each other. We're not that
25:29
Speaker 20: far off with all the injuries and everything that we've
25:32
Speaker 20: been through. We gave a very good team a fight
25:35
Speaker 20: and just came up short on it tonight.
25:37
Speaker 21: Compared to the idea you had maybe coming in atmosphere
25:41
Speaker 21: wise versus pregame into the first tip out of that,
25:45
Speaker 21: compared to me where you thought it would be.
25:47
Speaker 18: In your head?
25:48
Speaker 6: Oh what did I think?
25:49
Speaker 20: I knew it was gonna be an emotional night, But
25:52
Speaker 20: when you try to take the emotion out and just
25:54
Speaker 20: focus on the game, and that's what again I thought
25:58
Speaker 20: the group in that locker did a really good job,
26:01
Speaker 20: you know, of being down at half. We're in the ballgame,
26:06
Speaker 20: we take the lead, and we just got to clean
26:08
Speaker 20: up a couple of things on the offense and defensive end.
26:11
Speaker 20: And maybe it's a different story, but it's a great
26:13
Speaker 20: lesson learned for a group that's new that's going into
26:16
Speaker 20: a play in situation to be able to go through
26:19
Speaker 20: and understand what it takes to win.
26:23
Speaker 6: Thanks, can you.
26:25
Speaker 7: Take us through kind of the emotions of watching Luca
26:28
Speaker 7: watch the video and all of that that's going on
26:30
Speaker 7: the court and kind of what you guys were trying
26:32
Speaker 7: to get across for him and to kind of get
26:35
Speaker 7: as back as you guys. The opening tip came.
26:38
Speaker 5: To be honest with you, I didn't want to look
26:39
Speaker 5: at him because I knew he was going to be
26:41
Speaker 5: emotional as anybody was.
26:42
Speaker 6: I was watching the video at the basically on.
26:46
Speaker 5: The sideline over by Braun, and I was getting, you know,
26:51
Speaker 5: goosebumps emotional, and I knew if I looked at him
26:55
Speaker 5: it would be more. So I kind of just kept
26:57
Speaker 5: my eyes up and I think everybody had the same reaction.
27:00
Speaker 5: But for him to go out and have a performance
27:03
Speaker 5: like that, you know, you can tell with you know,
27:06
Speaker 5: how the stadium reacted, how much he meant to you know,
27:09
Speaker 5: this community, to this team, and I'm just happy he's
27:13
Speaker 5: on our team now.
27:15
Speaker 7: So what does it say kind of in the time
27:17
Speaker 7: that you've gotten to know him, now that he's able
27:18
Speaker 7: to go through that, the emotions of it and then
27:20
Speaker 7: go out and you know, Jada described it as a
27:22
Speaker 7: killer like drop forty five, And I'm kind of what
27:24
Speaker 7: kind of confidence does that give you guys moving forward?
27:27
Speaker 5: Oh, we know we got somebody that can go win
27:29
Speaker 5: us a game on any day.
27:31
Speaker 6: Like jj said, he's a killer.
27:33
Speaker 5: Like I expected this from him tonight, to be honest
27:35
Speaker 5: with you, you know, that's just who he's been since
27:42
Speaker 5: he's been in the league. Anytime he gets challenged, he
27:45
Speaker 5: responds in a positive way and just continues to get better.
27:49
Speaker 5: And it's you know, it's really just a beautiful thing
27:52
Speaker 5: to see if you enjoy basketball, to see somebody dominate
27:56
Speaker 5: the game like he does offensively, is is is Really
28:02
Speaker 5: it's a beautiful thing.
28:03
Speaker 6: You guys clinched the playoff birth tonight, no planing tournament
28:06
Speaker 6: this year. You could still get third, uh with another win.
28:10
Speaker 21: Knowing that you have that and Luca donc on your team, Like,
28:16
Speaker 21: what's kind of overall team confidence level adding into the
28:20
Speaker 21: postseason right now?
28:21
Speaker 6: Hi?
28:21
Speaker 4: Very high.
28:22
Speaker 5: Uh, we really believe and what we got here, uh,
28:27
Speaker 5: you know, with the way we win and performed the
28:29
Speaker 5: first game, uh against you know, the best team in
28:32
Speaker 5: the NBA, you know, just shows what we can do.
28:36
Speaker 5: And then even even that second game, it's just you know,
28:40
Speaker 5: a back and forth game, a really good game, uh
28:43
Speaker 5: until the Luca ejection and it kind of just you know,
28:45
Speaker 5: took the air out of us, and uh, we didn't
28:47
Speaker 5: respond in the right way. But you know, with the
28:49
Speaker 5: talent that we have, we obviously have two guys uh
28:53
Speaker 5: and Bron and Luca that you know can dominate the
28:55
Speaker 5: game in so many ways. So uh, you know, if
28:59
Speaker 5: I was a coach, you know, it would would be
29:02
Speaker 5: very tough to you know prepare for them too.
29:03
Speaker 3: And then with the.
29:04
Speaker 5: Sporting cast that we have, uh, you know, we got
29:07
Speaker 5: guys that you know, do the dirty.
29:08
Speaker 6: Work, shoot the ball extremely well.
29:10
Speaker 1: And then.
29:12
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's just we've gotta we've got a good overall team.
29:15
Speaker 7: Was it a hard thing for you to do to
29:17
Speaker 7: take so much spotlight from Luca and your put back done.
29:20
Speaker 5: I was just surprised myself, to be honest with you,
29:23
Speaker 5: I think if you were watching, anybody can tell with
29:26
Speaker 5: my reaction. His reaction to Braun's reaction was about as
29:30
Speaker 5: as as clear as mine as Uh the shock was.
29:34
Speaker 5: But Uh stole the moment for a second, and then
29:38
Speaker 5: he dominated the game