John on Harel’s tough foul: “As a team, we will not allow this to happen to any of our teammates”

Giannis explained in detail:

As he explains, the Bucks don’t typically play well in the third period of games: “I don’t know what’s going on. I think maybe we think too much and don’t play free and fast. We’re tight because we try not to lose in the third third individually, and we always lose it. As long as we play good basketball and don’t think like that, we’ll be fine. Team leaders need to set the tone for everyone to follow. However, I believe that we will improve over time.”

For Harel’s hard foul, Portis’ reaction to defend him: “Portis covers me and I cover him. I respect all my teammates and Bobby who defended me. But as a team, we have to set the tone even in such cases. If one of us gets a hard foul, we won’t let it happen, either at home or away. We can play basketball, commit fouls, but when the situation becomes dangerous, we have to calm down. “I’m fine anyway.”

On how much he’s improved as a passer since joining the NBA: “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but when I started playing basketball I couldn’t score. I was a nice defender because of my length, but I had slow legs. What I could and will do by the time I’m 50 is to fit the ball.

It’s an instinct. I pass without thinking. If you think about it, the pass will not come out. Even when I was 13, I could play difficult passes, even when I was playing football. That’s one of my strengths, and of course it’s improved in the NBA. I’m more ready to pass now than when I started my career. Elements like the shot, the shots, the dribbles, my finishes that I was working on here, but I had the passing in me..

Whether the Bucks changed anything about recovering after the heavy loss to the Nuggets: “We didn’t play well against Denver. I can’t remember the last time we lost in Milwaukee by 36 points. It was embarrassing, of course, but there will be nights like this. But we played hard with the Wizards and we realized that to be great we have to play hard.

Our opponents are hungry, they want to beat us because we are champions. So we have to play hard every night and build habits. Today was a good day for us, not because we won but because of the way we played defensively and offensively. “I hope that continues in our next game.”

About how important Portis is and whether he took the role of Tucker: “Bobby has always been like that. He’s got a good heart, but on the ground he plays hard, he’s protective of his teammates and he interacts with the public. That’s it. And we want Bobby to be Bobby. So he’s having a good time “The right way doesn’t go well. We need him to score goals, to play hard, to talk to opponents, we need him because when he’s doing well it rubs off on the whole team.”

For what else did he, Middleton and Holinde do in the 4th period: “Personally, I try to involve my teammates in the first three seasons because to be great, my teammates have to be great. To win, to win the championship, the team has to be better than me. I think I do not.” I’ve done it as many times in previous games as I do today.

I know that when I’m on a good day there will be times when I will act. But I think both Middleton and Holliday realized that we need the other kids to feel good, to play defense and then we would find a way in the fourth half to go through. “Only then will we make progress.”