00:0020 years old and you are in the finals.
00:02Yeah.
00:04Tell me what's in your mind when you...
00:05Oh, everything.
00:07There's so many things going through my mind.
00:09I think how grateful I am, how excited I am.
00:12There's so many things that kind of go through your mind
00:14when you get an opportunity like this.
00:16One of those things that you don't want to take for granted
00:17and you don't want to mess up.
00:18So I think the biggest thing is I'm just trying to sit still right now.
00:22Just not put too much pressure on myself,
00:23not demand too much of myself at this time.
00:27Just understanding I need to have fun and go out there
00:29and play and what we've been doing all year.
00:31I could say the same thing almost with the whole team
00:33because you are 20, you are the youngest one, right?
00:36Yeah, me and Dylan, yeah.
00:37But we are 21, 22, it's crazy.
00:40I'm curious about what is your very first memory of the NBA Finals?
00:44I mean, the first thing that...
00:45The first of the NBA Finals?
00:47I would say my first memory of the NBA Finals.
00:54Or the first time you remember yourself
00:56in front of the TV watching the Finals?
01:00Probably I was working there.
01:02Probably the Lakers Celtics?
01:04Yeah, Lakers Celtics.
01:05That was the very first, like, vivid memory I have
01:09where I can just...
01:1220...
01:12What year?
01:132000...
01:13Was that 2007 and 2008?
01:162007 and 2008?
01:17Yeah, yeah.
01:17So...
01:18I was like three years old.
01:19Yeah, yeah.
01:19I was like three years old.
01:20I just remember watching Kobe.
01:21Kobe was my favorite.
01:22So, I just remember 2007, 2008.
01:25That 2010 Finals.
01:27I was a big Kobe guy growing up.
01:29So, Kobe watching those battles with...
01:34Watching them go against the Celtics.
01:36And then, obviously, as I got older,
01:38I remember just watching the Spurs and the Heat a lot.
01:40I remember watching...
01:422012 or 2015.
01:43Those years, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:44So, stuff like that.
01:46I remember just kind of watching that Dallas run they had.
01:52I mean, there was a ton of teams I remember watching.
01:54Now, it's your turn.
01:55Crazy.
01:55Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:56It's super crazy.
01:57Tell me about the learning.
02:00What do you say is the biggest learning of this team
02:03during the seven games in the OKC?
02:05Because, in my opinion,
02:06you were one team before that final
02:09and another team after that final.
02:11Absolutely.
02:12When you play a team like OKC
02:13that's been there before
02:15and they're a really good basketball team,
02:17you understand there's things that they're going to have
02:19not necessarily an advantage on,
02:22but they've been there before.
02:24They understand the pace of the game.
02:25They understand how to slow down runs
02:27and small things like that.
02:29So, I think for us, it was just understanding
02:31obviously with their home court advantage
02:32not giving them an opportunity
02:34to take control of the game with their crowd,
02:35not making silly mistakes.
02:37Slowing down the game for ourselves,
02:38understanding when we want to play with pace,
02:40when we want to play fast,
02:41understanding that it's not going to be easy.
02:43They're going to go on runs.
02:44We're going to go on runs.
02:45It's a game of runs.
02:46So, not putting ourselves too high or too low.
02:49Understanding the ups and downs, right?
02:50Absolutely.
02:51What about the reps?
02:52Because in my opinion,
02:53you learned,
02:54no you,
02:54the team learned a lot about the reps.
02:56I saw the team super frustrated
02:58during the first two, three games.
03:00After that,
03:01it's like you understood
03:02that if the whistle is in this level,
03:04you don't have to complain,
03:05you have to go to that level.
03:06Yeah, you have to play
03:07to a certain physicality.
03:08You have to understand
03:09that the game is going to be called a certain way
03:11because it is this magnitude of game.
03:13So, understanding that,
03:17basketball is a game
03:18where as the level rises
03:20and as we get to conference finals,
03:22things aren't going to be called.
03:24So, understanding that
03:24we have to play stronger.
03:25We have to be more physical.
03:27We have to be,
03:27we have to understand
03:29that it's on us
03:31to make certain plays
03:32and it's on us
03:32to do certain things.
03:33So, like at the end of the day,
03:36you can't control
03:37what the other teams
03:37are going to do.
03:38You can't control
03:38what the other coaching staff
03:39is going to do.
03:40You can't control
03:40what the reps are going to do.
03:41You can only control who you are
03:42and who you are
03:44as a collective unit.
03:45So, understanding that
03:46and moving forward,
03:46we just have to be better.
03:47There's things we have to be better at
03:48because, I mean,
03:50calls are going to be calls.
03:51Like, they're going to stand.
03:52You can't go back
03:53and yell at the refs
03:54and you can't do all these things
03:55because that's not going to do you
03:56any good in that moment.
03:57Just understand you have to play
03:58and go on to the next play.
03:59And, I mean,
04:00at the end of the day,
04:00everybody's human.
04:01We make mistakes
04:02as basketball players.
04:03We make mistakes
04:03as, like,
04:05coaching staffs make mistakes.
04:06Basketball players make mistakes.
04:07We say the wrong thing.
04:08We see the wrong thing.
04:09We don't see the entirety
04:11of certain things.
04:11So, understanding that
04:12is a human nature.
04:14Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:14It's nice.
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