LIVE: Pelicans vs. Grizzlies Pregame w/ HC Willie Green 12/26/2023

LIVE: Pelicans vs. Grizzlies Pregame w/ HC Willie Green 12/26/2023

Merry Christmas coach how was your Christmas great fantastic how about you wonderful good good third time you face this team once without JW once with them when you flip on the film how are they different with him particularly in the paint well the biggest thing is that he

Brings a level of confidence to their team that you know was they were waiting for and a Swagger to their team and that’s what makes them dangerous it’s now that they have their um leader best player on the floor uh they’re playing much more confident they’re better defensive team they’re getting in the

Paint and they’re attacking and you know he allows everybody to kind of get to the rifle spots on the floor um so it makes them better what would you like to see out of your bigs particularly JB tonight to try to create some mismatches perhaps size is somewhere you can have an

Advantage well it starts with our ability to defend keep them out of the paint and make them take tough contested twos uh they dominated Us in the paint so it starts with that mentality first and then you know making sure that we can reverse it on them and and have

Paint scores and paint kickouts making sure that we dominate the glass on both ends you mentioned after the game on Saturday the clutch numbers especially offensively what are some of the things you can try to do to improve those numbers when you get into those tight

Games CU that’s the way it’s going to be appear take care of the basketball um against Houston you know we had three turnovers in the last four minutes of the game and that that’s death in the NBA last time you guys played Memphis I think J every one of his baskets came

Inside the paint and you know that’s kind of what he’s going to do from night tonight but is that I guess a point of emphasis for you tonight is try to limit him you know make him make him beat you guys from outside the paint if you can

If possible sure we we have to show him different looks um and so we’ll we’ll throw a number of different looks at him and put different guys on him but you know it’s it’s what he does well um especially coming back now his his rhythm is getting into the paint uh we

Know he can make shots but his strength is is in transition and driving the ball to get to the paint and making decisions from there you mentioned not just the Houston game but just a common theme in some of these close games just turning the ball over late what are you kind of

Seeing that needs to be trust to kind of fix that problem our execution needs to be sharper we talked about it as a team and just make the simple play Simple play over and over again don’t get bored with that and um when we’ve done it we’ve had success and unfortunately when

We don’t you know we make the game tougher on ourselves but you know the beauty in it is that a lot of these games we have a lead so we we know what to do we get down to clutch situations you know clutches five five points under

Five minutes and um we have a tendency to to not execute at the highest level and you jumped a few times this year about you know it’s a good problem to have so many guys on the bench that you trust but how difficult has that been

Just trying to figure out how to divy up those minutes especially among your wings yeah it it’s it presents a challenge but you know we we’re all about um trying to put the best groups on the floor together and figuring it out as we progress coach new two e about

It the last few games been close losses here at home and the fans were booing when you left the last last left the smothie King Center you appreciate where that’s coming from for the fans and what can you do to kind of like change that so they’re now you know getting behind

You I didn’t hear it didn’t hear it no all right and then on the next part just the pressure of the Western Conference lost tonight you would be five games out of first place but Memphis would be six backers you can you just talk about you

Know the pressure that 12 13 sweet yeah you’re right the West is um it’s been like this for several years now where it’s just tight it’s it’s a lot of good teams all of these games December January February no matter what they mean something um tonight is no different and you know

It’s a long season but we have to approach it game by game I know that’s a cliche but it’s the truth and and tonight will be a good challenge for us do you have an update on Larry do you have any idea maybe he may be able to

Make an appearance um we’ll update you guys soon on that you know he’s progressing well he’s getting he’s he’s looking great getting better and better but um he’s getting close for sure how about Cody uh Cody is out tonight yeah okay thank you

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Memphis Grizzlies pregame interview with head coach Willie Green ahead of their game on Tuesday, Dec. 26 at 7 p.m. CT during the 2023-24 NBA season.
#NBA #Pelicans #neworleanspelicans

New Orleans Pelicans Roster
———————————————–
Jose Alvarado #15 Guard
Dyson Daniels #11 Guard
Jordan Hawkins #24 Guard
Brandon Ingram #14 Forward
Herbert Jones #5 Forward
Kira Lewis Jr. #13 Guard
E.J. Liddell #32 Forward
Naji Marshall #8 Forward
CJ McCollum #3 Guard
Trey Murphy III #25 Guard
Larry Nance Jr. #22 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward-Center

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