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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKSMay 16, 2019Serge IbakaMilwaukee, Wisconsin - Practice Day Q. When your game is working, is it about the shots you're getting? Is it about kind of the opportunities, or is it about getting enough minutes so you can kind of get into a rhythm? SERGE IBAKA: It's really about everything. The minutes, the shot and the energy -- everything. I have to try to early in the game when I check in really try to bring everything. But the most important is the different mindset. I should be out there rebounding and defending. I know every time when I get a couple rebounds and play great action on the defensive end, it kind of opens a little bit of my offensive game. I think it's something I have to be focused on in the next game. Q. The way they defend, are there some opportunities for you offensively? The pick-and-pops? They seem to be willing to give that up a little bit. SERGE IBAKA: Yeah, everything is out there. Everything is out there. You just to have your confidence and just be ready. But like I said, everything starts on the defensive end. Q. Defense in the modern NBA is about figuring out ways to stop at the rim and still get out to shooters. Do the Bucks put more pressure on you than any other team maybe at that specifically? SERGE IBAKA: I feel like when I'm in my zone, when I have my energy game up, I can do both. That's why my coaches and my teammates trust me to do that, because they saw me do it before. I did it before, so I can do it. My energy level was not there [in Game 1], but my coaches and my teammates know I can do it. I believe I can do both. I can protect the rim and then go out there and contest the three-point shots. Q. Do you feel a sense of pressure that in the games where you've been very good or played really well, the Raptors have won every one of them? SERGE IBAKA: Yes, and I know that. I told myself last night, I have to play better for my team to have a chance to win. I have to do it. It's kind of pressure, but it's good pressure because that shows you how important I am for this team, too. It is a big challenge. We only get better when we have challenge in front of us. Without a challenge, I would not be here where I am right now. Q. In the fourth quarter yesterday, Kyle was the only one with a field goal. In the second half, outside of Kyle and Kawhi, only one field goal for the entire team. Was that a wasted opportunity considering how well you guys -- SERGE IBAKA: Yeah, we were playing so well early in the game. We were moving the ball. I felt like we stopped moving the ball a little bit. We had a couple times where guys had shots but didn't shoot. I think we have to shoot those shots with confidence and then try to keep playing the right way like we started at the beginning of the game. Q. You've had to adjust in terms of your role late in the season, and you've had some of the biggest moments for this team of anybody in the playoffs. Is it still difficult to kind of find your place in every game, whereas for so much of the season you kind of knew what your place was in every game? SERGE IBAKA: Every series is different. Different matchups. It's only one game. The good thing about our playoffs, it's seven games. We have an opportunity tomorrow. We're going to watch film today and learn and try to be better next game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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