He was, you know, much more aggressive with 20 field goal attempts.

Is this something that you continue to talk to him about?

Obviously, he's been in facilitator mode in these first few games with the Big Three together.

But how much have you guys been encouraging him to be aggressive and look for his?

Yeah, I think encouraging is the word.

You know, I don't wanna force him.

He knows what he's doing.

He knows where his body is at work.

You know, this process of assimilating into a new group is so we wanted to be aggressive, but we're gonna give him his head and let him decide how he plays.

But we definitely love it when he's aggressive.

And there's some tough matchups out there, Um, for him and he got going, and an important time and way found a way to get it done.

Somehow, like Andrews, ESPN, I think this is the third game consecutively.

You've had the same starters and you guys haven't started the same group more than four times consecutively this season.

Do you feel like you're starting to get towards a group where this may be the core that you want Thio, move forward with for your starters and then start to figure out that bench rotation.

Yeah, it's getting there.

I mean, I'm hesitant to say that just because tomorrow it'll be something else.

You know, it'll be Kobe Protocol, or you know something something will happen, and we'll be back to mix it up.

But I think we have to stay flexible and stay ready at the same time.

You know, I like where we're going with it, You know, by no means that we sat on this, but right now it feels pretty good.

Yeah.

Christian Winfield, New York Daily News.

Hey, Coach, you guys had 23 points.

Well, 23 fast break points tonight.

Um, including one plan over time within.

Joe gets that strip, and then the ball goes to James.

Gets right up court to Jeff for the dunk.

Um, is that part of the reason why you guys want to really hammer down on this defense?

Obviously, yes.

You want to stop guys from scoring, but doesn't unlock another layer for you guys to get out in transition and get some easy bucket?

Yeah.

I mean, I think when you do get stops.

Um, you know, you have an opportunity.

Thio go against the, uh, more unsettled defense in whether it's transition or semi transition.

So, you know, I e mean, there's many, many reasons why defending well is a positive, but that is one small one for me.

Frankly, no, I think we'll figure out ways to score.

It's more about getting stops.

Way don't turn the ball.

We don't turn other teams over a ton, but if we could just get stops and rebound, we've been rebounding better.

Um, you know we'll be engagement.

Brian Lewis, New York Post.

Hi, Steve.

When you talk about, you know, James's aggression level and you trust him toe make the correct decisions.

I'm curious if you've noted his his conditioning as we've gone, make dramatic improvements, or is this just a matter of him getting in better chemistry and better sync with his teammates late in games?

I think both.

I think he's getting comfortable just with his surroundings, but he's definitely getting in better shape.

You know that that Z you know it's important and he's just gonna get better.

The more comfortable he gets in better shape.

He gets all tonight's any indication he's gonna You don't have a huge influence on our team and make other players better.

Alex Schiffer, Athletic.

Hey, Steve, you had 32 from Kevin and night, and this marked his his 15th game.

You've said before how you know when gauging where he's at.

You know, you'd like to see him get 15 to 20 games before really going on just as he approaches this benchmark ER or is at it depending on how you wanna look at it.

How do you kind of adjust, you know, gauging where he's at, if at all.

Yeah, I mean, he obviously has played great offensively.

I think he's still tryingto get comfortable, though.

You know that's how good he is, right?

You know, he's just a walking bucket, you know.

He's just out there on the floor.

He can fall in tow baskets just with his talent, skill length, athleticism.

So he looks great.

He's moving great.

He's scoring the ball well.

I think he still has layers to go just to continue toe, feel more comfortable defensively, rebounding, rounding out his game, All the things that he's he's been able to do outside of scoring on that confidence.

You know, I think for him just just feeling comfortable playing basketball again after such a long way offs takes time.

You know, no matter how good he is, how many points he scores?

How Maney, 30 point games in a row he has.

I think he's still tryingto feel it himself on.

That takes time.

You can't just not play for 18 months, have a short term start playing and feel it.

You know, in the 1st 10 15 games, it might take another 10, 15 games.

So he's been remarkable because all those you know, with all those parameters and things I just mentioned.

But no, I still think he's going to continue to feel more comfortable, more confident and round out his game.

Bruce Beck, NBC, New York Dave, you always say, it's, Ah, it's a team.

It's not just the big three.

You went small.

Jeff Green was important.

How impactful was he?

Well, he's been great for us this year, you know, he's made big shots.

He's obviously finished tonight down the lane and stretch down the stretch.

Hey gives us versatility defensively, you know he's mature as a human being.

So He's calm and he's able to influence the team in a positive way.

And he has experience, so he can.

We can change coverage is on the fly with him, and he can quarterback that.

So no, while you know, he might not be the first name that jumps out on on our team, you know, I think he does feel a really important wolf for us and a lot of diverse way.

Tom Dowd, Brooklyn nets dot com Hey, Steve, you know, for most of the night not a great night for the second unit, but then down the stretch, obviously, like I just said Jeff Green and also boost Brown.

Um, in the fourth, How significant was that for you?

The way he kind of came?

It was great.

I mean, Bruce was huge.

I thought everyone who played contributed at different times.

And Bruce Mate's great players, you know, he kind of played a center, taking and rolling and, you know, not allowing them toe muck off him as a shooter.

We put him in the pick and roll, and he, I thought, did a great job of getting down the lane, finishing, keeping the floor space enable enabling us to get the right match up in the pick and roll.

So but his energy is defense rebounding this huge.

And Jeff obviously had a great night as well in the second unit held it down for a while.

We could steal a few minutes for Kevin and Car.

Chris Kirshner, the athletic.

What have you thought of the job?

Lloyd is done with his group so far this season.

I'm really admire what Lloyd's doing.

I mean, this is a tough matchup for us.

You know, They you know, they stretch you out, they space the floor, they put the ball in players hands, gives them freedom and confidence, but within a structure.

And it's very difficult to guard.

They all have been a diversity in their offense to, um, you know, and then they play hard.

They got length.

So Lloyd's a great young coach, only getting better than you know, the Hawks really lucky to have him.

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