Latest / Bleacher Report / Kyrie Irving Talks Game 7 Experience, His Iconic Finals Shot & Cooper Flagg _ NBA GameTime

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Kyrie Irving Talks Game 7 Experience, His Iconic Finals Shot & Cooper Flagg _ NBA GameTime · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And I know Kyrie coming. That's my man. Let me
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: in right now, Kyrie, wait, you at brother, We've been
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: waiting on you. We've been waiting on you, my man.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I just want to get back now before you even
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: get started. That dude, I love I love that dude absolutely.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Kyrie. You know, thanks for.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: Taking the time to come hang out with us here
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Game seven of the NBA Finals. And look, it's it's
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: always a celebration time for you.
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  Speaker 2: Nine years ago hit one of the.
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  Speaker 3: Greatest shots in NBA three my friends, one of alady.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit here and say these shots, these shots.
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  Speaker 3: When you hear that, you feel that reverence, man reminiscent
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  Speaker 3: about it. What is that feeling like for you every
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  Speaker 3: time we get to this time of year?
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  Speaker 2: Oh man? Well, first off, it's an honor to be here.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks for having me, guys be part of this, this
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  Speaker 4: great conversation.
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  Speaker 2: It's nothing like being at the pinnacle of basketball world
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: right now, especially the NBA.
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  Speaker 4: I mean playing into the last literally the last day
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  Speaker 4: of the season, something you kind of dream of as
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  Speaker 4: a kid.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I prayed that all your families doing well too, U man.
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  Speaker 4: For me, I'm excited just to see you know, a
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  Speaker 4: new new champion parade, you know, sort of say I'm
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  Speaker 4: ready to see this new blood, this new new generation,
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  Speaker 4: kind of get to it.
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  Speaker 2: They're part of history now.
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  Speaker 4: You know. We haven't had a Game seven since twenty sixteen.
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  Speaker 4: That's an incredible feat. I still remember Game seven like
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  Speaker 4: it was yesterday. A lot of the guys from the
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  Speaker 4: twenty sixteen team remember that as well. I mean, we
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: etched our names forever, and one of the hardest, you know,
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  Speaker 4: toughest sports championships. You know, we beat each other up
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  Speaker 4: all season, and we get to the playoffs, we rough
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  Speaker 4: each other up even more so. And then you're battling
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  Speaker 4: your brothers, you're battling your peers, You're trying to find
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  Speaker 4: little weaknesses to take advantage of. But I feel like
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  Speaker 4: all that kind of goes out the window once Game
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  Speaker 4: seven hits and it's about the best, you know, the best.
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  Speaker 2: Last man standing.
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  Speaker 4: So I'm excited for these young guns to get to
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  Speaker 4: it and some of the veterans that are playing this.
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  Speaker 1: Kyrie, obviously, your preparation was the lead throughout the whole playoffs.
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  Speaker 2: Tell people is different.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, look, we kept you, we kept you right,
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  Speaker 5: you know, I throw you a couple of passes.
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  Speaker 2: But what was different about that day? To you? Right?
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  Speaker 2: What was different about that time? Did it feel different?
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  Speaker 2: Was the air a little bit hotter? Were you more focused? Like?
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  Speaker 2: What was what was your mindset?
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  Speaker 5: Especially on that long old bus ride from San Francisco?
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  Speaker 2: You olan right.
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  Speaker 4: From Oracle right, so yeah, Hotel downtown and Sant fran
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  Speaker 4: I mean, Ken, I think you can speak to this too, man.
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  Speaker 4: I believe our walk crews were amazing. We had great
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  Speaker 4: preparation meetings. We all knew each other's games really well.
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  Speaker 4: You know, us as teammates, we did everything we could
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  Speaker 4: have put ourselves in a great position to take it
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  Speaker 4: over the lines, take.
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  Speaker 2: It over the finish line.
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  Speaker 4: You know, in order to finish the job, in order
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  Speaker 4: to win the championship, you have to have all fifteen
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  Speaker 4: seventeen guys, including coaching staff, executive leadership. Everybody's got to
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  Speaker 4: be on the same page. So you don't want to
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  Speaker 4: go in with any negative energy. You want to stay positive,
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  Speaker 4: and I think think that's what I tried to do
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: getting ready for Game seven. Is it's easier seve than done.
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  Speaker 4: But remaining positive is like even if your routine is
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  Speaker 4: thrown off.
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  Speaker 2: Just a midget. Just roll with it, like, just roll
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  Speaker 2: with the punches.
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  Speaker 4: Game seven. I didn't sleep prior to the game. I
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: barely slept the night before. My hands were sweaty. I
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: was incredibly nervous.
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  Speaker 2: You know. It was legacy on the line, so I
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  Speaker 2: understood the moment.
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  Speaker 4: But once I got to the court, once I got
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  Speaker 4: to the arena in general, and I got a chance
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  Speaker 4: to ground myself, I felt right at home.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 4: The first half was a little up and down for me,
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  Speaker 4: but once I got into the rhythm in the second half,
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  Speaker 4: I felt like no one could beat us. And that
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  Speaker 4: was the confidence that we had in that team all
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  Speaker 4: year long. And I see this similar confidence with the Pacers.
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  Speaker 4: And okay, see for.
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  Speaker 5: Sure Kyrie Steve Smith here and I was there, was
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  Speaker 5: watching you guys. You know, I call you the bus
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  Speaker 5: driver that and I want to say, you talked about
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  Speaker 5: the routine, you saw, you talked about the preparation. But
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  Speaker 5: I learned from this guy when I was young, the
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  Speaker 5: scariest play on the floor is a guy with imagination.
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  Speaker 5: So if I've always watched you with imagination, there's some
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  Speaker 5: great players in this league, but there's only a few
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  Speaker 5: that have imagination, and I think you know what I'm
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  Speaker 5: talking about where it doesn't matter. I played this in
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  Speaker 5: my head and I had the skills to make that move,
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  Speaker 5: but not only not be afraid of that move.
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  Speaker 2: Can you walk me through that? Yeah? Well, I mean
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  Speaker 2: it starts in your foundation, how you build it.
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  Speaker 4: And the foundation I'm reference is when you're working out,
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  Speaker 4: you're in the summertime and leading up into the season,
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  Speaker 4: and then having the confidence to go out and try
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  Speaker 4: a lot of these skillful moves.
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  Speaker 2: You know, in Game seven it's really about best man wins.
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  Speaker 4: But if you have an imagination and you're creative, and
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  Speaker 4: you feel like you're unguardable, and it's the perfect situation.
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  Speaker 4: We get to see some special things go on throughout
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  Speaker 4: the game or throughout I see. I feel like we've
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  Speaker 4: seen some special things go on throughout the series, but
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  Speaker 4: in game seven, you're gonna some even more special things.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to a high level game, you know.
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  Speaker 4: I see Shay, he's uh, you know, in that same category.
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  Speaker 4: I feel like in that creativity and imagination, I feel
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  Speaker 4: like Tyresee is getting there as well. He's flourishing, even
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  Speaker 4: though he's been a little banged up, but I think
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  Speaker 4: nim Hart.
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  Speaker 2: Has some of those qualities as well.
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  Speaker 4: You know, guys that have the ball in their hands
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  Speaker 4: and are able to create shots. This is that game
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  Speaker 4: for you that I feel like you can maximize on
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  Speaker 4: taking advantage of opportunities that are gonna be there for you.
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  Speaker 2: So it's an exciting matchup.
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  Speaker 4: I see a lot of similarities in comparison to some
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  Speaker 4: of the guys that are out there on the floor,
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  Speaker 4: but I'm looking forward to them going into that deep
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  Speaker 4: imagination bag and really pulling out some bags and tricks
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  Speaker 4: that would become highlights for years to come.
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  Speaker 1: So Kerry, when we talk about your creativity and your imagination,
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  Speaker 1: but also your skill development and foundation. Now I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: take you back to Golden State Game seven. Right side
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  Speaker 1: of the court, you in front of Golden States bench,
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  Speaker 1: You got the ball on the right side, and you
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  Speaker 1: got curR regarding you. You wanted to use some imagination.
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  Speaker 1: But when he jumped to that left hand, what I
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  Speaker 1: saw is, oh, I work on this right side step.
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  Speaker 1: That's my shot. I do this every day. That's my
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  Speaker 1: warm up, that's my practice. When he jumped left and
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  Speaker 1: you was able to go right, how big a smile.
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  Speaker 1: Did you have inside knowing that, Okay, I practice this
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  Speaker 1: shot every day.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, well, thank you, thank you, big bro.
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  Speaker 4: It it reminded me of some of the shots that
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  Speaker 4: you know, some of our peers would make fun of
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  Speaker 4: me for when I was a kid, you know, or
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  Speaker 4: trainers or skill development guys would tell me, like, you know,
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  Speaker 4: not a lot of righties shoot off of hesy going
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  Speaker 4: right or a side step going right. We know about
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  Speaker 4: you know, one of the best side steppers of all time,
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  Speaker 4: Games Hard, and you know he's he has that moved
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  Speaker 4: down pack where he's able to kind of jump from
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  Speaker 4: one side to the right to the left side and
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  Speaker 4: still get a shot off. So for me, when I
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  Speaker 4: was matched up with Steph on that play, you know,
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  Speaker 4: all I was thinking was let me create enough space
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  Speaker 4: on this jump shot. So once I gave him a
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  Speaker 4: little bit of a jab, gave him a little bit
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  Speaker 4: of in and out and he jumped. I really felt
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  Speaker 4: like he didn't have an idea that I was going.
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  Speaker 2: To go to that shot either or I had it
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  Speaker 2: in my in my bag. So it worked out well.
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  Speaker 4: But in that moment, all I could think about was
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  Speaker 4: just keeping my right elbow tucks. This is a shot
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  Speaker 4: I've worked on since I was very young, and I've
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  Speaker 4: mastered it now. You guys know, on this panel, when
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  Speaker 4: you're shooting off the dribble, not so much channing. He's
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  Speaker 4: not like off the dribble, you know, picking.
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  Speaker 2: Pop, picking Pop, you know his games, you know what
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  Speaker 2: I mean. Throw it down to him once again. But
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  Speaker 2: that's all.
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  Speaker 4: But I felt like that moment, it was I relished
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  Speaker 4: in that moment again because it was something that I've
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  Speaker 4: been able to create in my head and then to
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  Speaker 4: be able to do it live.
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  Speaker 2: In the game. And when you're shooting going right or
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  Speaker 2: you're shooting going.
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  Speaker 4: Left, you know, you have to aim the basketball a
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  Speaker 4: certain type of way because of the velocity of your
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  Speaker 4: body and the way it's moving.
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  Speaker 2: So I was just thinking about my timing and just making.
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  Speaker 4: Sure he didn't get a great contest. I felt like
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  Speaker 4: he had a good contest, but he didn't get a
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  Speaker 4: great one. If he got a great one, and it
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  Speaker 4: probably would have made the shot a little bit tougher,
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  Speaker 4: but he got a decent contest and I was able
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  Speaker 4: to hit that shot, and I was definitely smiling inside
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  Speaker 4: because I felt like that created the separation you needed
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  Speaker 4: to go in that basketball game.
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  Speaker 3: All right, last question for you, Kyrie. It's actually twofold
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  Speaker 3: and we're going to be optimistic here, right. Hopefully your
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: rehab is going well. Can you tell us how your
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  Speaker 3: kne's doing. And also number one picking the draft. Fellow
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: duke guys who were saying's going number one Cooper Flag,
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: have you seen him play?
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  Speaker 2: What do you think about him?
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  Speaker 4: I'll simplify, It's an exciting time to be a Dallas Maverick.
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: It's an exciting time to be a Dallas Maverick fan.
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  Speaker 2: Shout out to.
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  Speaker 4: MFFL all the supporters that have been rocking with us
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  Speaker 4: getting this number one pick. We had a one point
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: eight percent chance, So I loved it.
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  Speaker 2: I enjoyed.
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  Speaker 4: I'm seeing all of the excitement not only from the city,
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  Speaker 4: but from our executive leadership, from our ownership group, from
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  Speaker 4: my teammates. You know, this is this is one of
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  Speaker 4: those times and not only my career, but just in
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  Speaker 4: the legacy play of being a Dallas Maverick where.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: We have a chance to do something special. So I
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: know Nico's gonna do a great job. I know Patrick's
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  Speaker 2: gonna do a great job.
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  Speaker 4: I know Mark's gonna do a great job, and it's
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  Speaker 4: been an exciting journey thus far, even just being in Dallas.
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  Speaker 4: You know, it's been up and down sort of stay
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: just in terms of the circumstances and situations. But we've
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: been doing our best. I've been doing my best, and
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  Speaker 4: I'm one of the leaders of the team. So I
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  Speaker 4: gotta stay stoic, stay poised, ready for the moment, ready
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  Speaker 4: to articulate what's going on, and be ready to move forward.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: And I applied that same.
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  Speaker 4: You know kind of science or chemistry to my ACL
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: recovery too.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: I am in rare air right now or.
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: Rare form sort of say, just being at my age
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  Speaker 4: and tearing my a cl But I've made history plenty
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  Speaker 4: of times. So this is just one of those things
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  Speaker 4: in my life. I'm grateful I get to go through.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: I'm grateful I get to lead by example, and you know,
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  Speaker 4: I have no regrets in terms of not only how
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: the season went, but just how the rest of my
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: career it's going to shape up from this, you know,
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  Speaker 4: So I take it and stride. God is truly amazing.
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: I get to wake up, you know, and do what
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  Speaker 4: I love. But it starts with that gratitude first, you.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Know, so I'm aware of where I'm at. It's going
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  Speaker 2: well recovery wise, but at the same time, I have.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: A great support system around me which keeps me grounded
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: and level headed, and you know, able to still enjoy
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: life even though I'm a little injured right now.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Yes, I appreciate you guys.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: We've seen you bounce back before. Was this time last
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: year we were talking to you and the NBA Finals.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: Hopefully we have that interview with you again on the court.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate you, guys. Thank you.