Willie Green on team win, Zion Williamson’s defense | Pelicans Jazz Postgame Interview 12/28/23

Willie Green on team win, Zion Williamson’s defense | Pelicans Jazz Postgame Interview 12/28/23

Coach we could go in a number of directions um but I’d like to start with Larry Nance and what he did on the floor tonight uh just his presence being out there what an impact he had look at his plus minus um just just him being back

Out there was so key for your team um you’re right graph having Larry back uh it was huge for us you know that’s the Larry we’re all accustomed to seeing and credit to him you know he worked his tail off I said it earlier to get

Himself you know ready to come in and play and and be who he is to this team without Larry and his production tonight you know that game is a tougher game to win for us so we’re all grateful to have him back it’s also got to be satisfying

For the team you you as a staff just you’re in another clutch situation like like we’ve been in the last week and you guys worked on it uh during practice yesterday but to see it translate from the practice this court to live action had to be a good feeling for you for

Sure we we we’ll definitely take it anytime that we can carve out wins if it’s a close game we’ll take it um but we know we we we still have work to do but we’re we’re definitely proud of the guys Trey didn’t score in the first 46 minutes two two

Big ones in the last two minutes what do you think about him just you know not really being in Rhythm but still stepping into those ones in he he was he was good it it he’s resilient and um you know I mentioned to him when he was on

The bench he had came we subed him out for a little bit that you’re on a Scouting Report teams know what you’re capable of doing and now your energy has to go to another level you got to use your shot fake Drive share the basketball with a teammate or go finish

Get to the freeo line but you know that was a growth moment for him he just stuck with it and he hit two big shots uh down at the end of the game and uh you guys generated a couple of those baskets with um Brandon and Zion in the

Pick and roll just what do you think about those two guys working together um down the stretch to generate some of that offense it was great Brandon and Z CJ and Z sometimes Z handling and um I think that is what makes our team unique and we just got to continue to tighten

The screws with that and you know find a home at the end of games run our sets with force with pace and I thought we did that tonight um settle each other down and get a quality look and for the most part we took care of the basketball

We got to finish possessions a little bit better but I thought our defense uh was really solid this is the third time uh tonight that CJ BBI and Z all score 20 in the same game uh just what do you like about just the way they worked

Together tonight and kind of played off each other it was fantastic like I said we’ve all been talking about it we’ve talked about it in practice we’ve watched film together how can we hold each other accountable and win these type of games and be better in these

Type of games and give CJ give bi Z credit they went out and they they played well tonight they did what they needed to do to win and I thought Zion’s defense uh was incredible he he he was impactful on both ends of the floor rebound the ball um sharing the

Basketball with his teammates and that we want to build on this momentum yeah speaking of about his defense part of that also is his rebounding that’s something that’s really picked up lately how big is that for your team when he’s really contributing in that part of this

Game it’s big for for all of us uh it’s big for our team when our our guards our wings rebound we can’t rely just on JV and the reason is that when those guys rebound it initiates the break the ball is already in their hands they’re taking

Off they’re going and they can score before the defense is set that’s some of our best BAS basketball when we play that way Willie was there any kind of consideration maybe not putting Trey back in the game super late he had just you know I think missed a long one he

Had made one all game long but you went back to him was there like I said any kind of hesitation or no it was definitely no hesitation on my part and those are that’s the communication that I have with him the trust that I have with him is that it doesn’t matter

You got to have a have a really high next play speed okay you miss one you make a mistake the next play is coming pretty quickly so don’t hang your head you know don’t wear your emotions on your sleeve get ready for the next play

And his to his credit he was able to knock down two really big shots for us and Larry’s uh defensive numbers right the steals a block self-explanatory but what else did you see out in the court for instance I thought I saw screens I thought he got Brandon Ingram going in

That third quarter and also he was really communicating you know we’ve missed that Larry out there yeah for sure Larry was good man he he he’s it’s good to have him back you can feel his presence on the court right away uh his high IQ his ability to

Rebound the ball offensively When We Touch the paint now you’re kicking it to him he can he can knock down shots but then he goes up and finish at the end of the game so having the combination of Larry JV uh it’s it’s great to to have

Those guys back on the floor Andy will it kind of sticking with to the Larry thing but what was he kind of like just before the game I mean could you sense that he was really anxious to get back out the court yeah he was ready he was definitely ready to play

Uh it’s been a buildup to get to this point but he was ready and um we were we were all ready to get him on the floor we we we missed that we missed that uh flexibility to be able to have guys that can guard multiple screens can switch

You can see when he was in with that certain group we were reading all the screens that’s our terminology for switching and it was hard for for those guys to score on us so we miss having that with Larry coach taking on the defensive end since that nine turnover

Game charlet B Brandon Ingram has had multiple blocks and multiple steals in every game since is that something where he’s got new defensive directives from you or is he just dialing it up and and playing that great on both ends of the Court yeah he’s accepting the challenge

We’re challenging all of our guys to be better defensively and offensively inbi um he has the capability with his size his athletic ability to be a really solid two-way player we know what he can do offensively but now it’s like let’s into our defense because when we do our

Our offense is that much better and CJ mentioned it practice a couple of days ago getting some movement going you mentioned after the last game the offense was kind of congested did you think kind of worked itself out a little bit more tonight with just the off ball

Movement and getting the AC I thought it was better tonight for sure I thought CJ initiated that that run to start the game he he was intentional about pushing the pace you know taking quality shots if he didn’t have shots he he shared the basketball get to the free throw line he

Was really good but overall we moved the ball better and for us it’s really about when the game does slow down we still have to get into our sets with Force and and I thought we did that we joked about it before but what like just having all your

Guys really you know put your vision on the court rather than you know hypothetically what it can look like being able to actually see it it’s great it’s a blessing to have all of our guys uh for the most part healthy right but now this is the work this is when we

Have to work at it it’s not going to come easy just because we’re healthy now we have to hold each other accountable to playing at the level and the standard that we know we can play at uh tonight was just a really good start in that direction coach GRE you guys kept this

Game in front of you for all four quarters ja’s biggest lead all game was only two points what aspects of tonight’s game can you credit that to it starts with our defense um our game plan discipline was at a high level Utah does a really good job

Of setting those pin ways and you know they got guards that you know are really are good at getting into the paint kick out for threes and I thought we did a good job defensively and that’s that’s where the game started for us coach looking at Zion two assists away from a

Triple double double double the other night he’s responded to that criticism a few weeks ago pretty well what you say he has um and that’s the that’s the key for him is just blocking out all the noise uh we know that inside of our locker room our organization you know we

Have each other’s backs and we’ll block out that noise he’ll block it out and we we got to go out and play that’s the deal for us just keep stacking days and and when we do that you know we’ll be okay all right thank you

New Orleans Pelicans post game interview with head coach Willie Green after their win against the Utah Jazz on Thursday, Dec. 28 during the 2023-24 NBA season.
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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
Matt Ryan #37 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward-Center

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