 Here is the beard. James, congrats on the win. How close did you come to not playing tonight? You were testing your neck pre-game. Very close, actually. Just not able to really, you know, be myself. I mean, tonight really showed just my full range of motion, a little bit of everything, but, you know, in other excuses, I try to fight my team meeting me. And I try to go out there and just, you know, do my best and hopefully that was good enough. You got the dub, but, you know, you've been here a little over two months. Your first game with the team, you had 14 assists. Looked like you were clicking with guys right away, but from your perspective, how is that chemistry, that confidence in each other developed in your time that you've been in Brooklyn now? It's there. It's right where we needed to be. Obviously, missing, you know, Kay and Kai. I think everybody else have a sense of, like, what their roles are and just doing it to the best of their ability every single night. I'm really proud of the guy, especially in the fourth quarter. In order to be a special team, like we're more than capable of being, we got to have a sense of urgency and possession. You know, and things about the course of the games are going to happen, you know, turnovers or miss shots or whatever the case may be, but our sense of urgency and the way we play and our effort and our intensity on a defensive end has to be there no matter what. No questions and I'm proud of the guys in our fourth quarter because that's what, you know, one is the game, especially in the fourth. So that has to be the intensity every single night for us to, you know, be the best that we can be. Greg Logan, Newsday. James, you guys dominated in the paint tonight. And when I mentioned that to Joe, he said that it wasn't anything planned. It was just the way you could feel the game and what was working. What did you sense out there that led you to run so much pick and roll with Claxton and other guys and get people shots in the paint? That's just the way the game. You gotta take the game, you know, when the defense, whatever it is, give me. You know, my shot wasn't falling in particular, but we just weren't getting our shots and open shots. So I just tried to put pressure on that rim as far as me driving or, you know, getting our bigs or boosts and where it was in that pocket, you know, shots. And they did a good job of putting the corralling forcing me into two. So I had to get a ball up and credit to my teammates. They made the right play and finished the possession. Brian Lewis, New York Post. Hey, James, you mentioned how your team needed you. I'm curious, I mean, if all those guys were healthy, if God was healthy, if Katie was healthy, Landry, I mean, would you have sat tonight? And secondly, do you think you'll have to wake up tomorrow and see how you feel tomorrow to know whether you're gonna be able to play tomorrow? Yeah, like I'm, that's a good question, but I'm throughout the course of my career, like I don't like really, you know, I love to who, like I love to be out there and taking on a challenge of finding ways to win games. Like in basketball, everything isn't gonna be perfect. You know, whether it's playing through injuries or playing, playing banged up or, you know, I just think in life, like everything is always gonna be perfect. So you find ways to fight through a little adversity. You know, obviously, you know, when you're hurt, you're hurt, you sit out. But, you know, I try to find a way to just go out there and make an impact and play if I'm able to, if it's not risking anything, if that makes sense. So, and that's how I've been out the course of my career, like throughout the regular season, I think everybody knows I love to play. Like I don't really, you know, grass, I love to who I love to be out there and being there for my teammates. I feel like if I'm on the court, you know, my teammates have a better chance of winning. So that's just my mindset. And, you know, tomorrow when I wake up, you know, if I feel like I can go, I'ma go. And that's that's something. Christian Winfield, New York Daily News. Hey, James, you know, with this team, we talk about next man up a lot. And I feel like whenever guys go down or whenever guys are out, it usually boils down to one of TLC, Landry or Tyler that has to step up and fill in for minutes. Can you just talk about what you've seen from those three in particular? Or Bruce. Or Bruce, sure. Yeah, yeah. Those guys have been great, you know, all year long. Like never know when they're going to play and never know how many minutes they're going to play. Certain guys got, you know, a certain amount of minutes of the play per game. Those four guys are in and out of the lineups. And even you can add Nick in that rotation as well of guys who just don't know when they're going to get in. So for those guys to always be ready and be prepared and have that mentality, that like true professional attitude of whenever coach calls my name, I'm ready to go and ready to contribute. It's very professional. And they've done an unbelievable job of that since I've been here. And that's what's going to take us to compete in the championship. Mike Andrews, ESPN. James, you mentioned that you, you know, you've played the most games, 870 games of any player that's been in the league. Since you've been drafted to, you've played the most at this point. Is that something you take pride in one and also that you have young guys on this team that you're trying to kind of instill that type of work ethic on those that are around you? That's just how I am. That's just how I'm built. Like for granted, like if this thing was, you know, be done tomorrow and I wasn't able to play basketball anymore, I know that I gave everything I had. I know I didn't, you know, shortcut myself in any way, any point. So that's just my mentality and that's where I am. And it will be over, you know, eventually, you know, one day, but me in the back of my mind knowing like, yo, listen, you did that, you know, whatever happens at the end of it, you did that and you gave it your all, I can live with that. So, and I enjoy it. I enjoy like the grind, the legs, a little tired, not feeling so well and going out there and trying to just find a way to win the game. And tonight I feel like that was one of those examples. Alex Schiffer, the athletic. Hey, James, both Steve and Joe said that you guys got better defensively over the course of the game. You have to give it a 41 in the first quarter. Is what was lacking in the first quarter that got corrected in the final three? They were comfortable. They were getting to their spots and they were shooting a lot of threes. And, you know, coming to our team meeting and our film session, you know, we, you know, our coaches did an unbelievable job of preparing us. And we talked about our game and TJ and their team gets up a lot of threes. You know, one of the top, you know, three-point shooting teams and we can't allow it to happen. And they were doing that in their first quarter, giving out everything they wanted. Reject screens coming off, we weren't up. They were getting to the basket. They got whatever they want. And we made some adjustments. We talked about it. And we went out there and corrected it. And it showed, you know, 20, every single quarter we got better defensively. So, 25 in the second, 25 in the third, 21 in the fourth, and that's just signs of growth and signs of us listening going out there next to the game point. Last question, Tom Dowd, brooklynets.com. Hey, James, if we could just take a look at tomorrow night, you've got Utah, they've got the best record in the league. And, you know, being in the West the last couple of years, you're very familiar with them. But do you have a sense of what's got them playing at a little bit higher level this year? I think they're healthy. They're healthy and they finally, you know, I've clicked. I think that that loss in the playoffs in the bubble last year really probably, you know, got to them a little bit. And so you've got a full healthy team who's, you know, well-coached and, you know, everybody knows their role and they have a great system. It works for them. So we've played them. I've played them a few times in the postseason. And, you know, they're a tough team, especially at home. So no different than every other game for us. We got to have that mindset of going out there and taking it to our opponent and letting the chips forward.