What James Borrego Said Ahead of Matchup vs Lakers
On Kelly Oubre Jr.’s status:
“He’s going to get looked at now and see what he looks like in warmups and make a decision here. So, we should know in the next 30 minutes.”
***NOTE: Oubre Jr. is now ruled out for tonight's game***
On if nationally televised games feel a little different with a young team:
“The hope for this young group is that this just becomes normal. It’s just another game for us in that regard, but I’m excited for this organization. It’s taken a minute to get here. This is not easy and to be one of these teams that people want to watch now throughout our league, it’s exciting for our organization, but more for our players. I’m excited for them to be on this stage, to show their talents, how hard they’ve worked and the type of team we are. So, I’m more excited for these young guys to perform at a high level and the hope is that over time, this just becomes normal for us. Just like the Lakers and all these great teams out there. So, this is just part of that process.”
On what he remembers about the game last time against the Lakers:
“That feels like forever ago – it feels like forever ago. The turnovers. I think that’s going to be huge tonight, the possession game. It’s going to be a major factor. 18 turnovers for 33 points, that’s what we gave them. Our half court defense was okay. When you turn it over 18 times against this group and they score 33, that’s a tough one to overcome and we almost did. We made it a game down the stretch, but we put ourselves in a tough spot by turning it over so much. One of our strengths this year, which is why we are up there (as a) top two or three offense is keeping turnovers low. Conversely, we want to score off our defense, so we want to go create turnovers. We want to get rebounds and push the pace. Our best offense is our defense. When we have to play in the half court, we can play in the half court too offensively, but our best offense is our defense. Winning the possession game tonight, not turning it over, creating more than they create and winning the board, that’s important. We know that’s another challenge for us tonight against their size and physicality – we have to win the boards.”
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