LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 8, 2021

Bojan Bogdanovic

Postgame Press Conference

Utah Jazz - 112, Los Angeles Clippers - 109

Q. You played some major minutes guarding Paul George and Kawhi Leonard and they had relatively quiet nights for their standards. What was the key to keeping them within kind of control and what are you thinking when you're battling those guys?

BOJAN BOGDANOVIC: I mean, they are both great players, so we were trying to force them to take tough shots. Rudy was there every single time and they have blow by us or got a straight line drive. So great team defense overall on these two guys, but we know how good they are and they're going to be extra aggressive next game.

Q. What are the key aspects that you can take away from this first game against the Clippers?

BOJAN BOGDANOVIC: Just our defense. Even we started the game shooting the ball pretty bad, especially from three-point line, but we kept guarding, crowd was really behind us, they pushed us when we were down 13 or even more, so I think that our defense, it's the key in this series.

Q. We don't see it a lot from you, you hit a lot of kind of spot-up threes, but you drove into a big three late in the fourth quarter there. What did you see going into that play and taking that shot?

BOJAN BOGDANOVIC: I mean, they were trying to blitz Donovan, kind of double-team him, especially in the last couple of minutes on the game, and then I had Kennard on me and shot clock was running down, so I needed to take that one. It was big one, but, like I said, Donovan was the guy that really brought all the attention, and then the other guys, we had a lot of wide-open shots, but like I said, didn't play for a couple days, so maybe that get us tired at the beginning of the game or we didn't have a, we didn't have enough confidence hitting those shots. But, like I said, again, our defense was great, especially second half.

Q. Speaking of Donovan, obviously he had a pretty incredible second half, especially the way he came out and started that third quarter with 10 straight points. What did you see from him and kind of how is he able to go on scoring streaks like that and kind of have the ability to take over games in that fashion?

BOJAN BOGDANOVIC: He's just amazing, amazing person. He's a great player. He saw that we are down, down 13 at halftime so probably he thought, I got to take over the game. I got to be extra aggressive and especially in third quarter. So he got us back in the game and then all the energy or the crowd he gave us energy to the players. Like I said, I mean, just amazing, amazing performance from him.

Q. We saw that you had great connection with the fans, so how contagious was the passion of the fans in the stands to you on the floor?

BOJAN BOGDANOVIC: It was probably the loudest crowd that I've played in front here in NBA. Even when we were down, they were kind of cheering and pushing us and gave us extra energy to get back in the game. Then when we start to hit those shots, especially Donovan, I mean, the arena was really amazing and really loud.

Q. You made the key three-point shot and you have to keep focus all along the night. So how hard is it to stay focused all long the game and to have the key shot?

BOJAN BOGDANOVIC: I mean, those threes are giving us extra energy defensively because, like I say, we couldn't buy a three in the first quarter. So when we start to hit our shots, when Donovan got hot, it gave us energy also defensively to guard better and kind of communicate better. We were all in.

Q. You've been talking a lot about how Donovan's play kind of got you guys going, but in the game broadcast we were able to see him mic'ed up and talking to the team. How would you describe his vocal leadership on this team this season?

BOJAN BOGDANOVIC: I mean, it's just amazing how mature he become this season. He's really reading the game great. First half he had a quiet first half, especially because we couldn't hit a shot, so he was trying to probably involve all of us in the game. But, like I say, we were missing the shots. And then in third quarter and fourth quarter he took the game over and he was more aggressive. So it's just amazing, his leadership and the energy that he's bringing to the table and kind of giving to all of us.

Q. Which one in your opinion is the biggest adjustment that you guys made individually and as a team that allowed you not to suffer from Conley's absence?

BOJAN BOGDANOVIC: I mean, we had a lot of games that we missed Donovan and Mike, so we are kind of, I can not say used to it, because it's different story right now in the playoffs and we really miss him because he's primary ball handler. But they play small ball, so we kind of, we try to adjust on the way how they play, how they going to attack us. So great first game, we cannot get too high or too low. Second game is in two days. We got to watch the film and prepare for next game.