NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: NUGGETS VS WARRIORS

April 18, 2022

Will Barton

Denver Nuggets

Game 2: Postgame

Warriors 126, Nuggets

Q. Will, Malone was just talking about sticking together; Monte was just saying how it was embarrassing watching them kind of dance and laugh in front of you. For you, what's the most frustrating part about this?

WILL BARTON: Losing.

Q. Simple as that?

WILL BARTON: Yeah. I mean, when you're winning, you can celebrate. I've never been the type to be mad at someone for celebrating when they win because we do the same thing. You want them to stop celebrating, win.

Q. Malone also said the biggest challenge facing you guys right now is not splintering. What happened with you and DeMarcus the third quarter?

WILL BARTON: Nothing, just some goofy shit. I can't even entertain.

Q. What does that mean?

WILL BARTON: Just some goofy shit that happened on the bench that I shouldn't entertain. I can't let that happen in the series, in the Playoffs, in the game. I've got to be better than that.

Q. Do you think this team needs some time to regroup and come together, and how do you do that?

WILL BARTON: Well, we'll have a couple days before the next game, and we've got to be prepared to win Game 3. Just figure out a way. A lot of talking, but we've got to come with some actions.

Q. Is it stuff with the game plan that needs to change, or is it just internally you guys got to be tougher, have more fight?

WILL BARTON: Internally we've got to be tougher. We've got to have more fight, execute the game plan. We haven't executed the game plan neither game. We've got to be better. All the players got to be better.

Q. How much of this moving to Denver can be kind of a reset to give you guys a chance to kind of fresh start?

WILL BARTON: Well, it's going to be on us. Even if we go to Denver, if we play the same way we played here, it's going to be the same result, so it won't be a reset. We've got to go and be ready to take care of business, handle business and defend and win a ball game.

Q. Malone said it's like a snap of the finger; you guys are in the game one minute, the next it seems like it's gotten out of control. What do you need to do in those short stretches to kind of stay in the fight?

WILL BARTON: Just be tougher, physically and mentally and emotionally. We were right there in the game, and like you just said, you look up and then they go on huge runs and we're getting helter-skelter and everything -- we're all over the place on offense, we're not in the right places on defense, and the game just gets out of control.

Q. Their biggest runs have come with the three guards, Curry, Thompson and Poole, and obviously Curry and Thompson have been doing this for years, but to have all three of them out there, how does that change the equation? What makes them so much more dangerous?

WILL BARTON: They've got three guys that can score the ball, can shoot the ball. Curry and Poole with their play making put a lot of pressure on you, getting downhill and making shots. We've got to figure out a way to make it tougher for them.

Q. Monte said afterwards everybody tried talking to try to figure out how to get out of this. What was that like and maybe what did you guys say to each other?

WILL BARTON: Talking up ain't going to work. We've got to go out there and play and do what we need to do. Talking is over with. They're not doing a lot of talking. They're playing and winning.

Q. Coach Malone was also talking about how he can feel the frustration that Nikola Jokic is playing through. Can you feel that too and maybe what can you do to help him in those situations?

WILL BARTON: Yeah, well, it was obvious tonight he got thrown out so he definitely was frustrated. I don't know. I mean, he's been in the Playoffs the last four years. He knows how physical it's going to be, especially with him now asserting himself as one of the top players in the league, they're going to try to take him out of the game. They're going to be even more physical with him.

Obviously the Playoffs is allowed with more physicality, and he has to adjust. We all do.

Q. If talking is not going to do anything, what does accountability look like from you guys?

WILL BARTON: Accountability is knowing what we're doing wrong and then going on the court and fixing it, not talking about it.