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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKS

May 16, 2019

Danny Green

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Practice Day

Q. For those who have never played defense (laughter), how difficult is it to play at the level you guys have been playing defensively for the minutes you guys are doing it and then still have something left at the offensive end, just physically or however you want to describe it?
DANNY GREEN: I mean, it wears on you. But as I said, we're a young team. This is the Eastern Conference Finals and we have to get after it. At the same time, it's different for different people. For me, I think it fuels my rhythm offensively and it keeps me more active in the game if I'm more active on the defensive side of the floor. That's why I want to try to guard point guards or guys that are more involved in the game offensively on pick-and-rolls, but some guys it may wear on them. But I think we did a pretty good job of playing defense initially. We've just got to do a better job of finishing the defense with the rebounding, boxing out and not letting them get to get offensive rebounds.

Q. Can you walk us through that process of why you think it's better for you to guard better players?
DANNY GREEN: I just think that defense fuels my rhythm offensively. We can get out and run better and it keeps me more active and into the game. So it's different for different people. Obviously, offensively I'm not the guy they're going to draw up a bunch of plays for. So for me to be in rhythm and feel like I'm more involved, defensively taking those assignments.

Q. Does that get tougher as a league -- there's so many fast point guards. It's hard to put a hand on anybody anymore.
DANNY GREEN: I guess depending on who you're talking about, some guys get more fouls than others. But I try to use my length, still using whatever quickness I might have, not much of it left. But I use my size and length to try to slow them down. We have a great big with Marc [Gasol] behind me and Serge [Ibaka], and they can guard the pick-and-roll very well and it helps contain those guards, small guards, and not allow them to use their speed as much.

Q. Is there a way to get you more shots, better shots in the offense, not in transition?
DANNY GREEN: Yeah.

Q. Can you explain that --
DANNY GREEN: I would love to explore them. I talked to K-Low [Kyle Lowry] about it. We'll figure some things out, do some different things. But all in all, we played a good game up until the fourth quarter. We were playing at a good pace. We moved the ball. We've just got to rebound better, not let the offensive rebounds and keep our pace in the fourth and just continue to attack the paint and find the open man.

Q. Did that pace in the fourth slow down because of all the minutes you guys have logged in that seven-game series do you think?
DANNY GREEN: No, I just think we couldn't get as many stops as we like to. They got to the free throw line, and we didn't. And I think that slowed it down, not being able to get stops and them getting to the free throw line. It slows down your offense. We've got to figure out ways to get stops, which fuels our offense, and keep the pace up. I think obviously if we can get good possessions down the stretch and get the ball to Kawhi, we can still do that with our pace.

Q. On Kawhi Leonard's shooting and overall efficiency.
DANNY GREEN: That's part of -- the numbers that he was shooting, that's not something you can keep up forever. He was playing at a very high level. He's still playing at a high level. But to score the way he was scoring and that efficiency, if he did that for the rest of his career, he'd be known as probably the greatest of all time. That's hard to do. So naturally the numbers are going to balance out. But he's still shooting some pretty good percentages. We have to make it easier on him, so we've got to push the pace and get looks and different actions so other guys can give him a break here and there and find times where we can actually give him a rest on the bench to where the team doesn't go on runs. So we've got a group that are on the floor when he's not on the floor that have to step up and continue to score and play good defense to keep him under wraps.

Q. Pascal has been you guys' second offensive option for most of the Playoffs, but now he's had [Joel] Embiid on him and now he's got Giannis. What have you seen how those matchups have been difficult for him or how he's succeeded?
DANNY GREEN: I mean, those are great defenders, and Pascal is not a selfish guy where he's going to shoot the ball every time he's open. The perimeter, he's going to continue to run the offense, get guys involved and attack when he sees his spots. Embiid, it was different playing off of him, so for him it was a little different. But playing his style or keeping the offense going without looking to score, looking to shoot, be aggressive. This one I think Giannis is not guarding off of him that much and he's just a long, athletic guy, so it's hard to get around him. He still uses his quickness and athleticism to get to the paint, get the rim and find his angles because he's good at it, but at the same time, he's still trying to get other guys involved and play our offensive system.

Q. What does Kyle mean to this team?
DANNY GREEN: Oh, he's huge. He's huge. The way he played last night, that's why I think it was most disappointing for myself and us collectively, not stepping up and taking care of that game. When he plays that well, we've got to win games like that. We've got to find other guys to step up and do other things, and not just offensively but defensively and rebounding. Those little things to help us. But we're going to continue to need him to be aggressive. I think the fingers helped him. They popped out. He's the only one hitting shots for us right now, so hopefully a couple guys get a couple fingers dislocated and make some shots.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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