But just how disappointing was it to come out, then?

Just have them set the tone with that nine.

Nothing.

I know it's just a couple of minutes, but it just seemed like when you start playing appeal against that team, that's not really not really a recipe for success.

Obviously.

Yeah, it wasn't.

I think again.

Um, you know, we we you know, you got your you got your coverages in your and your things you're gonna do at the beginning.

And we just We just missed him early, right?

We were just a Ah, step too slow on on just about everything.

And I thought we, you know, I talked about before the game how important shot contesting was.

And I just didn't think we settled in with some space and gave him confidence early.

And, um, you know, I just can't do that.

I mean, we didn't We didn't do either thing very well tonight.

I mean, we didn't do much much Well tonight, obviously, the way the game went Nick down.

Winky.

Los Angeles Times, You?

Yes, uh, before game one you'd mentioned Ilyasova is a guy that can make sort of winning plays.

How big of ah thumbprint did he have on the game today?

Well, I thought there's he was.

He was very good, right?

He stepped up and made a bunch of shots.

He took a couple charges, but he wasn't the only one off the bench.

I thought that their bench guys came in.

And really, um, you know, we're were when we kind of clawed back with bad start.

We kind of got it for, like, 14 9 right away.

And and then those guys came in and really took off, I think.

Yeah, 13 17 13 14.

That's I see.

That's 44 Okay, off the bench.

That's pretty good, right?

And and that's, um, Brogden again, I thought had a great start to his game.

Um, and obviously we had a hard time.

We weren't nearly as good on the honest Tonight he was.

He was in the paint with a little too much force.

More than we'd like tonight.

Michael D.

With the athletic What are you hoping that it's changed?

A senior you can do based on just how this result came?

You take your fighting uphill and never could break through Yeah.

I mean, I think, um, you know, we got we got a hope that, uh I mean, we did.

We didn't play very well tonight, and ah, we did play pretty well in game one.

Um, you know, when they've they've done what you know, they're supposed to do and protect their home court.

And we've got to go now, do the same and and get ourselves, you know, back in the series.

But it's got to be more of an effort, like like game one than tonight, Because again, we were We were just a pill for almost 3/4 tonight.

You're nicked.

Announcement the trump start.

Speaking of that start where you guys have always seemed to answer calls and respond with effort.

We're surprised are mystified.

Why?

Didn't seem to be there from the start tonight.

Um, I was you know, I'm always surprised when you don't when you don't start the game a little bit better, right?

Especially, You know that they're at home and they're gonna come out with an extra pep in their step.

And, you know, we all we talk about that a lot like a You know, you gotta we gotta really focused on getting our defense set up at the start cause it's gonna be extra fast, you know, they're gonna become an extra fast with the with the, you know, home court and the excitement and the energy that everybody has to start the game.

And, um, you know, we just didn't do a good enough job of getting ourselves set up, and we just again, I think I mean, I gotta look at it.

Begin what it felt like to me and what I was telling him in the time outs as we gotta press up more on the shooters, right?

We were We were I don't know.

I can think of one.

We want his own one time and got a stop, and we came down the next time, and it was late in the clock.

And, um, Mirotic's had one in the corner and Mark went out and contested him.

It was a good contest, but it wasn't a full out contest.

And, you know, we know, we know.

We know the level of contestants gonna affect these shots or not.

And if you don't go with everything you got on and jump high and and really try toe, you know, let him know you're right.

Pressed up against him, then the chances of going into pretty good.

And I thought not.

Not not picking on Mark.

I thought there was.

There was several around the court where we were kind of there, but it just wasn't enough, right?

And I was continually asking us to press up harder into bodies and make him bounce and do something else other than just shoot over.

Ah, slightly contested three go Chopin did with The New York Times.

Uh, I was wondering in the third quarter, you guys cut it to 13 near the end, has a little had a little momentum there.

Is there anything particularly mass trash trying?

Is there anything that you saw tonight that you like that you can take with you going into game three?

Well, yeah.

I mean, I think again, going back to some keys to our Siri's is we've got to continue to work, you know, the offense for shots, right?

And again, um, you know, sound like a broken record up here, but we had our share off wide open shots that could have that could have Ah, you know, at least stymied.

A little bit of the of the break out in the score.

Um, but we got to make sure we continue to work for him.

But But listen, I thought again we would just We just weren't quite physical enough, right?

We were.

We weren't getting on our screen set good enough.

We weren't getting them off their screens.

Good enough as well.

Um, and we're gonna have to be better, or they're just gonna They're just gonna look bigger than stronger than we are.

And I don't necessarily think that's the case.

We gotta play a little tougher.

Start from the trauma start, Nick.

Mark got a bunch of shots early.

Danny got a bunch of those guys.

You kind of wanted to get going.

Was that it?

Did that just happen, or was that a concerted effort to get them touches?

And how difficult is it when those guys aren't going for you?

Well, it made it pretty difficult, right?

And, um, you know, again, some of that's designed and some of it's happening again, the way they're playing especially, you know, with Mark, you know, You know, they're They're sending Lopez to the to the paint to the rim all the time.

So Mark's gonna have his share of opportunities just because that's, you know, with the way the spacing lines up.

And, um, I don't know.

Jeez, I feel bad for him.

I mean, most of those went in and out, you know?

I mean, it's like he's a really good player.

It's a really good scorer that was taking good shots and they just couldn't buy one, right?

So and, you know, I even said it the first time out.

I think he was about one for five or six at the first time out, and I said, We got to get him about Let's go, let's go toe, Let's get him a bucket, you know, And maybe we could kind of get him, See one, go in and and you know, again, there were good shots.

Um, and but to answer your question, it makes it tough, cause we're taking what's there with guys that you know what and he's a great shooter and Mark's score and those are guys that we need toe to step in and plan and they will.

They will.

Eric named the athletic a week ago Brad Stevens and sat in that seat and said, What makes playing the bucks so hard is that every possession, both offense and defense, they make you work.

I'm curious what you think of that assessment through two games and just how hard it can be If, you know, you do cut it to 13 and you know they're still going to give it to you that next possession.

Yeah, it is.

It is difficult.

And I think you know, your you know, you get that thing.

We got that thing to 13 and I think we had, ah, time out, even in our ball.

And Kyle made a hard driving layup.

I think that, you know, he thought he got knocked to the side and threw it off the side of the backboard.

And then the next time down, quiet got in a in a little tussle.

But again, if you're if you're going to not get a good shot or turn it over, they're gonna put some pressure on you, right?

And that, you know, I think they took it right to 19.

Was I think it might have been two possessions of back to back threes.

or something, or maybe an and one or something.

So you know a lot of work to cut that thing in there.

And it's kind of going on a couple possessions and I can Aiken you know they do.

They do a good job of playing pace, basketball and aggressive style of play.

Both ends Kapron, STS and Coach.

Can you talk about Norm Powell's performance tonight?

You get 25 solid minutes, six of nine from the floor.

It's something that we really needed throughout the postseason that you saw tonight.

Yeah, it was good.

It was good to see in the war.

My, uh, you know, planned on using him a lot more in the rotation.

I think he fits in the syriza little bit mawr with his speed and strength and athleticism, his ability to take it off the bounce.

Um, you know, we're gonna need that, so it's good to get him going and and ah, I would I would imagine going forward, he'll be a critical part of the Siris for our rotation.