 Hey, Steve, first, do you have any update on James's MRI results? I don't. I haven't heard yet. And then secondly, I mean, what do you make of what Blake Griffin was able to do for you all tonight? Blake was great. I mean, obviously he put up numbers, but it was just his energy and fight was outstanding. You know, it's beautiful to see him work and persevere and, you know, get an opportunity to play extended minutes tonight and was outstanding. So we knew this would be a different series for him than the Boston one. So we knew that it's just going to look different from that series. But, you know, he obviously was great tonight and his energy and fight was outstanding. Alex Shiver, the athletic. Hey, Steve, I got two for you. Just piggybacking off Malika's question. Can you also speak to Mike James and the impact you gave us tonight? Yeah, you know, that's what has happened to us all year. I wear something's happened, some sort of adversity. Someone goes down and the next man's up and Mike, you know, who would have thought before the game he's going to play 30 minutes and, you know, scored the ball, rebounded, made a few plays and hustled and just great to see guys who haven't been in the rotation, get an opportunity, step up and play well. And then just defensively, you held in the 20% three-point shooting. You forced a lot of turnovers and capitalized on this. What did you like about the defense tonight? Yeah, overall, it was pretty good. You know, we did a lot of things well. You know, some of it is making or missing, but, you know, I thought our defense was good. We didn't give him too many, you know, wide open looks. We, you know, we weren't perfect, but we scrapped, we clawed, we fought on the boards, especially after the first quarter, part of the first quarter. You know, we cleaned some things up as the game went on and I was really impressed with the fight and our ability to hang in there. You know, we had some different lineups that are very rarely played together and we were able to hang in there. Greg Logan with Newsday. Steve, obviously Giannis got his points, but the job you guys did on Middleton and Holiday really made an impact. What do you attribute the good defense on those two and was that kind of a focal point was to take out the other guys? No, I mean, we just want to be solid. Those guys are capable. They could have big games. It's about just the overall picture and tonight they missed shots, but I thought we were, you know, we pursued, we persevered. We didn't, you know, relax and give them freebies. We were able to make them earn it and tonight they didn't go. They could go next game, but it's about the overall team picture and our ability to persevere and to fight and scrap and claw and not give them anything easy. I thought that was there from start to finish tonight. Vincent Goodwill, Giannis Sports. Hey Steve, I'm just curious. What was your first initial thought when you saw James come up, you know, lame so early in the game? And secondly, do you feel like with all the starting lineups and different permutations that you've had to deal with all year that you're better prepared to deal with such an adverse situation? I think so. You know, we've had a lot thrown at us this year, so we were in a sense well trained for this event. But you know, you never want to see that someone like James who's such an important player, such an incredible player and care so much, you know, I'm heartbroken for him. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if he's playing next game. If he's out, I have no idea. But heartbroken for him that he just got to miss that he had to miss the night. I mean, this guy was so ready and excited to play tonight. And you know, the preparation he puts in, you know how much he cares about the game, how much he cares about his team. So you never want to see that when someone's, you know, gives gives everything they have towards this. Brian Mahoney, AP. And Steve along those lines, you know, how do you sort of make the transition right there? I assume pretty quickly you've got to figure out who's going to play who hasn't played and, you know, what kind of rotations are going to change there, you know, 40 seconds into a game. How difficult a challenge was that. That was tough, you know, we you prepare a certain way. You know, we already had questions coming in that we were going to try to answer as we went along. And so that just threw a huge one at us in a sense it gave us less choice. But you know, when you prepare for a game and he's such a big part of the game plan that that can throw you off. So I was proud of the guys that they didn't get rattled. They hung in there and got the win. Oh, we'll have to look at it. We'll have to see how we go here and watching the film and taking a look at our rotations and our options and see what buttons we can push and persevere. Brian Lewis, New York Post. I know your defense a lot's been made of your defense. I'm curious what you your impressions were of your perimeter defense how much of that was you forcing them to take tough shots or how much of that was them missing shots that they normally would make. They probably did a good job. You know, defending and making it difficult. They can still make those shots, you know, they're they're they're very capable team. But I'm proud of our guys defensively for the effort. Really great stretches second half in particular was outstanding. We have to continue to build and grow and know that we're probably going to have to weather some storms with this team. But it's it's about our approach. Like I said before the game, it's about being relentless with our willingness to to go the extra mile and and doing it together and hanging in there and I thought tonight we did a great job. There were moments where it was tough on us and we hung in there and we came out the other side in those little pockets of the game and that was really impressive and important for us. Christian Winfield, New York Daily News. Hey coach, um, two for you on Blake. Number one, he only took one three I believe the entire first round and tonight he comes out and shoots what four for nine from downtown. It's a practical thing, but by you guys to emphasize for him to shoot threes. And secondly on Blake, you just talk about how contagious it is for him to be diving all over the floor and what that does for the group. We knew he would get looks, you know, Boston switched everything and he wasn't going to get any looks but um, you know, we know that the box and traditionally packed the pain and protected the rim. He got some, he got some looks as we expected. Um, but you know, like the making misses is important, of course, in its finality, but you know that that willingness to fight and claw and to do the dirty work has been unbelievable from Blake since he got here. And you know, his energy and toughness and as well how much he cares is on display and and that was impressive and I think it definitely gave our team a big shot. Tom doubt Brooklyn that's calm. And Steve, you know with Kyrie, he gets your 20 in the first half after you lose James and then he goes 45 minutes. What's his impact tonight. I mean, Kyrie was so important for us, you know, just giving us that outlet that person that can make a play. Um, he's been there before he, you know, he just such a presence on the court for us. So, you know, he was unlucky tonight not to have a monster game. I think he had a lot of balls that were in and out and but they look good. And, you know, those will go down for him. But, you know, his impact, you know, especially in that first half was so important for us to come in the halftime on top. Steven Begley, SNY Steve, I know you guys have the time late in the regular season without playing without James when he was hurt. Did you go into the postseason, like planning at all for a scenario where he, he gets hurt? Did you have did you kind of think through that at all with the staff? No way. I wouldn't dare. You know, that's just not the way I think you can approach in the playoffs. in the playoffs you expect your best. Expect health and if something happens then you you adapt but you know I I did not envision this at all I didn't prepare for it. But you know our guys have faced a lot of scenarios like this all season. So in that respect we weren't afraid. We continue to play we didn't hang our heads and I was really impressed with our pressure there is under what could have been emotional toll on us know to prepare to get out of the first round prepare for a few days for the series and have you know our kind of lead lead playmaker go down in the first minute you know that could derail a team but our guys have been through this and they hung in there and their toughness was on display. Thanks for your time coach. Okay.