Willie Green previews matchup against the Brooklyn Nets | Pelicans vs. Nets Pregame 1/2/24

Willie Green previews matchup against the Brooklyn Nets | Pelicans vs. Nets Pregame 1/2/24

Over your last 10 you’ve won seven seven of them what have you liked best about your defense you always say it starts on the defensive side of things finishing possessions we know we hit we we we can do a great job in in our half court defense I feel like our transition

Defense is getting a bit better but we’re finishing possessions and we need to do the same thing tonight this is a good offensive rebounding team any player in particular I mean obviously her brings it on the defensive side of things night in and night out but anybody else that you feel like is

Stepped up and improved effort performance on the defensive side of things lately sure um I think it’s Collective so obviously herb is a tremendous defensive player for us uh but I think bi Z CJ yonas just Collective effort from all of the guys really buying into you know our game

Plan and and our game plan discipline when it’s at a high level you know we can get stops we can rebound the ball and it ignites our off offense kind of sticking with the defensive theme this is a team tonight that you’re playing that’s basically interchangeable one through four what’s the challenge of

Defending a team like that and even their bench as well well you got to take care of the ball you got to help yourself on the offensive end take quality shots um you get to the paint you got to make really good decisions with Claxton being down there his ability to block

Shots offensively for those guys like they they play Fast um they want to get up threes so you got to keep them out of rhythm you got to be physical with them early um make sure we’re in so we can get out and contest shots and it goes

Back to finishing possessions don’t give them extra opportunities to score do you know about uh Trey status for tonight yeah Trey is out tonight um last game uh part of Anthony Davis getting in foul trouble was Z just like kept going at him um and you know

It he had some blocks but I guess what was it like to just see Zion continue to take it at a guy who’s you know one of the the best R protectors in the game it was great we all know that that’s something that Z is is capable of doing

Uh when he makes quick decisions the ball gets to his hands in the middle of the floor um he puts his shoulder down and goes um you know it’s usually good for us I I think it helped watching the last game and seeing how you know those

Guys were loading up on him and trying to take charges so he was well aware of that and he sort of let the offense settle a bit before he went but um anytime we can put the ball in in Z’s hands and he’s attacking and making great decisions for us it’s a good

Outcome usually for us offensively and with trade you think is going to be continue to be more of a day-to-day type of thing I believe so um that’s kind of the message that we have at this moment and it’s really about how he feels and and so you know still some soreness

There today and going back to be how much does it change things for you when uh he’s kind of being as impact impactful as he’s been on a defensive end lately it’s great I you know we need total Buy in from all of our guys um all

Of our our players to be a good defensive team and we’re seeing that we’re seeing that those guys are committed on the defensive end they understand the importance of getting stops we know that we have the ability to score uh but it’s the team that can

Have a sound defense and and a solid offense that can can win new games tough games so uh bi’s been he’s been really good and and we know that we have room for improvement but uh we’re definitely commending our guys on on the collective uh effort that we have so far coach

There’s been a lot of talk about your big three each scoring 20 points in the last couple of games and given that they’ve only still played only 25 regular season games together how do you kind of assess how their chemistry is come together on the court we’re getting

Better and better we’re improving for sure and that’s the goal continue to be honest with each other hold each other accountable get on the floor and practice work on it make sure we’re watching film and see areas that we like maybe these some are the some areas that

We can improve and to their credit uh they’re putting putting the work in so we’re starting to see it and kind of looking ahead a little bit after tonight next six of seven on the road five of those games against teams with winning records how important would it be to get

A win here tonight finish this home stand with a winning record given that you dro the first two yeah um you know we we trying to keep our focus on tonight uh we know what January brings for us middle of January what it brings for us but our

Focus is on one game at a time I know that’s a a cliche but it’s the truth uh tonight will be a good test for us on our home floor and um that’s the focus tonight and then we’ll worry about or cons be concerned or whatever it is

About the next game after this there’s a new broadcast deal that could expose the team to a 10 times larger audience uh than they currently have now do does that mean anything to you do you think it’s important to help build fan base to uh to perhaps expose the team to to a

Younger generation that that might be new upand cominging fans and and do you think it would help the team any down the road yes absolutely I think it’s important for us it’s important for um for our team organization to reach a fan base that probably wouldn’t have the

Opportunity to see us and um it it’s more eyes on the game there’s more people following us um is more engagement with the community and so anytime that we have an opportunity to reach a larger audience uh we want to we want to take advantage of that so it’s a

Great partnership and we’re looking forward to it thank you thank

New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green previews the team’s matchup against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, January 2, 2024.

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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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