The third quarter we saw you kick into something we haven't seen as much this Siri's as we did the previous Siri's.

What happened?

I mean, I thought a lot of it looks where similar looks.

Um, I just had to make shots.

You're not think, sometimes has a shooter toe shots just don't fall on.

And then you start trying to make shots a little bit too hard.

You know, you start trying too hard to make shots, maybe take a few tough things, and then I just makes it you no longer night sometimes.

And I think over the course of the Siri's well, at least after Game one, just haven't seen the ball go in consistent enough.

And my job is to stay aggressive, keep doing what I do.

And tonight, you know, shots feel.

Dame Shawn had complete report.

You've never been in a Game seven in your career in the playoffs.

What were you expecting?

Or do you have any kind of thoughts on what?

You know what happens for your inspector?

What?

How you prepare for it.

I mean, I think it's, you know, it's all these people saying, You know, people have never been in the A Game seven, but it is basically a game where on the one team is gonna make it up, you know, is your your last opportunity to play So facing elimination is what it is to me.

You know?

That's gonna be my approaching who is facing elimination tonight.

One thing that's gonna change is going to be on the road.

Um, and this is far season for all the marbles.

So for me, I'm not going in there saying, Oh, I've never been in the Game seven.

I'm going in there saying I know what this team is capable of.

I know what I am and who I am as a player.

And you know, I'm going there to get the job done.

I'm not concerned what it being Game seven or whatever you know is not Game seven of the Finals.

So is what it is.

Casey.

A little trouble is a dot com.

What did you think?

A big drips game tonight.

And, uh, and how much different is it for you guys when he's able to play like that?

I thought he was great.

You know for him to be coming over and helping on a lot of the penetration on the some of the mismatches on the block that they were looking to exploit with Mill set and, you know, contesting shots, blocking shots, boxing those guys out, limiting the second and third opportunities for him.

Just play with confidence.

You got to the free throw line of May free throws, took open shots, went up strong to the rim, and it was a dunk or he was getting contact.

But I just think his aggressiveness, how sharp he was mentally in the rotations and, you know, a lot of adjustments that we wanted to make.

I think that was the the most impressive things that he did.

You know, a lot of people on the outside, they just look for made shots, miss shots, you know, the obvious.

That's but it's a lot of stuff, you know, that you walked there and shoot arounds and that you go through when you watch film, you know, changes that way and just positioning and stuff that you want out of players.

And I thought hey was really good and in that way, you know, so a lot of people might not notice those things, but as has his teammates, we noticed how sharp he was and those things that we wanted to do.

Day.

Mike Richard, NBC Sports.

What does it mean to have Newark on the bench with you guys?

And has he told you how hard it is for him to watch these games?

I mean it.

He's a part of the team, So having him there, it feels more complete.

You know, you.

Sometimes you look down there and when he's not there, you like Manus.

You could tell somebody's missing, you know, players missing.

And he's also a talkative person.

So, you know, you feel his presence, and today was actually the first time that he said to me When I was sitting next to him on the bench, he said, Man, I wish I could play with my broken leg.

I will go out there right now and get hurt again if I could, and I was like, Man, this dude is crazy.

But it was right after they showed him on the screen and the crowd went crazy.

And, you know, he must have got one of those feelings again.

And, uh, you know, that's how he was feeling at the moment.

I just front runner on ESPN Dame.

There was a couple moments where you guys got rolling in the 2nd 3rd quarter.

You were at the middle of that, and the crowd was very excited about it.

You hear the crowd in those moments, and it seems to me like you're kind of seeking out those mo mentum shots to kind of keep him juiced up.

Is that Is that what happened?

Yeah.

I mean, coach, you know, sometimes in the huddle, he's saying, give our crowd something to get behind because we know that we got a great home court.

We know our fans get into the game.

You know how much they care.

And for me, I'm looking up saying, All right, we don't run, You know, they have possession away from calling the time out, and you know, you you're not going to kill him in that they recorded.

You're not gonna kill him with 89 minutes in the fourth quarter.

Um, but you can get that crowd going and, you know, a few times I looked up, you know, 345 point lead, come off the screen and get it.

Look, I'm gonna raise up, and then it's gonna be eight.

You know, make them call the time out crowd going, go crazy.

So I think you know, for us, you look for those.

Well, for me, I'm looking for those moments.

Where is, like, Okay, this could be a bone more like all the time.

I get our crowd behind us because I know how it feel being the on the other side.

You know, the visiting team when the crowd is going crazy, you got to call a time out is like, You gotta regroup, You know, you got to go in the huddle and have these conversations.

So I guess that's that is true.

You know, I look for those moments.

Second day, Mark Schwarz, ESPN as the leader of this group with 70 hours or so to go until the next one.

What kind of things do you hope to instill and to say to your guys to make sure that they are at their best when the tip goes up on Sunday?

I think the number one thing is, you know, we're not the number one thing.

The number two thing is to get rest, you know, get stay off our feet, rest our bodies, make sure that we do that part.

And then the number one thing is have our minds, right?

You know, don't overthink, don't make it, um, some big crazy deal or nothing like that.

We're going to play basketball game, and it's a big game and we've won on their floor before.

And we know what type of mentality we have when we did that.

So we got to go out there.

Be tough, be physical, be sharp in our scouting report, play for each other, play with each other on both ends and just put the pressure on them.

You know, make them earn everything on their offensive end.

And then when we get the ball, make sure that we get shots up, you know, value each possession.

Don't go out there turning the ball over, playing into their hands.

You know what?

They get opportunity to get their crowd involved.

So that has to be our mentality to just be sharp.

Be physical, going there, ready to take the game, because the only way is gonna happen is I was going in there and taking it last question.

Front room.

Jared Galley, KGW Rodney Hood has been good in the Siri's.

Obviously, how much easier does it make it for you and CJ?

To have a consistent scorer on the wing is huge because, obviously, coming into each, whatever game, they're Siri's.

It is C.

J and I.

We know the attention that we're gonna get.

No team is going to come try to take us out.

We know that teams are going give a lot of attention, are pink and Rose.

I saw anything that we don't we know we're gonna see bodies.

And when you got another guy on the wing that's making threes, posting up, scoring in the mid range, drawing fouls, doing all these things, it gives the other team something else that they have to worry about somewhere.

It takes a lot of pressure off us.

So where is not as much pressure to score the ball is not as much pressure to make something happen because you've got another guy out there with 25 points.

So after the game, I said he's probably been our most consistent player over the course of this series.

You know, I feel like all six games he's had a good game, so we don't need him to continue that in Game seven.