NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAVERICKS VS. WARRIORS

May 20, 2022

Jalen Brunson

Dallas Mavericks

Game 2: Postgame

Golden State - 126, Dallas - 117

Q. Jalen, what did you see happen in the third quarter, especially defensively?

JALEN BRUNSON: They got a lot of easy looks. They were playing Warrior basketball. They were making us move. They had a great run in the third quarter, great third quarter team. They just made a run, and we just let the run go on for too long.

Q. I'm sure it's easy to focus or react to the shooting they have. Do you think there was any overreaction to the three-point line that led to the 62 points in the paint for them?

JALEN BRUNSON: I mean, they're a good team. So I mean, whether they're shooting the ball from the outside or if we're running them off, they're making plays in the inside. So they just made the right reads.

Q. Jalen, Jason was fairly critical of the defense that you guys played, said we play defense when we play offense, and we play no defense when we can't score. Is that how you saw that second half unfold?

JALEN BRUNSON: I mean, the coaching staff is always going to put us in a position to be successful. We've just got to stick to the game plan, and we've got to basically preach what they're coaching. So that's that.

Q. You guys made 16 of your first 28 threes, and you stayed hot for the game. You finished 5 of 7. But when you're making them at that kind of rate, is it hard to stop shooting them once a few of them stop dropping like what happened in the third quarter?

JALEN BRUNSON: I mean, we were getting great looks. When we're open, we're going to shoot. We have a lot of guys capable of making shots, knocking shots down. So I think as long as we're open and making the correct -- shooting the correct shots, making extra pass, doing the things that we do, we have confidence in everybody, I have confidence in everybody to knock it down.

Q. Jason spoke about you guys knowing that they're a third quarter team that would make a run. Is some of this loss on the fact that you guys are a younger team, inexperienced, versus those guys over there who have championship experience?

JALEN BRUNSON: Yes, they do have championship experience, and I guess you could say we don't, but it was also us just not playing defense to the level that we're capable of, and that's the reason why we lost.

Q. Jason's talked a bunch this season about how he approaches timeouts when other teams are going on runs and how he likes to give you guys a long leash and let you guys figure it out. What have you guys learned from that approach this season, and how does that maybe differ or not differ in the playoffs when it comes to being able to try and slow down what they're doing?

JALEN BRUNSON: He's always been able to basically tell us to make adjustments on our own, and we've been doing a great job of that. We've been doing a great job of talking to each other. So he obviously helps us, coaches us, but I think as a team, he gives us an opportunity to figure out what we're doing. So it's definitely helped. It's got us this far. We've just got to continue to trust what we do.

Q. To follow up on that too, what have you guys learned about being able to play yourself out of holes or being able to play yourself out of deficits this season, and what do you think you're able to build on that going forward being in this position now?

JALEN BRUNSON: We learned that we've just got to stick together through the good and the bad. We're a bunch of guys that really enjoy playing with each other. We've just got our two words, chemistry and accountability all year. So just got to keep going.