LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 8, 2021

Quin Snyder

Press Conference

Q. So you kind of alluded to this with your comments this morning and then JC kind of reinforced them. We asked him kind of what your main message had been over the last few days and he said that you were driving home the need to just for us to be us. For you guys to keep doing a lot of the same things you've been doing. What are some of the core tenets that you want to make sure that you guys stick to offer the course of this series?

QUIN SNYDER: Well, I think for us to attack offensively, obviously that's always dependent on how you're being guarded and you have to recognize those things. But for us to push the ball up the court, to play with the pass, to take our shots, to attack rim, to make quick decisions. And then on the defensive end Rudy's unique and we have tried to figure out ways all year, how to best allow him to impact the game. The Clippers make that really difficult. You've got Kawhi who is problem the best mid-range player, whether it be on the post or off the dribble and then you see him face up and isolate and shoot threes. You've got PG who can create his own shot, has range, can shoot the ball off the dribble from three, can play pick and roll, who can come off screens. So they have got some guys that in those two guys that they're elite and you watch them and there's times you marvel at some of the things that they do. But I think that the big thing is that they're both really unselfish players and that's what makes them so difficult to defend, because of the shooting that they put around them. So there's a little bit of pick your poison and trying to impact those two guys and make it hard on them and then at the same time not give them clean looks from three is something that's difficult to do. So when I say to JC's comments about us trying to be who we are, obviously that involves certain things that you want to do that hopefully play to your strengths. But I think he's probably referring a little more to the offensive end and even without Mike I think we have to be aggressive and attack and not be afraid to fail. Like not be afraid to miss, but be able to get to the next play when we don't have a good possession offensively and then defend.

Q. I know that Mike is not playing tonight but I wanted to ask a little bit about him sort of a way from this game anyways. His career arc is not really normal at this point. Having a guy play for 12 years and then sort of traded away as really the old guy to make room for the new young guys and then now he's having very arguably the best season of his career and playing at the highest level that he ever has, first time All-Star, you know it all. Is any of that surprising to you and what do you attribute that to?

QUIN SNYDER: Well, I think knowing Mike and having the opportunity and really the pleasure to get to know him personally over the last couple years, it really, I think foundationally it's who he is as a person, that he's willing to do whatever he needs to do to help his team win. The teams he played with in Memphis for the majority of his career were very different than the way that our team is constructed and I feel like his talents and his ability to create, to shoot, to play make, he's finding opportunities to do that and when he has those opportunities, he's just so efficient. So I just, it's who he is, he's a special, unique person and a unique player in that he's been able to adapt to different teammates, different system, I think he would tell you too that was a little bit of a process and that's hard for a guy who is in the latter stages of his career. There's a lot more gas in the tank, you can tell that when you watch him play. I think he can, there's nothing in my mind that I see that doesn't say that Mike can keep doing this for a while, because of how efficient he is and the things that he does and the group that's playing with.

Q. Wondering about a guy like Jordan who had a nice series last series and his first two runs through the playoffs weren't very good and I guess I'm wondering why with some guys they click right away in the playoffs and sometimes it can take one or two or even three runs through it to really kind of find your mark in the post-season.

QUIN SNYDER: Well, I think the biggest thing is, I think it's hard to compare previous playoff series with different teams to where Jordan is now. I think if you just look at his play during the course of the year, obviously there's some, he's been able to score, he's really taken pride on the defensive end. I think he's adjusted how he scores, where he's more aggressive from three, without sacrificing his ability to create. Really, in some sense, it's a matter of opportunity and a matter of time and comfort level and I think he knows how much I believe in him, I know he knows how much his teammates believe in him, so he's playing with a lot of confidence and he knows we need him, so last series was a good example, he had a couple tough shooting nights, but he knows we need him to keep shooting. So even though he gets mad or frustrated the ball's not going in, he hasn't let that impact his mindset to continue to attack.

Q. In that last game against the Clippers in the regular season they got a lot of offensive rebounds down the stretch, even with the small lineup. How do you weigh going about it on the defensive glass versus them obviously you guys rely on the transition on the offensive end too, kind of weighing those kind of things?

QUIN SNYDER: That's a big part of the game for us, really every game, but certainly this one. I think particularly when a team spaces you, we have got to make sure that if Rudy's out contesting the shot, a mid-range shot or contesting at the rim, there are other guys on the perimeter who are gang rebounding. The flip side that have hopefully is if we can secure some of those rebounds, as you said, we can attack the other way. We're not going to necessarily I don't think our guys would be offended if they knew I said this, but we're not going to be all the time rebounding the ball above the rim, so a lot of times for us it's about gang rebounding, whether we tip the ball, a loose ball rebounds, we have got to have multiple effort plays on the glass, particularly when the floor's spaced and a team is shooting threes, there's long rebounds and then obviously when you have Kawhi and you have PG that are creating on their own and you're having to help, it breaks your defense down. So that's a big challenge for us and one that we have got to meet.

Q. You were just mentioning the word challenges, so what do you think is the biggest challenge when guarding this Clippers team and what do you think the key will be to limiting them?

QUIN SNYDER: Well I think it starts with Ty and the way that they play. I think to have a team that he has in PG and Kawhi, two players that have the ability to create, the way that they have put them in positions to do that and do it efficiently, whether that be pick-and-roll, isolation, post-up. And then the way that they space and the way that they play together, that's a reflection of their coach, the way that they execute, and you can see the buy in that their whole team has. They will make the extra pass, the ball moves around the perimeter, so you're guarding them in a lot of different situations and I think as much as anything your ability to concentrate and execute for an entire possession, because if you have, if you have a breakdown, they make you pay for it and then on the offensive end their length, their ability to take up space, we have got to be able to make really good decisions and make quick decisions because they're so good at recovering in close out situations.