GRIZZLIES COACH Pregame 01-13

GRIZZLIES ACTING HEAD COACH DARKO RAJAKOVIC

On Karl-Anthony Towns:

“He is a heck player. One of the best skilled players in the league, his shooting, post up ability. It is going to take a team effort to slow him down, we have to make it really hard on him.”

On playing the Timberwolves:

“To be honest with you, the last time we played this team they punked us. They did a good job against us. We did not play with a lot of energy or focus in that game. This does not have anything to do with our record, their record. We just want to go out there and try to get even. We want to improve impression the second time we play those guys and be better.”

On the jersey swap pregame:

“Good for them, good for those kids. Ja Morant is a rising star in the league. At the age of 22 already one of the best players in this league, best players in the world. I am really glad that kids are coming and trading jerseys. It is a great decision.”

On Ja Morant being second in All-Star voting:

“Our team is playing good basketball, and he is our best player. He is playing really good this season, I believe that he deserves to be an All-Star, and I am trying to retweet every single day. Trying to get him some extra votes. He is our guy, and we give him full support.”

On Steven Adams availability:

“Steven Adams is doing better. Non-COVID related illness, he is trying to get his conditioning back. We expect to have him back soon.”

On having a target on their back as one of the best teams in the league:

“We are just trying to be the best version of ourselves. We are playing good basketball, but this is a long season, this is still regular season. We have high goals, every game we are approaching with the mentality that we want to win. As a young team our objective is to get better, our guys are doing a really good job, whoever gets to step on the floor, rise to the occasion. We have to keep doing that.”

On being one of the teams ‘hunted’ in the league:

“We do not think in those terms, only the next game, the next opponent and try to continue improving our game.”

On guarding Karl-Anthony Towns with a smaller player:

“I do not know the reason for other teams trying to do that. We have our game plan, and we have our personnel, and we trust them guarding guys and guarding Karl-Anthony Towns. We also have some back-up options during the game we might use.”

“On the Timberwolves leading the league in 3-point attempts:

“First of all, we have to do a good job on the offensive end, taking care of the ball, not allow those guys to run in transition and get easy points and a lot of easy shots in transition. Karl-Anthony Towns has a deep range and Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell are really good are creating shots off the dribble. We have to really make it hard on those guys. It is not going to be easy, but we have the trust in our guys that we can accomplish that.”