LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 2, 2021

Dwight Powell

Postgame Press Conference

Dallas Mavericks - 105, Los Angeles Clippers - 100

Q. A massive third quarter, a plus 17. You guys ended that third quarter on a 16-0 run. Can you talk about the focus that you had in that quarter and what that run meant for you guys to help hold off the Clippers in this game tonight?

DWIGHT POWELL: Yeah, it's huge. Coming out of the half we wanted to make sure to get off to a good start, get some momentum. Obviously, defensively, focused on their key guys was crucial for us and taking advantage of the opportunity we had offensively.

Q. You've obviously been around Luka three seasons now. You're coming into this with the injury thing. He had a bad Game 4 by his standards. Was there any surprise or doubt at all in your mind that he was going to have a performance to this level in this game?

DWIGHT POWELL: Luka rises to the occasion regardless. Whether he's injured or not, regardless of the situation, when it comes time to compete he's going to show up for us and that's what he did tonight. So definitely no surprise that he came to play tonight at all.

Q. Obviously your minutes have been somewhat limited this series, but you were able to come in today, like you said, and make a big impact defensively scoring the ball with a pump fake and dunking. How were you able to stay ready throughout this series and be ready to make an impact when your name is called at any moment?

DWIGHT POWELL: I mean, staying locked in is part of development as a player, especially in this league. You got to be ready for your opportunities. You don't know when they're going to come and you don't necessarily know how long they will be there. So you got to make sure you seize that moment every chance you get regardless of what time of year it is. So it's a habit that I've built, fortunately, early in my career and now nothing changes. Staying locked in in practice, locked in in film, staying with guys, competing every way we can from the bench, staying locked in. So, yeah, it's a habit fortunately that I have built in already.

Q. You guys were talking about road mentality you need to have the next game. But what is the difference between the road mentality that is making you win in Los Angeles and the home mentality that you guys had in the first two games in Dallas?

DWIGHT POWELL: I'm not really sure how to answer that question. We just have to compete. We have a game ahead of us at the home. We'll look at the things that we did here tonight that we were successful and try to do more of that. We got to look at the things that were not successful that we need to work on and we need to find ways to remedy those regardless of what arena we're playing in. So fortunately we're able to go home for this next game and we need to do everything in our power to compete at the same level we did tonight and even exceed that and hopefully come out with a victory.

Q. How do you explain that the road team has won all five games in this series and how do you change that Friday night?

DWIGHT POWELL: I mean, that's how it's been. Road team has won. I don't necessarily have a secret explanation to that. But like I said, we need to lock in, look at the things that we did tonight that were effective, look at the ways that they may adjust to those things and try to counteract that and also some of the things that were not as effective and try to remedy those things going into this next game.