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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKENDFebruary 14, 2014Rex KalamianNate McMillanNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Team Hill – 142 THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and take questions for Coach McMillan. Q. In a game like this, does a guy like Drummond or a lot of big guys know they have to kind of go and get the ball off the boards, that sometimes these guards are not giving it to them? COACH NATE MCMILLAN: I think Drummond had in his mind that he wanted to put up a double‑double. And Grant Hill spoke to the team, and he talked about Faried's game last year where he had big numbers, scoring as well as rebounding. And Drummond had in his mind that he was going to go out and play the game hard, and every board, every rebound that came off the board he wanted. And a few of them he took from his teammates. But I like his aggressiveness. One of the things that I talked to the guys about was going out and playing the game the right way and forcing that team to have to come out and play. And I thought he did. He brought a lot of energy on both ends of the floor and won the MVP. Q. What did you make of Dion and Tim Hardaway, Jr., going back and forth? COACH NATE MCMILLAN: Well, it becomes a part of the All‑Star Game, and it seems like it happens all the time where two guys end up getting hot. And those two guys got very hot the second half there, and they made some incredible shots down the stretch. Really, I would like to see more team play, a little bit more ball movement, as opposed to Gladys Knight over here and the Pips over here style of basketball. But it was entertaining. I thought the shots that they made were big shots. Both of those guys were hot. Hopefully Hardaway didn't shoot himself out tonight. I think he's in a competition with his father tomorrow night. But Waiters did a good job. He made some big shots for us. COACH REX KALAMIAN: Well, I think we kind of accomplished what we wanted to accomplish coming into the game today. I had a checklist as a coach to obviously win the game, play hard, put on an entertaining show for the fans, and not to get hurt. So we did. We accomplished almost everything other than winning the game. But I think that the fans enjoyed the game. We also wanted to put some defense into the game. And based on the scores last year and in previous years, we kept it a little bit less than other teams had scored in previous years. So we're probably ‑‑ I'm kind of happy with the defense. Q. What do you think of a game like this being around so much talent will do for Steven? COACH REX KALAMIAN: For Steven Adams, I thought Steven played well. And, again, if you look at his box score, he's one of those guys that always plays. And you can't judge his game by the box score, because he does so many little things throughout the game. One thing I asked of him tonight, believe it or not, I had one request of him, was to block shots. I wanted him to stay in the lane, because obviously there's going to be no defensive 3s tonight, and just block anything that comes to the rim. And consequently he had four blocks tonight. So I think it's going to help him. Any time that Steven, because he's so young in his career and he's played so few minutes in his career through one year in college where he didn't play a lot and now into his rookie year in the NBA, I think it's important that he just play as much as he can, get on the floor. So I think it's going to help him. Q. Players always said that they soak up so much. Especially the guys that play in this game, that they soak up so much from the other guys that are playing on Sunday. Do you feel the same way? COACH REX KALAMIAN: Do I feel the same way, that I soaked up information from them? Q. Sure. COACH REX KALAMIAN: In a way. I think my goal as a coach‑‑ and I'm with a lot of players that I haven't had personal contact with. We had a lot of rookies on our team. We brought a lot of them in for a pre draft workouts last summer, so I knew a few of them through that. But just getting to know some of these guys and talking to them and asking them what they like about their game, what‑‑ where they want the basketball, it's a little interesting. I think the one thing I learned tonight about Jared Sullinger is he likes to throw outlet passes. And I hadn't seen that too much out of him. But he was throwing those things like Kevin Love tonight. Q. You've been in the league for a long time. This is your second opportunity to be a part of All‑Star Weekend. Why is this a special opportunity for you, especially to coach these guys tonight? COACH REX KALAMIAN: Well, like I told the players, I think that any time you're involved in an All‑Star Weekend, it's an honor and a privilege. And I had been in‑‑ I have been in the NBA for 20 years, and this is my second opportunity to be in this environment. And we have to treat it as such, because you never know when you'll have the chance, the opportunity to get back here and be amongst all these great players. And I just tried to impress upon our team tonight that they need to enjoy the moment, enjoy each other, enjoy the fans, and embrace this game, because some of them may never be back and some of them will be back every year. We have a couple probably perennial All‑Stars out here as well. But for me, I enjoy it. I mean, if we could come yearly, that means we're doing really well and we're playing well and we have a great record. Q. Since this is the last time I'll be able to talk to you the rest of the season, I'm going to take advantage. You guys are playing so well as a team right now in Oklahoma City, what's the focus going into this last half of the season? COACH REX KALAMIAN: You know, it's kind of like what we do every single day in OKC is we take it one day at a time and we try to get better each and every day. That message never changes. I know you get tired of hearing the same message, but it's kind of who we are. It starts with our ownership, our management, our coach, and it permeates all the way down to Kevin and Russell and how they approach every day. And I think that that's what we're trying to do is just get better. We're going to have some different growing pains now that eventually when Russell does come back our team will change once again, but we have always been able to adapt. And that's the one good thing about our team is that we adapt to new things, new people, different situations, and I think that when Russell comes back and he's healthy and we have got a new starting lineup and a new bench again, or our old bench back, we'll probably thrive again, hopefully. So we have different challenges going into the last 30‑some‑odd games. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, Coach. COACH REX KALAMIAN: Okay. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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