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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKS

May 21, 2019

Mike Budenholzer

Toronto, Ontario - Postgame 4

Raptors - 120, Bucks - 102

MIKE BUDENHOLZER: I think this is probably the first night defensively where I don't feel like we were close to where you need to be to give ourselves a chance. So credit to Toronto. They obviously played well, had a lot of guys step up and play well. Their bench was very good.

We need to look at the film and see the errors where we can be better defensively and offensively. We're just going to have to get better. But we're going home, and two very good teams. It's going to be a hell of a series.

Q. Bud, do you take a second to reconsider the defense and all these shots and that you're getting to see how the guys on the bench have to step up?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: I think that's kind of alluded to in the opening; that I think defensively, just tonight didn't feel like where we need to be defensively, as good as we need to be.

So just reflecting on the game, I'm not sure a lot of those were necessarily Kawhi Leonard-centric. I think some other guys played well. They got to good spots. They shared the ball. They passed it. They made open shots. They made some high-degree-difficulty shots. So that's a bad combination. They're making open looks, and then they're making tough ones too.

We'll have to look to see how much of it is regarding Leonard, what we're doing with Leonard, and how much of it is just we need to be better individually, we need to be better collectively.

Q. Are you at the point after back-to-back losses where maybe you need to reconsider anything in your rotations or maybe your starting lineup?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: This group has been great. We're certainly going to look at the film and look at everything, consider everything. We've got a couple days between now and the game, and we'll evaluate it.

Q. Your turnovers were down compared to game three, but they still seemed like they were an issue. Do attribute that to the Raptors defense or do you think you guys are being a little bit careless with the ball?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Both. I mean, there are some just hard-to-understand turnovers, but those, even some of the hard-to-understand ones, they've upped their aggressiveness, their activity, and so you have to be sharper with the ball. You have to be stronger with the ball. You have to cut harder, screen harder, do all those things, and even though, if the turnovers were lower, I still don't think we executed and took care of the ball the way we needed to.

Q. With their trapping and aggressiveness on defense, what did you guys do offensively to start to get things going?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Well, it always helps if we shoot the ball a little bit better. We've got to finish in the paint better. It feels like, you know, again, reflecting on the game, there's a handful of chances around the basket that we don't finish. When we get open threes, we're going to have to hit a higher percentage of them. But just the same stuff we've been doing.

I thought Giannis passed it. I thought we found some guys again in the paint. We're going to have to finish better there, finish better at the three-point line or make more threes.

Q. Bud, you spoke a lot about Brogdon recently but it looked like a few of his shots were falling short. Did you think that could catch up a little bit considering how much time he's missed?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Well, even a player that's been perfectly healthy and playing for months, occasionally they don't have their best games. So as a group, I think we -- you know, we could be better, but you've got to give Toronto a lot of credit tonight. They were very, very good.

Malcolm, hopefully, it's just part of him continuing to get better legs, get better conditioning, more rhythm, and the more he plays, the better he'll be.

Q. Looking at Bledsoe, just 20 minutes of play tonight. What do you think about him going forward in the series? Is this a series he's still going to be able to start and have an impact, or kind of how do you see it?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Malcolm and George have played so well the last few games, I think we felt like maybe trying to get them on the court more. We're going to need Bled. Eric's been great for us, his defense, his ability to attack. We need him to play better. We need the group to play better. But tonight really, all three of those guys -- you know, Malcolm, George, and Eric -- weren't as good as we need them to be.

Q. In your experience, have you found it easy in this position to turn the page after a loss that was a little bit one-sided and focus on the task at hand moving forward?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Easy is certainly not the word I would use, but sometimes, when you get beat the way we did tonight, you know, you can turn the page, flush it, whatever term you want to use, to some degree and just get ready for the next game.

The emotional toll of losing close games and heartbreakers, sometimes it's hard. We got punched. They played really well. So in that sense, can we go home and get ready for another battle and be ready to go? I totally believe in Game 5 we'll be ready.

Q. Coach, would it be fair to say so far in this series it's been sort of the supporting cast of both teams that have made the difference? That they are making the difference thus far?
MIKE BUDENHOLZER: Certainly, their bench, particularly tonight in a game where they played so well as a group, their bench stands out -- 17, 18, 13. Norman Powell hits more shots than anybody on their team. And we've had nights where our bench has been tremendous, and we were able to get wins.

So after four games, I think that's a fair thing to say. Some of the role players have stepped up on different nights for both teams, and I guess it's pretty simplistic. You know, the players that play better, that team's probably going to win.

So credit to them and their bench tonight. Thanks, guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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