Last interview from Buddy: “Gui’s one of our better one-on-one players”
[videos/interviews/transcripts/captions]
Anybody else impressed with the one-on-one abilities of Gui Santos in recent games? 🙋🏻♂️ I brought that up several times in the win against Memphis, here’s the full recap, Spotify, Apple and YouYube versions:
Love how he’s driving with his shoulder with a low center of gravity, as seen in this article’s picture above. I’m not quite sure we’ve seen that a lot in the past.
It turns out last week on Monday, February 2, was Buddy Hield’s last interview as a Warrior (full transcript below). Thankfully, a Brazilian reporter happened to be there. Nick Friedell of ESPN — who’s there ever day, of course, as one of the Warriors’ beatwriters — tells me that there’s a documentary on Gui in the works, so that might have something to do with it.
But Santos playing well lately and a fellow countryman attending availabilities specifically to ask questions about him comes at a perfect time:
I’ll also post the transcript of the Grizzlies postgames with Gui, Steve Kerr, Al Horford and Pat Spencer at the bottom, just to cover all bases.
Here’s Buddy, who also talked about Spencer and what Golden State will need to do in the absences of the stars (see full transcript below):
To be honest with you, I think Gui’s one of our better one-on-one players on the team. I play one-on-one with all the guys on the court, on the team. And Gui, I’ve seen something in him. I said, man, you’re really good. He’s strong, for one. And he’s got a really good feel attacking the basket. And I told him he needs to attack the basket more, but I think that he can be very effective doing it. And he’s a smart basketball player. He’s physical. He plays hard on both ends and that’s what we love about him and I think that we gonna need more of Gui attacking the basket to create more opportunity for us and for himself.
Gary Payton II, who also spoke at that practice, said:
He doesn’t need the ball. That’s the thing about Gui. Like, he’s one of those players that doesn’t need the ball to make an impact. And he can move and play without the ball and he ends up in the right spot by just playing the right correct basketball the right way. If you end up doing that with the talent that we have on our team, if we play the right way, you’ll end up in good spots and be able to score and do the little things that he does so very well. So he just seizes opportunities and he play the right right way. He’s gonna get his shots where he always works in practices on, so he’s just hitting them.
Interestingly, GP2 also mentioned Pat, when asked by Danny Emerman of the SF Standard who else on the team might be considered a sneaky 1v1 baller:
Pat Spencer. We know Buddy can get into the one-on-one bag, for sure. There’s a lot of players that can actually go play one-on-one, but for the 5-on-5 game, we gotta play within the system and within each other, so a lot of different people have a lot of different types of bags, once we get to one-on-one in practice. So it’s pretty fun.
Full transcripts below:
00:00 BUDDY HIELD, DAY BEFORE PHI-GSW: Huh? Super Bowl prediction? Am I getting traded?
00:08 Are you going to the Super Bowl?
00:09 Yeah, I’m going Super Bowl for a half, I think so.
00:13 (Inaudible)
00:14 I know. First one, though. First one. First time for everything.
00:16 (Inaudible). Yeah.
00:18 Bad Bunny.
00:19 (Inaudible). Okay. Just how was practice today? What was the focus?
00:24 Practice was good, just getting back to the regular. It’s been a minute since we got everybody at practice, everybody communicating, getting back to all the regular drills. It’s good to get back in the regular flow, man. We haven’t had a solid practice in a minute, so just go out there to get back to regular routine and get more familiar with the things we haven’t been covering and things that we can sharpen up and fix and d hopefully it translates to tomorrow’s game.
00:51 And Steve talked about the importance of creating advantages, different ways. If Steph’s not — when Steph isn’t playing, he’s out tomorrow, just what does it take to get good shots to create good offense when Steph’s not on the floor?
01:05 Cutting hard, giving up yourself, just playing the right way, 0.5 basketball, slipping, being — making the decisive decisions, taking care of the basketball and just playing with a certain-ness and playing with a style of play that a team cannot guard and being relentless on both ends. And try to take advantage of all the easy opportunities and create turnovers, so you gotta do all that to get advantages, especially when you don’t have 30 out there. So just being relentless on both ends and having that will and desire to win and competing. And if you go with that mindset, if Steph or whoever’s out there, whoever five’s out there on the court, just having that mindset to compete and be relentless — be relentless on both ends, it’s always a chance to win.
01:54 You’ve been in the league a long time. How difficult is it to do what Pat has done?
02:00 Oh, Pat, it’s just, it’s about staying ready. It’s, this whole league’s about staying ready. There’s opportunity, man, we all crave. It’s hard to play in this league. It’s hard to get — find a job. It’s hard to be on the bench, you know? And you get guys in G League trying to get to the — get on the bench in the league, you know? And with Pat’s situation, everybody’s probably been in a situation on our team. You just gotta stay ready, man. And when your number come called, just to be ready to go there and produce. And Pat is being the guy who’s always in the gym, working hard, he’s being ready. He’s like one of the coaches over there because he’s always in film sessions, he’s always talking, so he knows what the coaches wants and he has that eye. He’s a great basketball mind. I think that he’s gonna have a bright future after basketball in this league, too, so, I mean, I love him a lot. He’s one of the guys I talk to all the time and I understand him, I understand his struggles, what he goes through. And his struggles coming to becoming a basketball player, NBA player. And I like when he is out there. He plays with a style of pace that is — that none of our guards play with and he’s fun to be on there with.
02:57 You joke about trade deadline.
02:59 Yeah.
03:00 How does this trade deadline feel compared to past ones, given just how much smoke there is out there?
03:06 I mean, you never know. The point is there’s always smoke out there. You just never know. It just, you always — that’s why you always gotta joke about it. If it happens, it happens. Just, I’m — what you look at in life, you let the business of basketball control it and whatever happens, happens out of it. I’m just thankful to have a job and if I’m going to stay with another team, I’m just, know that if whoever gets traded, that another team wants me, perhaps. And I’m gonna go out there and do my best to my best ability, for that team and hopefully have a future with that team, too. Or hope I’ll keep, help the team go with this team, so you can’t predict it. It’s in the future of God’s hands. And, man, it’s not — it’s not easy, but it’s our business. We deal with. It’s the business of basketball. We deal with it.
03:51 At what point in your career do you think you developed that perspective?
03:55 I think after Indiana. It’s just business of basketball. It is what it is. You can’t really get mad at it. And, I mean, you’ve seen the guys who — you look at the guys who — the Russes of the world or CPs of the world. You have your stint in the league and after that it’s either one, two year, you’re getting traded to the next team and trying to figure it out. And when you get older in this league and stuff like that happens and you’re just trying to see how it long you can last.
04:23 You shot over 40% from three in January. How’s your shot feeling right now?
04:28 Don’t talk about that. Next question. Next question. No, but I’ve been working. Shout out to — we just, they were just talking about it, too. Shout out to my guy Noel (Hightower) and brate Nikola (Milojevic). We — I had a bad stint coming into this year and those two guys took me through the process each and every day, mornings and afternoons, before games, after games, whatever it was, they — early in the mornings when they shouldn’t be here, they were here for me. And those guys helped me to get back right and keep my mental right and helped me build a certain level of confidence, so I owe a lot of respect to those two guys. They were with me through the downs and I respect that.
05:12 In what ways do you miss Jimmy?
05:14 Jimmy? He’s just a spark in the locker room, man. He just brings a certain vibe that nobody rings. And I texted him the other day. I sent him a video of everybody telling them, I know it’s difficult, man. Like, you work so hard all summer to be around the guys and be around the team and then after — and in the blink of an eye, it’s taken away from you. And I had never been to that feeling, but I can imagine somebody, whoever, a personality like Jimmy. When you have everything and then after everything, feels like everything is lost, even though everything is not lost, but he loves basketball. He works hard. He — I saw what he looks like this summer when he’s working. He’s eager to get back on the court. And for it now to be taken away from him, just reaching out to him every day. And you can’t — you don’t want to be overwhelming, but I know — I’m pretty sure he missed being around the guys and we miss his energy and his spark on the basketball court. And you can see that he’s missed, him not being there.
06:06 Do you miss having the chance to go back and forth and argue and debate?
06:09 We always — I, we always argue. It’s always on the plane, off the court, wherever. It’s always an argument. He always feels like his point is always right and I’m trying to tell him his point’s not right, but he’s my guy, man. I just hope that, I just want him to get through this and get over this hump and I’m excited for him to — yeah, I know Jimmy’s older, but I know if there’s one person to come back quick and bounce back, it’s him because I seen what his work habits is being like and he’ll do whatever it takes to get back on the court.
06:35 Average fan looks at you guys and say, okay, no Jimmy, no Steph, you guys gotta be pretty much perfect to have a chance to win. What do you believe?
06:45 You mean for tomorrow?
06:46 Tomorrow.
06:48 It’s basketball, man. You just gotta come and play with a certain type of certainness and anybody can win. And you come out there to compete and we have done that without them. We have won games without them before and, yes, we’d love to have them out there, but if they’re not out there, we go there and be relentless on both ends and not compete. And once we give all of us, go get — give all a hundred percent on both ends and take the right shots, don’t turn over the basketball and make the right plays, I think that we have a good chance of winning. I think anybody has a good chance of winning in the league.
07:18 You mentioned the spark that you guys kind of miss from Jimmy in the locker room. Right now, what’s sort of the vibe in the locker room with that trade deadline stuff, all that?
07:27 I, no, Since Jimmy’s not there, I just gotta, me personally, gotta work double. So, I mean, it’s been easy, I’m always talking, trying to keep the vibe up, but he popped in here and there. On game days, he’s always here. He’s talking to the guys, communicating and so he’s showing up, but I don’t know when he is gonna have surgery, but I hopefully it’s gonna be pretty soon. But Jimmy’s presence is always there, man.
07:52 Buddy, about a month ago, Gui Santos told us that you have been encouraging him to attack the basket more.
07:59 Yeah.
07:59 In the past few games he’s scoring double-digits, a few nice drives. What potential do you see in Gui, especially on offense?
08:07 I think to be honest with you, I think Gui’s one of our better one-on-one players on the team. I play one-on-one with all the guys on the court, on the team. And Gui, I’ve seen something in him. I said, man, you’re really good. He’s strong, for one. And he’s got a really good feel attacking the basket. And I told him he needs to attack the basket more, but I think that he can be very effective doing it. And he’s a smart basketball player. He’s physical. He plays hard on both ends and that’s what we love about him and I think that we gonna need more of Gui attacking the basket to create more opportunity for us and for himself.
08:41 And what about the vibe he brings to practice?
08:43 Oh, he’s always positive. He’s always one of the best teammates I’ve had. He’s coachable, relentless. He wants to compete. You see his passion as he’s playing basketball. You see that when he’s out there, something good is always happening, whereas the defensive players, the energy player, he’s gonna put his whole life down on the court for the team. And just we love Gui. Winning player. Thank you.
09:08 Thanks, Buddy.
—
09:14 GARY PAYTON II: Yessir. Talk to me.
09:19 How was practice today?
09:21 It’s another day. Practiced for the first time in a while, so it was good.
09:27 What were some of the emphases today?
09:31 Get back to playing defense.
09:34 What do you think has gone wrong on that end recently?
09:37 It’s an up-and-down season. Just gotta get back connected. That’s probably it. That’s it. Nothing crazy. Let’s get back being connected.
09:48 Trade deadline in a few days, here. Does this deadline feel any different than previous years, given how much smoke there is?
09:57 Not personally, no.
10:02 How are you approaching it, personally?
10:05 Another day. Don’t think about it. It is what it is. If anything does happen, if it doesn’t, figure out how to turn the rest of the season around.
10:16 Gary, you are close to Gui Santos. We often see you guys supporting each other during games and practice. He probably had one of his best weeks in his young NBA career last week. Did you notice anything different, a different level of confidence in Gui?
10:34 No, he’s always like that. He always has high confidence. He’s always ready to go. It’s just if he stays out there long enough. You’ll see what he’s been doing the last couple games, so, and every night is a different night for each player, especially the bench players. Come in, just try to create a spark and get us going and he usually does that pretty often, more times than none, so if he plays quite a few minutes, he’s gonna have good production and good outings. So it’s just another day for Gui Santos.
11:13 Beyond the energy thing that he always brings to the court, he scored 16 points in back-to-back games, had his first double-double. Do you think offensively with the ball a little bit more in his hands, he can produce as well and contribute like in his scoring without Jimmy, without Steph? The team needs scoring as well.
11:33 Oh no, he doesn’t need the ball. That’s the thing about Gui. Like, he’s one of those players that doesn’t need the ball to make an impact. And he can move and play without the ball and he ends up in the right spot by just playing the right correct basketball the right way. If you end up doing that with the talent that we have on our team, if we play the right way, you’ll end up in good spots and be able to score and do the little things that he does so very well. So he just seizes opportunities and he play the right right way. He’s gonna get his shots where he always works in practices on, so he’s just hitting them.
12:13 Last game, he showed a lot of emotion after a few baskets, screaming in Portuguese.
12:18 Yeah, he normally does that once he gets going and he does that, so that’s the best part about it. And he just, he’s emotional and he has a lot of passion that he plays with, so I love seeing it. It gets me going, as well, so to see him passionate and out there yelling and screaming and being Gui Santos is pretty fun to watch.
12:47 Buddy said that Gui is kind of like a sneaky good one-on-one player. Who else on the team would qualify for that title?
12:55 Pat Spencer. We know Buddy can get into the one-on-one bag, for sure. There’s a lot of players that can actually go play one-on-one, but for the 5-on-5 game, we gotta play within the system and within each other, so a lot of different people have a lot of different types of bags, once we get to one-on-one in practice. So it’s pretty fun.
13:29 Thank you.
13:29 Easy. You guys are great.
—
13:35 Coach, here. The last game, Gui Santos showed a lot of emotion after baskets, screaming loud in Portuguese, I should say, bringing the crowd together and helping the team. What’s the importance of having a guy like this that can energize not only the team, but the crowd as well?
13:54 STEVE KERR: Well, he’s Brazilian, so of course he showed the emotion and the passion. We love Gui for that reason and many others. He’s a really good player, but he’s a guy who always — you can see his joy and his love for the game and it’s, yeah, he played really well. He helped us get back into that game, gave us a chance to win. And he’s in the rotation right now playing at a very high level, so it’s fun to see.
14:32 Without Jimmy, without Steph, how do you put together an offense that you like?
14:38 Well, we’re making some adjustments. That was part of practice today, is you — whatever you do, you always have to be able to create an advantage on offense and if you can do that, now you’ve got a chance to get a good shot in any given possession. So it’s really about thinking what creates advantages. Pace is the first thing that comes to mind. If you can rebound and go or cause some steals, then we can get out and get a lot of great looks, so that’s number one. We’ve gotta play with great energy, offensive rebounds as well. We gotta crash, get some extra possessions, kick out, threes, that sort of stuff. And then we are adapting kind of the stuff we’re gonna run. We’re going, obviously, completely away from the Jimmy iso ball that we’ve been playing in the last year with great effect, Jimmy’s ability to create shots for others and himself and free throws. We don’t have that luxury anymore, so that means we go away from the iso stuff and we move into pick-and-roll stuff and our split game, but it all really depends on who’s out on the floor and we have to see what’s working and what’s not during each game.
15:56 Given the way — given that Jimmy is sort of unique in what he does for you guys and Steph is very unique in what he does his whole career, how massive an adjustment is that, though, to make when you got two guys that you’re built around and neither one of them is there?
16:11 Well, it’s a huge adjustment, but it’s also something that every team at some point has to figure out, just with injuries and stuff that happens. It’s kind of part of the deal, so it’s on us to figure it out. It’s on the players to really generate the energy, the defensive mindset that you need to win games when your best offensive guys are out. And I’m confident that we can do that.
16:45 When it comes to pace, tomorrow you guys got Philly. Their guards, Maxey, Edgecombe, super-fast. Is there a danger in running with them, turning a game like that into a track meet?
16:56 Not if you do it responsibly. We have rules, obviously, with transition defense and crashing and you’re gonna be surprised when I tell you, the number one thing you can do to negate another team’s speed — I know this is gonna shock you — but if we take care of the ball, then that will be very helpful, too. So I don’t think I’ve ever said that before. Maybe once.
17:25 How have you felt the emphasis on getting free throws has been, since Jimmy’s been out? Last two games you guys had plus-30 in free throw attempts, but has that been an more of an emphasis without Jimmy?
17:36 Well, if we’re gaining an advantage, however, like I said, with pace or offensive boards or really good screening, then we should get some free throws because you’re forcing the defense to react. So the guys are doing a good job of being really aggressive and we know over the long haul we’re just not gonna get those, the number, the sheer volume that Jimmy brings. But execution always helps in that regard.
18:04 Steve, how would you describe what Al has brought to your group this year, especially in these last couple of weeks where he’s been able to be in the mix consistently?
18:11 He’s awesome. He’s such a great pro. He’s seen it all, such a good player. He’s become, in the latter stages of his career, this excellent three-point shooter, but the wisdom, the fundamental play, the awareness of what wins, all of that is so huge for us. And thrilled for Al because the first part of the season, we had so many back-to-backs, he couldn’t play in the back-to-backs. And then he suffered the injury and so it feels like over the last two, three weeks, he’s really found his groove and it’s helping us immensely.
18:48 What have you thought about Malevy (Leons), so far? What have the reports been like from Santa Cruz and then just when he’s been up here with you guys? What do you think?
18:55 He’s really an active player. I like watching him play. He’s all over the floor, which I love. I mean, he — and that needs to be his identity. He’s got a good mentor in Gui. They have similar styles in terms of just being pretty active at both ends of the floor, making stuff happen, so I I’m a fan and it’s been fun to get to know him a little bit and to see him play on that last road trip.
19:30 So, the start of the season, Melton was at about 20 minutes a game. He’s been up about 25 the last, I think, few weeks. Just physically how have you seen him, I guess, ramp up or adjust as the season’s gone on? And do you see him eventually getting to that 30-minute mark at some point this year? Do you wanna keep him at 25 for — ?
19:47 It’s definitely a possibility. I talked to Rick (Celebrini) about that the other day and he said, yes, that’s a something that we can aim for, but not yet. The two-year absence means a very slow ramp-up for that and I think Rick and the staff and Melt have handled it perfectly. You see where he is now compared to six weeks ago when he came back, it’s pretty dramatic, so he looks great. He’s feeling really good. We’ll just keep him on the same trajectory for now and we’ll hopefully be able to ramp up the minutes after — at a certain point.
00:00 What’d you make of the final 8:23, holding them to five points or just a frenetic finish down the stretch?
00:05 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME MEM-GSW: Yeah, that was, we finally strung some stops together. Our defense was poor most of the night and we were playing so much in transition defensively because of all the turnovers, but we buckled down. I thought Al Horford was incredible at both ends of the floor and he kind of took over that game. A lot of guys made big plays, but yeah, we were probably due for one of those. We lost — it seems like we’ve lost four or five of those this year and I’m not sure we really deserved it, but we’ll take it.
00:38 At the end of the game, Brandin Podziemski gets that stop on Cam Spencer, has a lot of emotion. Just what does it mean for you as a coach to see him show that kind of fire on the defensive side of the ball?
00:48 It’s great. We were kind of begging for some emotion the first three quarters. We just were dead in the water and there was no fire, no energy. And the coaches were trying to get everybody going and sometimes it just takes a spark and and I thought Al was great. I thought Quinten Post came in for five minutes and did a really good job after not being in the game and we found a group there those last seven minutes that it really clicked.
01:21 When the team is lacking energy, how do the coaches try to spice things up? Are you literally begging them to show some energy?
01:29 I don’t know if it’s quite begging, but urging is probably the better word. But no, I think it’s a tough time of year right before the break. We got all the injuries. We’re shorthanded, so it has to be a collective effort. It has to be an energetic one. You have to believe. You gotta infuse each other with some spirit, some energy and took a while, but we finally got there with Horford.
02:02 How reliable of a tool is throwing it to him in the post?
02:06 He’s done that a lot in his career, but probably not that much recently. We’ve been doing it quite a bit against switching teams. He’s still really good down there. You saw him get tied up a couple times for jump balls, scrapping for rebounds. Al walked in there, he had like claw marks all over, his arms and neck and it was a physical battle for him with all those guys harassing him in the post and in the paint. But like I said, he was the key to the game, 16 points, nine boards, six assists, no turnovers and a plus-24. Yeah, it was Al’s night.
02:50 What went into picking that that that tha five that closed the game on the 11-0 run?
02:55 Well, once you get a couple stops and you can feel the energy, you just stay with it. And so we had to get Melt out for a couple minutes, just with his minutes restriction, but just felt like that group was going well defensively and we just stayed with him.
03:15 Steve, we’ve known all about Al’s winning, his pedigree, his high IQ, but at 39 in Year 19, the feistiness, the scrap, what can you emphasize about that from the final possession and Phoenix, to the final possession tonight, those extra scrap that he’s showing you guys right now?
03:32 Well, he’s a Hall of Fame player. He’s, even though he’s 39, he keeps himself in great shape. His fundamentals are incredible. His footwork, his hands, understanding pivots to get out of trouble, that’s what I think four years at Florida, if I’m not mistaken, two national titles playing for Billy (Donovan), he came into the league ready and then you add 19 years on top of that all that experience, he’s seen it all. He’s a great, great player and we’re lucky to have him. Thanks.
—
04:17 Pat, another one of those crazy fourth quarter comebacks. What sort of got you guys more energized after the first three quarters, maybe not so much — ?
04:25 PAT SPENCER: Yeah, we just, we didn’t come out with enough energy. Obviously, it’s a young team. A lot of guards that are gonna run and get up and down and that’s kind of where the league’s going, so just have to match that intensity from the jump, but really proud of our group that closed that game.
04:41 Pat, when a team stalls out like they did and scored five points down the stretch, what do you think the key from you guys was in making that part happen?
04:51 Yeah, I think we picked up the intensity defensively and then, yeah, look, they hit a handful of tough shots tonight, too. Some guys that typically might not shoot the ball at the highest level made some tough ones and so you gotta shake your head sometimes, but just like I said, the intensity was really what picked up.
05:10 Pat, how much has Al Horford’s presence on both ends since he’s been healthy and playing regular minutes been such a difference for you guys?
05:18 Yeah, he’s unreal. There’s a reason he’s been in the league for that long, so, similar to Jimmy, you can get him the ball, the offense slows down, gets guys organized. He’s gonna make the right play the majority of the time, so just very easy to play with.
05:34 What have you learned watching the way he works as a veteran with so many years?
05:39 Yeah, I mean, he knows his game. I would say the one thing that really stands out, he works on the things that he does really well. He has a really good feel for the game and he knows who he is as a player, so doesn’t try to do anything outside of the box, super-fundamental, but in the best way possible.
05:56 Gui has said you’re his guy, had the game-winning bucket tonight. What’s it like to just see a guy that you’ve been pretty close with have that moment.
06:04 Man, I’m pumped for Gui. We spent so much time together hiking back and forth from Santa Cruz to dinners to just getting to know each other off the court. It’s pretty special. I mean, this league, things move fast and you lose teammates as time goes on, but to be able to have — we’ve been here from the jump together. Our first year here was together, so it’s pretty special. I’m really happy for him.
06:29 Pat, when it comes to picking up the intensity in game, what changes in game? Is it conversations between teammates? Is there any kind of message from the coaches? How does it change in game like that?
06:38 Yeah, I mean, it’s different every game. Sometimes it’s schematically, X’s and O’s. Sometimes it’s defensive, sometimes it’s offensive, getting organized, taking care of the ball. I mean, we had 20 turnovers pretty early on in the game. We finished with 23. It’s not gonna win you a whole lot of ball games, so it is different every game and ultimately sometimes it’s just a competitive spirit that needs to collectively pick up. So I felt like Steve relayed that in the huddle quite a few times and, like I said, prior to that group that closed today, they brought it defensively.
07:08 From your vantage point, what did you see on that last possession where Podz gets to stop?
07:13 Yeah, I can’t recall the exact play. I know my brother got the ball getting downhill, probably would’ve liked that one back to just shoot that turnaround or keep the dribble alive, but stayed down on a pump fake. I bit on a pump fake earlier on Ty Jerome, so just a headsy play by BP to stay down and force a tough one. And like I said, happy we got the victory.
07:37 Do you have any special contributions to the scouting report with Cam on the other side?
07:41 No, nothing crazy. I mean, they got a whole new team, dude. They traded quite a few guys away to get some draft picks back, so we knew it was gonna be quite a bit of guard-to-guard action tonight. They just, they don’t have a ton of bigs right now, so we kind of knew what the blueprint was gonna be tonight.
07:56 Does it ever get old competing against him?
07:58 Nah, man. We, I mean, people don’t understand we’re each other’s biggest fans when we’re fighting against each other, but we have some really good battles with the cameras off when it’s just us.
08:09 Follow up on Gui for a second. What has his off-the-dribble game opened up for you guys? It seems like that part of his game is expanding. What has that changed for you guys as a team?
08:16 Yeah, I think we’re in a similar boat as far as just getting that extra layer of confidence. Coach has given him the green light to go play make. He’s really crafty off the bounce. I think he’s got some of the best footwork in the league, stronger than people probably give him credit for and has a pretty tight handle. So, deceptive in a sense, a little bit of that European flair to it and Brazilian flair. And so just a really talented all-around ball player, very easy to play with and has the ability to get into the paint, which at times we’ve lacked.
00:00 Al, first off, how are you feeling physically after that game?
00:04 AL HORFORD, POSTGAME MEM-GSW: Feel good. Feel good. It was a hard one, but I feel good.
00:08 What can you just say about the fight in that final stretch, especially defensively?
00:12 Just a lot of grit from our group. We really had to lock in there. It seemed like all game, we were playing their style, very fast paced, just a lot going on, so I just think that we kind of settled down and we got stops when we needed to there at the end.
00:29 What kind of rhythm did that closing group find?
00:32 I thought it was good on the defensive end. We found good rhythm there on offense. I felt like we could have been a little sharper, but I feel like they did a good job all night, just kind of speeding us up and bothering us offensively. So one of the keys was that we didn’t turn it over there. Towards the end we were mostly getting shots most of the time and that’s always helpful.
00:56 Al, Kerr was saying that the coaches were encouraging, or whatever word you wanna say, more emotion outta you guys. They wanted to see some more energy and that you kind of took it upon yourself. I don’t know if you did that verbally or was that just saying, hey, I’m gonna go show these guys that I can have emotion out there too.
01:11 Yeah, I mean, it just comes down to we, there’s so many ups and downs in the season and some games you’re probably not at your best and you kind of have to find a way. And for us tonight was really just, for me it was just kind of bring energy and try to bring stability to our group because I just felt like we were playing really fast. There was a lot going on. And one of the things that we did was, like, if we’re just solid, just solid, I feel like we’ll give ourselves a chance. And there towards the end, that’s what we did. We kind of settled down and the game was better for us.
01:51 So, solid with the ball, solid — ?
01:53 Yeah. Yeah, solid with the — defensively, making sure that we’re not gambling, that we’re staying solid with our assignments, we’re not missing anything. We were on a string there towards the end and then on offense, I’m making sure we’re just taking care of the ball.
02:08 As a vet who’s been in this league for a while, what’s it like to see guys like Pat Spencer and Gui Santos, guys who’ve had the kind of fight to get into the league, stay in the league like thrive tonight? He had that game-winner.
02:18 Yeah, I know. It’s great to see. I’ve been so impressed with Gui he puts in a lot of work even going into the season. You could see that he was really putting in the time in his game and his shooting and he’s been so professional and he just stayed the course until he got his opportunity and he’s making the most of it. So I’m always impressed and it just feels great to see those younger guys taking advantage of these opportunities and not making excuses and making the most of it. Pat also is another guy that’s professional that he’s staying ready and he just has another level to him. He gets on the court, like, we’re in the huddle and he’s one person, we get on the court, he’s totally different. And I love that competitiveness about him. That drive that really kind of gets us going, so I really enjoy playing with him, too.
03:16 You feel like the All-Star Break’s coming at a good time, here, given how banged up you are, given how emotional the past couple weeks have been and given how much travel you’ve had to do in the first half?
03:27 Yeah, I mean, I think it is good mostly because it’ll give Steph more time to hopefully be where he needs to be, so I think to your point, yes. I think it is a good time that the All-Star Break is coming now and for all of us to kind of reset and know that this is what we have moving forward and we can focus on that.
03:52 It seems like in the — or it seems like the last week or so they’ve been running a lot of offense through you in the post. I was wondering what kind of advantages does that create in an offense when you dump the ball on the low block or even the high post?
04:05 Yeah. It is just a different way for us to attack and and get ball movement. I think that’s what we try to try to do, not always pick-and-roll, not always playing at the top, sometimes throwing it in the post and playing out of there. It’s a good way to do it and we’ve done a little bit more of that recently and I just think that having that balance, it’s good for our group.
04:33 Do you remember the specific play that you got, the scratching in your eye?
04:36 Yeah. It was there in the minutes ago when we had the jump ball that we kind of got held up there. Mm-hmm.
04:42 That final possession was pretty chaotic. You put the shot up, missed it, fell on the ground, found Gui while you were on the ground. Can you kind of just take us through that final possession through your lens?
04:52 Yeah. Yeah, I got it. I missed the shot, got the rebound and a lot of the times, you think about going back up and people don’t realize, everybody goes to the ball, so those are usually the best times to spray the ball out and I wasn’t able to get it to the three-point line like I wanted to, but Gui, just his awareness is great. So he really made himself available, so I was able to just kind of give it to him right there and he made a really good play, finished at the rim.
—
05:28 What’s it like to have that game-winning basket on your resume?
05:33 GUI SANTOS: It’s great. I’m not gonna lie. It feels good, especially the way the game was like we couldn’t feel that we were not bringing the energy, that we usually bring the whole game, but the last quarter was different. We just were there hooping together, everybody happy, everybody just playing for each other, playing hard on defense, running for each other, so the last game-winning basket feels like we call, like, cereja do bolo, like the — I dunno, the fruit at the top of the cake, you know? That’s just a little detail.
06:09 What sort of conversations did you guys have to get that energy back that wasn’t there in the first three quarters?
06:14 Actually, AV, Coach AV (Anthony Vereen), he had a great speech for us, just giving us energy. He was saying things that we need to listen in that moment and that wake us up.
06:30 And Gui, Al said actually that the defensive spark was sort of what got you guys through to make that comeback. I mean, what did he bring during that stretch on both ends to help that happen?
06:42 Al is amazing. You can count on him in the back, like when somebody drive by you, you know that he’s gonna be there and you’re gonna — he gonna save the basket for us, so every time that we send the guy to the middle of the paint, we know that Al is there, we good. We know that we can go and fight for the rebound because he not gonna let him just score easy. So have a guy like, oh, like he’s 39 years old, but he’s still playing like he’s 20. He’s great. He’s great. I love him.
07:12 You bring up his age, how he’s still playing like he’s 20. What does it say? What kind of example is it to have him on the floor with a bunch of mid-20-year-olds, early 20-year-olds? He’s 39 years old, Year 19, to still be fighting like he is down the stretch.
07:26 Man, that’s, I think that we could not have a bigger example in a team, like, more than Al, because you see him running, you see him fighting for the ball and you say, like, yeah, if he’s fighting for the ball that way, he got, like, he played in the leagllue 19 years and he’s still fighting for the ball. He’s still — the last possession, you see how hard he grabbed the ball there and luckily I was there to help him and, man, you see that? You get hyped and you see, like, I gotta run for this guy on defense. I gotta play to help him because he’s helping me, so we gotta play together to help him too.
🫶💙💛
Seems to me that Al Horford could take up a lot of what Jimmy used to do. He can pass really well, he can play back to the basket better than most players these days. He's got the moves around the basket. He can shoot from distance a lot better than Jimmy and pass from outside in or inside out. So the question is, can he handle significantly longer minutes? He and Guy are rebounding monsters so far. If fingers crossed Porzingas can play decent minutes on a regular basis, we could have a shot. And we still have all those pics to trade for a possible other big piece.