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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKSMay 25, 2019Giannis AntetokounmpoKhris MiddletonMilwaukee, Wisconsin - Postgame 5, Canada Raptors - 100, Bucks - 94. Q. Giannis, obviously the 26-3 run was the key stretch in this game. What were you guys struggling with offensively? Obviously they were on a roll scoring the ball, but what was the struggle for you guys and trying to get good shots? GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Obviously we were playing real well in the first half. We know Toronto is a great team and they're going to make runs. But the team just tried to stay focused and tried to move the ball, trust one another and execute. We knew that they were going to make a run. But obviously we weren't able to rebound the ball and get out in transition and get the easy points. That's why we lost the lead. Q. Giannis, last year after your last game, you said that you felt you were the best player, but it was clear that the defense -- the game plan was to stop you. GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: I said that last year? Q. Yes, you did. GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: I don't remember that. To be honest with you, I don't remember that. But continue. Q. We saw pretty much a similar situation, at least you believe you're the best player or near the best player on the floor, but the game plan is to stop you. What has to change for you? What has to change for your team to make that fail? GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: I don't think anything has to change. At the end of the day, we trust one another. The game plan was to double-team me, make me not get a rhythm. But what I did was trust my teammates. That's what I've been doing the whole year. If we lose by doing that, by trusting one another, by moving the ball, by doing what we've been doing all year, by trusting our habits, it's okay. I just tried to stay aggressive, tried to make the right play. That's what I've been doing all year, and that's what I tried to do tonight. Q. Khris, the steps that this team made this season, and I know it's hard with the emotions raw, but can you kind of take a look at what this team accomplished? KHRIS MIDDLETON: Yeah, I think we had a great year, 60 wins, one of the best teams in NBA history. Got past the first round, which we struggled with for a long time. Just fell short of our goals. We were right there. I think all in all it was a great season, but we still fell short. Q. Giannis, I'm curious for you, what do you end up taking from this series? GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Man, obviously when you're up 2-0, that doesn't mean nothing. You've got to learn how to come out and close out games, especially after Game 3. We've got to get better as a team, and we've got to get better individually. I think it's just the start of a long journey. We're going to get better. We're going to come back next year and believe in who we are, believe in what we've built this year, and hopefully we can be in the same situation and be the ones moving forward. Q. Khris, what's this next month-and-a-half like for you? Obviously you're leaving a locker room tonight, and that locker room won't look the same next year at this time. What's this process going to be like for you? KHRIS MIDDLETON: Take some time off, spend some time with my family, get healthy and start training. That's really what the first month is really about. Q. Giannis, obviously you played more minutes tonight than you have in regulation at any point this series. Pretty much more minutes than you've played throughout the season as a whole. Just with the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter going the way they did, were you itching to get off the bench? Did you feel like you needed to be out there more? GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Obviously I want to be out there. I want to play. I love playing. But I trust my coach. I've trusted my coach the whole year -- the way he's been putting me into the game, the way he's taken me out of the game and making me rest and putting me back in at the right moments -- and that's what I've got to do right now. You cannot just start making up things or you cannot just go and tell him, Put me back in, especially in a game like this. It's all about trust. You can never lose the trust, especially in a game like Game 6 tonight. But obviously I want to play as much as I can. I want to be on the court and help my teammates do whatever it takes out there to win. Q. Coach Bud complimented you on the job you did defensively against Kawhi Leonard, tough cover. He got 17 rebounds in this game. What was it like to see the force that he was playing with in this game, and how difficult was it to withstand that force? KHRIS MIDDLETON: He's a great player. A guy that can score at all levels, a guy that can defend many different positions. He had great rebounding instincts. He got a couple loose balls. He's just a great player that willed his team, made plays, made some tough shots. Just led them. Great player. Q. Giannis you talked about wanting to get better as a player. Do you have any plans this summer to work on your game to be a better basketball player? GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: If I have any plans for this summer? Obviously I've got to go back home and spend some time with my family. After that, I'm going to make sure I get in contact with the coaching staff and see what we can work as a team and how can I get better individually. It's something that I take pride in, getting better in the offseason. So hopefully now I can work on the right things, listen to my coaches and what they think I can get better on, work my butt off and come again back next year and just be a better basketball player and a better teammate. Q. Giannis, I'm curious, when you look at Kawhi on the other side, he's a guy that's gone through it, he's gone through some losses. He's been here in the playoffs before. Do you feel like that was a difference in this series, that he had done it before and you haven't done it before yet? GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Yeah, you can tell. You can tell from the way he was playing. And not just in this series; in the previous series also. The way he plays, he has so much patience. He knows what he's going to do. He has confidence in himself. And he has the experience. He's been here before. He's been to the Finals multiple times. He played well. He did everything that he could to help his team win. It was a tough guy to guard for our team. Q. I'm curious, you guys have talked a lot about how at this point sometimes it takes experience. I'm wondering if now that you have some of that experience, if you see more validity to that point or what you think about that now that you've gone through it? KHRIS MIDDLETON: I mean, probably sit back, let this series digest a little bit, watch the film, watch the games. You know, experience, you have to go through some things to get to where you want to go. So hopefully we learn from this and move on from it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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