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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKS

May 20, 2019

Mike Budenholzer

Toronto, Ontario - Practice Day, Canada

Q. What do you hope to get done today?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: A couple overtimes, you're probably going to need more on recovery. At this stage, it's probably more about film work, recovery work. There may be some days going forward where we go to the gym, but today we didn't. But it's not that unusual to mostly pour your time into film and recovery.

Q. Is the voice today a by-product of last night?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: This is somewhat common. It's probably like everything in the playoffs. Players are working harder than everybody. You guys are working harder. Coaches are working harder. So the throat, the voice feels it.

Q. Was last night a result of you guys having a bad night or the Raptors having a good night?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: They were good last night, I think. Give Toronto a lot of credit. Their activity, obviously, a couple individual guys that played well. I do think we can play better, individually, collectively. We can be better.

Q. After the game, you mentioned that you wanted to look at the film to see how the different defensive matchups affected you guys?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: I think there were some things where the matchups were maybe something that were positives for them. Then there were a lot of possessions where both teams are scrambling to get matched up, and we're not getting necessarily to the perfect guy, or they're not getting to the perfect guy or however it is they wanted to start the game. There's a little bit of both in everything.

We got to be better when they do have the matchups they want and find ways to execute and get better shots and better opportunities. In general, just play. When we play, that's when we're at our best. I don't think it should impact who's guarding who when we're at our best.

Q. This team lost only once back to back, in early March, Utah and Phoenix. What is it about this team that has that resiliency?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: We talked about it all throughout the year. There's a competitiveness. I think it's a sign of the character of the group. When you have those things usually and you lose, you can't wait to get back on the court and play and do things better and find ways to help your teammates and find ways to be there for each other. That's what we've done. That's what we're looking forward to doing tomorrow night.

Q. You don't normally see 12 points from Giannis. How does he bounce back after that kind of game?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: He usually will. Hopefully, we'll see. I think he will be aggressive. Again, I think looking at the film, they're putting a lot of attention on him. I think he's making a lot of good decisions, a lot of good reads. We've probably got to play a little better around him to make it harder for them to do that. When everybody is playing well, then Giannis plays well. I think, again, he's passing well. He's making good reads. I think he'll continue to do that. If it's 12 points or 40 points, he just wants to win.

Q. When you get into an overtime situation, given how the game is going, who might be going hot, who might be having an off night, do you wrestle with altering the group that you might start an overtime period with based upon what has happened throughout the game to that point?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: I don't know how many overtime games we had this year, but just in general, I like to keep guys fresh. So it's a little bit out of the norm, but subbing in an overtime is something that we've done in the past. Sometimes it can be a huge positive and a difference maker, and other times you just roll with the same group that's been playing either to finish the game or that's been playing well.

I think generally we feel good about sometimes mixing it up or giving a guy a minute or two break. Whether it be five minutes to finish the quarter or another 10 minutes, that's 15 straight minutes of basketball. That's hard. Certainly, your best players, you want them out there, but sometimes even them, if they're just exhausted, there may be better options.

Q. I wonder if you wrestled of the idea of maybe having Malcolm [Brogdon] and George [Hill] stepping in the second overtime period, just given how they were going?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Definitely. Malcolm and George were playing so well, but, again, we've been talking so much about Malcolm's minutes since he's returned from injury. I think this is his third or fourth game, and, again, he'd been playing a long stretch, so just wanted to give him a couple minutes. I feel good about that.

Q. Do you see an opening to go after Kawhi a little harder in Game 4 given that he still has a day off like everyone else but he still played 52 minutes?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: I don't know if we can go any harder at Kawhi than we are. I mean, it's the fourth game. I think the adjustments, there are always things that we can do better. It may be an adjustment. It's probably just doing what we've been doing better. We've been throwing a lot at Kawhi, and we'll continue to do that.

Q. You put Malcolm as one of the two main guys on Kawhi kind of switching on and off. How do you balance wanting to keep him and Khris Middleton fresh and take turns on him but also maybe wanting to give Malcolm more minutes and play them together?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: The biggest thing is Malcolm's minutes have gone up. I think with Malcolm's minutes up, they're playing more together and it's giving one of them an ability to be on the court and not have the assignment of guarding Leonard. I think we've mixed in Bled [Eric Bledsoe] a couple of possessions. We may try to use Bled a little bit more. Again, I keep saying there are other guys on our team that can step up. Giannis and Ersan [Ilyasova] and George and guys like that. Obviously, Malcolm is playing well. Get him on the court a little more, and it's been good for us.

Q. You talked about getting Malcolm's minutes up. How do you believe the bigger starting lineup with Niko is doing? Is that something you're thinking about changing?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: No. I think the way Malcolm is playing, I think the punch he's bringing us off the bench, both he and George -- I would say we'll continue to think about it and wrestle with everything, but generally speaking, I think that seems like it's in a good place.

Q. Talking with Khris, he said the play he's replaying in his head is the three that could have made it 97-96. Is there a sequence or play that replays in your head? How does your brain work it out?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: I've got a bunch. We're about to go watch film. I don't know how many clips are on the film. I'm trying to be nice and cordial with you guys and think about what it is we're about to go really do. So there's a handful of them.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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