- There were some relieved guys today to have a win under their belts before they head to Philly and start this home stretch of eight games in 12 days to finish the season.

- While we got a little insight into the evening sessions DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems put in with assistant coach Eric Hughes, it was hilarious to hear DeRozan rip on Weems for being out of shape when he first met him and then hear Weems adamantly say that DeRozan was wrong. These two are just a pair of young guys living the dream, working hard and enjoying themselves while they do it. It’s been fun to see their friendship evolve over the course of the season.

- What’s been even more fun is seeing Weems progress. He works hard, he plays hard and he listens. From the guy that everyone thought would be on the inactive list each game, he’s starting for a team that’s making it’s playoff push. That’s pretty incredible. The best part is, when he says he’s thankful and doesn’t take it for granted, you know he means it. I spoke to one of the community relations people during practice today and she confirmed that he is as down to earth as he appears and he’s done as many community appearances as anyone on the team, each one with a smile. Every player says they are grateful, with Weems, it’s easy to see that he means it.

- I almost had to give a R.I.P. to my trusty recorder when Chris Bosh got a little animated at the end of his scrum, knocking the recorder out of my hand and onto the ground where the battery and flash-drive portion went flying across the floor. Bosh apologized profusely and for a few painstaking moments, the recorder would not turn on, but luckily, thankfully, we’re back in business.

- Check Bosh’s comments on Hedo Turkoglu not starting. I liked how he addressed how he would/has acted when he’s been pulled from the lineup. He’s careful to say everyone is different, but you get the feeling, he would ensure he was starting, particularly if he was the better player than the guy who was in the lineup because of his effort.

- I love the love that Eric Hughes is getting for the time he puts in each night to work with DeRozan and Weems. Far too often the guys on the other coaching staff get lost in the shuffle. While Hughes is the first one to deflect any and all praise that comes his way, it’s great to hear the players show him respect and appreciation for his devotion and time paid to their development.

DeRozan

- What have the evening sessions with Eric Hughes brought to you and Sonny? “They’ve brought a lot. For one, more confidence, for both of us. You can just see more confidence. We play a big part in this offence so we’ve got to be able to hit shots when they come to us. Getting in the extra work is good.”

- How long do you stay and how many makes in a session? “About a hour. We make about 400 or some shots. Different type of shots off the dribble. Catch and shoot, all kinds of shots. Just try to get it right.”

- What happens when one of you are tired and doesn’t want to come back to shoot? “There’s never been a day where me or him just said we weren’t going to do it. Either I tell him or he’ll tell me, just go, get it out of the way and know it’s going to pay off. We always pick up each other when it comes to that.”

- When was the first time you met Sonny and what did you think? “Sonny came to LA to work out in the summer after I got drafted. It was me, Alvin [Williams] and Eric [Hughes]. We were all out there working out with him. I didn’t know him, I knew he played for Denver, I met him from college, but I remember working out and Sonny was so tired, he was sooo out of shape. You can ask him, I was killing Sonny, and I was like, ‘Damn, he’s about to play for us?”, he was out of shape and then the next day he came back and played, he was killing people, he was killing dudes. He was out of shape when I first met him, when we first worked out. Ever since then, we’ve been clicking.”

Weems

- DeMar said you were killing him when you guys worked out for the– “He wasn’t killing me. No. He was not killing me. I was tired. We were doing a defensive drill where we had to close out and I was tired. I was catching cramps and everything. He was working out all summer, that’s when the trade was going through and I wasn’t doing nothing. He caught me at a bad time. He wasn’t killing me though. He just caught me at a bad time.”

- How much does it help, coming in with Eric at night? “It helps a lot, doing that. If we didn’t do that every night, I wouldn’t be shooting like I shoot now. Eric Hughes, I give him all the credit for even coming in at night and working with me and DeMar. It pays off.”

- Have you ever had someone come in with you every night like you have here? “I had it at Arkansas, but I never took advantage of it, you know, you’re a young college student so you really didn’t do it. Not at the NBA, even last year, I didn’t have an assistant coach come back and shoot with me. Eric Hughes, thank God for him. I’m glad for him.”

Bosh

- What was said at halftime?: “Play defence, run, all the simple things. It wasn’t really no inspirational, motivational speech that anybody gave. We knew what to do. We know we have to pick it up sometimes. I think it’s kinda like an unspoken thing you have to be doing sometimes.”

- 30 and 10 games: “It’s always nice to have a big game. I’m happy for it, but I give all of my credit to my teammates. Sometimes they make it easy for me.”

- Hedo, now he’s not starting, are you cool with that, a guy who was supposed to be your #2? “I have no choice but to be cool with it. It’s the coaches’ decision, they run the team. I just do my part, do my job. Everything the coaches do is for the better sake of the team. They wouldn’t do that if they felt it wasn’t necessary. That’s between those guys, I just work with the five that start and Hedo’s still going to play. All in all I think we’re always going to have to do well with what we have.”

- Deserving of Sonny to start? “I don’t know, I mean shoot, it’s the coaches, everything that happens, guys earn. Guys earn it. It might seem like one is dragging down while the other is picking up, it’s not like that. It’s for the team. It’s always for the team. It’s not ‘I, I me, me,’ it’s about the team. We always put the team first, the coaches put the team first and everything is for the better sake of the team.”

- What if you were dragging and they decided to bench you, would you be okay with that? “I react. It’s happened before and you know, in my case, when I’m in the situation like that, we’re all different, but when I’m in the situation like that, I want to make it beyond a reasonable doubt that I deserve to start. That’s how it is. It’s basketball. It’s competition. It’s competition between the team, and competition on the court.”

Triano

- Hedo was brought in to play in the fourth and he hasn’t been playing at the end of games at a crucial time of the year, is that okay with you? “I’m going to disagree with you. He didn’t play last night because it was not close. If it was under 10 points, he was in the game, no doubt. He did play down the stretch in Charlotte, in a close game and he did not play the game before. Obviously, he is a big part of the team and he’s going to have the ball in his hands in close games.”

- Eight games in 12 days: “It’s tough. We’ve got to try to be sharp and you want to try to be at your best at the end of those games, progressively work up to that. It’s a busy stretch and rest, recuperation and playing together are going to be the big things for us.”

- About Weems’ work ethic: “Ever since we got him, he’s kid of gotten into a pattern. Maybe it’s due to the friendship of DeMar, or maybe he’s the one who has helped DeMar a little bit, I’m not sure, but it’s not mandatory for them to come back, now. It was earlier in the season, but I think they got into a routine, Eric Hughes does a great job with them and they seem to want to come back every single night and get shots up. They’re fixtures in this building late at night.”

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