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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKS

May 21, 2019

Kyle Lowry

Toronto, Ontario - Postgame 4

Raptors - 120, Bucks - 102

Q. What did you think about the balanced offense that the group provided tonight and particularly what the bench gave you guys?
KYLE LOWRY: Got 17 [points for Serge Ibaka], 18 [for Norman Powell] and 13 [for Fred VanVleet]. We needed it. I think this may be our third game of the playoffs where everyone like kind of stepped up and played and scored and did some things well.

This is one of the nights that we knew Kawhi was a little bit limited. We had to come out and be aggressive for him. The great thing about having him on your team is he still gets all the attention. We fed off of that -- drive, kick, swing. He gets in the lane, kick out. That's the benefit of having a superstar like him on the team.

Q. Kawhi wasn't at his best, but was this like the best version of Raptors basketball?
KYLE LOWRY: We could have made more threes and played better defense. They shot 46 percent from the field. I think they still got some things in transition that we can clean up. No game is ever going to be perfect. I think as a team we can always be better defensively. I think we can always shoot the ball better and get better shots.

We finally won the rebounding game, which was big for us. That was one of the keys to the game for us and one of the things we wanted to do tonight. We had 32 assists. It just worked out tonight that we played a good game.

Q. You guys have talked a lot about trying to balance out the emotional highs and lows. How much have the events of the past couple games kind of lifted the mood around the team?
KYLE LOWRY: I think we stayed level-headed. I think we understood the situation. They did what they were supposed to do on their home floor, and we did what we were supposed to do on our home floor.

Now we've got to go out there and continue to do what we've done the last two games and put it into Game 5. We know it's going to be tough. We know they're going to come out amped and ready to go. Some of the things we can continue to get better at is transition defense and catching-and-shooting and shooting the shots that are there.

Q. Freddy always delivers something, even when he's struggling offensively. But to see him break out a little bit tonight, what does that do for your team and what it maybe does for him? He's had a pretty eventful couple of days.
KYLE LOWRY: I think he needed it. Welcome little Freddy Jr. to the building. I think those type of things kind of relaxed him a little bit.

Like I said, he needed one of those games. You know what he needed? That banked three to go in. Stuff like that. Just get in some type of rhythm. He played well and made some great plays tonight. 3 for 3 from three. Sometimes it's just one or two shots where something happens. It's all mental sometimes.

Q. Nick said that because Kawhi missed 20-some-odd games during the regular season, that this team is equipped to go without him. Do you think you guys lean on that when you see him hobbling a little bit out there? It's kind of like we've been in this situation a quarter of the year?
KYLE LOWRY: We stepped up for him. He's given us a lot through these playoffs. A couple of games where we can give him a chance to kind of not have to do as much and carry the load as much -- he got down to 34 minutes tonight. I wish he would have played less than 30. But he got 34 minutes. He still got 19 points and helped us because he gets the attention.

We want him healthy, but when we get a chance to go play and have to do these things, we have to try to be more aggressive and assertive even to start the games. I think we rely on him a lot, and he definitely does a lot for us. But we have a game like this where everyone steps up, it's a lot of easing the pressure off him doing something offensively for us.

Q. Just in the locker room, Marc was saying how sort of angry he was at himself for letting his defense impact his offense in Game 2. What have you seen from him in the last two games, and was there ever any sort of doubt about what he's able to provide?
KYLE LOWRY: Never any doubt. Never any doubt; that's one thing. Two, what I've seen is him being aggressive, being assertive, catching-and-shooting, shooting the trail threes. Not worrying about it. Just catching-and-shooting. He watched the film. He sees the shots that he has available, and he's been taking them. I think he still can do a little bit more offensively.

He's been unbelievable defensively helping and getting back out to Brook and not letting Brook get shots off. And just trying to be there to help everybody.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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