LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 28, 2021

Kristaps Porzingis

Postgame Press Conference

Los Angeles Clippers - 118, Dallas Mavericks - 108

Q. Before the game Rick told us that he had talked to you guys about the fact that these playoff games are long and it was going to be an emotional night and you probably needed to manage your, manage the emotions. Do you guys think that that's what got you tonight? You got off to the big lead and then they came back on you or what do you think happened?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: Not necessarily. I think it's just a mixture of things. We didn't have our best offensive night, nor defensive. We could do both better. Obviously the game's long and a lot of emotions and a lot of momentum changes. Yeah, just they were the better team tonight and that's it. We're going to look at the film, look at what we can do better, and come back next game with a fresh mind.

Q. How would you assess your own performances on both ends?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: Below what I can do, obviously, you know. Just frustrated at moments and trying to keep my head in the right place where I keep playing hard, keep doing things I can do on a defensive end and offensive rebounds and things like that to keep myself engaged and then giving what I can to the team. Today I just -- it's a long game, a lot of emotions, but try to stay calm and just do the things that I'm capable of doing.

Q. With the Clippers playing small, why do you think you weren't able to make your impact offensively tonight?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: Just, it's random. It's a lot of random action and I definitely can do a better job of sealing the guards when I have a guard on me. And also I have to, I have to score on those post-ups that I had. I had great looks and I just missed the shots and sometimes it's like that, you miss shots, you miss the last couple threes at the end also, which were tough ones, important ones. So, yeah, just frustrated a little bit with the shots not going in. But then, again, I can't really let that affect the rest of my game. So that's it. Tomorrow get some rest, get some work in, and come back for next game.

Q. When you look at the way you're playing in that fourth quarter especially, did you feel like you were pressing too much, like you were trying too hard, almost too hard?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: Myself or the team?

Q. No, yourself. Your own game.

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: No, I wouldn't say so. The game wasn't really going my way and I wasn't trying to force nothing. If we had those mismatches, I have to be able to utilize that. That's part of my game and I have to be able to convert those into two points or a foul or a good shot for my teammates. So, yeah, I want to be better and that's it. It's definitely, we can do things better. We can do things better. And but, no, talking about the fourth quarter, I didn't feel like it. Maybe if I look at the film it might look like that, but I don't feel like that, maybe I got two, three shots, good looks, open looks, just shot them.