Thoughts on the game…
Sometimes when you deal with a little bit of adversity like the tough game that we had last night, very, very tough travel and immediate turnaround less than 24 hours for a back-to-back against the number one team in the East, it raises your level of motivation and awareness and I thought that’s just what happened. Obviously we didn’t practice when we came in the morning. We had a good morning film session and walk through and we just came to play and it was evident from the very first minute.
On Tristan Thompson…
Tristan, as I’ve said many times, he together with Andy (Anderson Varejao) is a starter for us. That’s the kind of contribution we hope to get out of the two of them, if not individually then combined on a nightly basis. Tristan just came out and played an exceptional game on both ends of the court, defending, rebounding in traffic, finishing around the basket, making good decisions with the ball when he didn’t have shots and just competing at a high level. Obviously he was really a key to our win.
On tonight’s festivities…
I thought what the Raptors, together with the NBA and NBA players, did tonight for Nelson Mandela who was such a great and ardent supporter of sport as a means of bringing people closer together and achieving the goals of understanding, inequality and togetherness. On a human level it was a great night all around, it really was.
Magic Johnson was on the broadcast and felt that you played a “Magic” type game…
To have legends here and see Charles (Barkley) and Magic (Johnson) in the crowd is spectacular. For me I just try and do whatever it takes to win and being able to get my teammates involved, assists to me mean more than anything.
How close are you defensively to where you want to be?
We are very close. We are not good enough now to have lulls. One possession, two possessions it seems like every time we take just one possession off, we get burned. We went for a steal and Terrence Ross got a three. We didn’t pick up (Kyle) Lowry at the point of attack and he hit another three. We are not that good just yet to be able to take possessions off and still be able to get back. I think that the progression we have made the last couple of weeks is definitely a plus.
Thoughts on the celebration of Nelson Mandela something that is maybe bigger than basketball…
It is bigger than basketball. It is a man that only represented his own homeland and not only America and here in Canada he speaks volumes in all parts of world. It just goes to show that what one man can do by his voice, his power. For us to be able to celebrate him and the greatest game in the world basketball, I think it was pretty cool.
Thoughts on James Jones staying ready…
It is not surprising to me. I know him, I have been with him forever. So when he came in the game, I knew as soon as he got one look he was going to make it. He is going to make the next one too. He doesn’t miss. It’s a lot of pressure on him, but it is really not because he doesn’t miss. If he gets any look at it nine times out of 10 he is going to can it.
On the importance of getting something from the bench…
Every night coach challenges us, the bench, to come out and bring some life. We don’t want our stars to play so heavy minutes and drain themselves out so we have to be able to come in and keep the energy high, and that’s what we did tonight.
Do you still get up for games in Toronto?
It’s always fun to come home and play the Raptors. I guess these games are a little heightened up a little bit more because we have a new teammate and they’re playing really well right now. Whenever you can get a win on this court it’s definitely a good feeling. Now we have Brooklyn.
Thoughts on the game…
They (Cleveland) were hitting on all cylinders, and they were executing as well as you could ask for. (LeBron) James, (Kevin) Love, they were doing everything, so hats off to them. I would say that I know this team tonight wasn’t us. Sometimes in the NBA schedule and the first game back from a west coast trip, the worst team you want to see is a team as talented as Cleveland. But again, hats off to them; they spanked us.
Thoughts on the team’s defensive play on the glass…
Tristan Thompson had nine offensive rebounds. We got some stops, and it seemed like we were doing a good job and getting them off there and then all at once he would come up with the ball. Again, they’re a good offensive rebounding team and active. (LeBron) James is one of the best players in the league, but again, we didn’t shoot the ball very well. But we’re better than that, I know we’ll bounce back. I’ve got all of the confidence that our team will bounce back.
Thoughts on defending LeBron James…
I thought (LeBron) James did an admirable job, and we did as well as we could. Again, though, when he missed, we have to come up with the ball. I thought by missing shots, our bad offensive shooting night went over to our defense and made our defense even worse. It was a snowball effect. They whooped us, they spanked us, and we have to put this game in the rearview mirror and get ready for Denver.
Thoughts on the Nelson Mandela tribute…
It was huge. It was a beautiful day and Masai (Ujiri) did a magnificent job of putting this all together. To see guys like Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley and Dikembe Mutombo come in, all the guys that were a big part of the NBA’s history, and the message that Nelson Mandela sent throughout the world was huge. This was bigger than basketball, and that was the theme of the night for our players. What was going on upstairs was far bigger than basketball, and I lived it, went through it and understand it. It meant a lot to our players and it was a magnificent night for our organization.
Is this a different Cavaliers team than you saw two weeks ago?
Yes, it looked like they moved the ball extremely well tonight. Tristan Thompson came in and really affected the game. They played well together tonight.
Thoughts on shots not falling tonight...
We were just missing shots. I don't think there's anything we could've done differently. G (Greivis Vasquez) had a rough night, I had a rough night. The only ones who shot over 50 percent I think were JJ (James Johnson) and Amir (Johnson). We will come in on Sunday, get our shots up and I'm sure the shots we missed tonight will fall on Monday.
Thoughts on game...
I think we were just a little flat. We were there, we were playing hard and we just missed some easy shots. Our defensive schemes were not all the way there. We messed up on some defensive possessions.
When LeBron James initiates the offense how does stopping him change?
It wasn't him. It was our defensive schemes. We were not committed fully to all of our defensive schemes. We would go trap and then we wouldn't rotate in the right positions. I put the game on us we were just flat.
Did they seem like a different team than two weeks ago?
They are starting to pick it up. They are definitely starting to play better and move the ball better than they did.