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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKS

May 21, 2019

Mike Budenholzer

Toronto, Ontario - Pregame

Q. After the game, Giannis talked a lot about being aggressive. Obviously, he was working the first couple of games to make the right pass and make the right play. Do you try to encourage him to find the right balance?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Yeah, he's got a big job. I would say he's been practicing all year, and I think he's done a really, really good job of balancing his scoring and his aggressiveness and his attacking the paint and attacking the basket with seeing and reading defenses and helps and rotations and creating great opportunities for his teammates.

It's like a lot of the times the answer is, he's just got to keep doing what he's been doing. Get better as the series goes on. Hopefully, he'll be better tonight, and I have a lot of confidence that he will be.

Q. Do you feel like you want him to be more aggressive?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Yeah, I think it's the same thing. It's the aggressiveness with still making great reads and great decisions. You can't just all of a sudden ignore what the defense is doing and presenting. He's got to have a great balance. I think we have to play well around Giannis. Giannis has to play well. It's a team sport, and I think the beauty of it is they've been doing it all year. Certainly him being aggressive, though, is important.

Q. Talking about aggressiveness, you mentioned that in regard to Eric a whole bunch of times. How can you put him in situations where he can be more aggressive and he gets in the paint more and affect the game in that way?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Always the first point for Eric and probably Giannis, those two the most, is when we get stops and get out in transition. Hopefully we have good spacing for Eric, and he can attack in the open court. But you're not always going to get that. In the half-court, hopefully after the ball's moved some and maybe it comes back to him after he's changed sides and the defense has moved, there are cracks and opportunities. Lastly, obviously, we still play some traditional, old-fashioned NBA pick-and-roll basketball. Give Eric some chances in pick-and-rolls and screen on the ball for him and give him opportunities to be aggressive and attack the paint.

Q. Toronto's been playing their key guys in the high 30s, low 40s minutes for a while, but this was maybe the first time you've had a stretch a lot of your key guys minutes. What is the fatigue like with the team?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Just the observation is good. They seem upbeat and energetic. Any time you have a double overtime game, the minutes are going to get stretched. As you mentioned, hopefully ours a little less than theirs. Hopefully, we put some money in the bank during the season and during the first two rounds of the playoffs. The guys appear really good and really fresh.

Q. I'm curious how after last game Khris and Eric and Giannis responded during their film session, where they didn't play as well as they need to, to put pressure on themselves to step up today?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: They were good in the film. I think it's one of their great characteristics: They hold themselves accountable. They want to hold their teammates accountable. But it starts with them. Defensively, everything they do on that end of the court. Offensively, of course it's there too.

I think the whole group was good in film. Just like Toronto, we're looking for ways where we can get better and improve. I think those three guys aren't any different than the whole group and what both teams are going to try to do tonight.

Q. You guys have lost two games in a row once this season. Is that basically, you think, about competitiveness and that hatred of losing, or is it more this season has been very steady since game 1?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Probably a little bit of both. I always tend to go to the competitive nature of the group, the competitive spirit of the group. Everybody is competitive. All teams are competitive, but can you separate yourself and be elite in that area? I think that's where we're always pushing ourselves. That's what we're always calling on is our competitiveness and our character. I think when you have character, when you meet a little bit of adversity or you lose a game, if you're a person of character, you usually like to come back and redeem yourself and play better and do things. Just change that feeling.

Q. A couple of your guys were talking about how important it would be to really go at Kawhi and see if they can kind of wear him down a little bit. What can you do in a game plan to maybe put pressure on a key player to maybe work a little harder than he has been?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: I love the players because they want to do more. We're throwing a lot at them. We're putting a lot of, I think defensively, making him work for a lot of things. Offensively, certainly when we're playing with pace and we're playing fast and we're forcing teams to get back in transition -- not just Kawhi Leonard, but their entire five -- they've got to get back and guard us. We move Kawhi, but same thing, we've got to move the whole team. We've just got to make them work. Leonard is not any different than the rest of the group.

We're probably a little less built to go at a guy or attack somebody. We will do it some, but maybe less so than some groups. We just want to play our game, and it should mean that Leonard is having to work and their whole team is having to work to guard us.

Q. On how human nature makes players more critical of themselves after a loss:
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Human nature is a strong force. Your ears may be a little more open. Your willingness to -- I don't know if agree is the right word, but your willingness to say, I've got to be better there or do this better after a loss is heightened. Hopefully, to be a good team, you've got to be able to do those things, win or lose, but you can never argue or underestimate human nature.

Q. Much has been made of some of your struggles in the half-court. What about your half-court offense in this series?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: I think, just like everything, we can be better. But there are also things we find positive. I don't know what the score was at the end of regulation the other night before it went to overtime [96-96], but it was more of a slugfest, lower scoring. I know Game 1, I think we got to 108. Game 2, 125 or something like that.

So in the playoffs, whether it's half-court or transition, whatever it is, you've just got to score. Can we be better? Certainly. I think, hopefully, we'll continue to just stress execution, stress some detail and get better opportunities and score in more efficient ways.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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