Willie Green recaps loss to LA | Pelicans-Clippers Postgame Interview 1/5/2024
All right coach um fast start for your team uh you got out quickly and then it just it seemed when Russell Westbrook came into the game that changed the whole complexion of it and their defense was really really good tonight yeah they were they were good they were the more
Forceful team like you said graph I thought when Russ uh entered the game their second unit they they played with a lot of force and um just thrust up and down the floor and and it changed the game you’ve had some teaching moments this year you know you’ve been a
Resilient team after some tough losses is this going to be one of those teaching moments again to to respond after a game like this for sure it’s definitely a a teaching moment you know you lose a game and you want to see what you did well and see what you need to
Improve on but at the end of the day we don’t want to we don’t want to be an emotional team and hang our hats by every single win and loss we got to stay the course and tonight they were the better team yeah you guys put up a 15
Points in the second quarter it looked like just the offense kind of dried up those last six minutes what do you see overall offensively in that quarter uh they they were physical they were aggressive they had their hands on us they mixed up their defensive coverages
They they Blitz some pick and rolls um they switched some pick and rolls on us and it just it just took us out of what we wanted to do and you know we we we were a step slow tonight uh Z stayed on the bench um after coming out with that
Right leg contusion was that more just a kind of precautionary thing as you guys get ready for road trip or anything like that I’m not sure I just know that you know he pulled himself and you know it’s a right leg contusion that’s as far as I
Know right now and it was something that happened in the third or was it before halftime uh I think it was before halftime yeah uh what did you think about just the the way they executed in half court that’s the area y’all have been really good in half court defense
But it seemed like they just had a lot of success uh slowing the game down and getting the shots they want yeah they were good uh their isolation basketball is is you know superb their ability to shot fake Drive kick get open threes um give them credit they came in and they
Did what they needed to do to win they were a more forceful team they executed a bit better than us and um it wasn’t our best game at all coach you mentioned that the force was missing tonight what about the pace how do you feel about the
Pace I don’t think you guys got your first uh fast break points until third quarter it was slow you know we were step slow and um look I can look out on the floor and you know maybe it’s fatigue or something like that but at the end of the day I don’t
Want to take anything away from the Clippers they they dominated the game after the first five minutes we have to be better we know it our guys in the locker room know it and um we’ll come in tomorrow watch film get on the floor and work coach Midway through the second
Quarter when they started making that run seemed like there’s a chance for a timeout five five and a half minutes left but you let them play through that you know their issues like two I half left just that your thought process on letting them play through those issues
Especially since the regular season now and learned the the learned the lessons for L yeah for sure I think sometimes it’s a field thing there’s times that you know you take a time out to get reorganized and with the way we’ve been playing lately I wanted to give our
Group a chance to play with some flow and some Rhythm and get up and down a court and not call A Time timeout and let their their half court defense get set so um none of that stuff worked um they were the better team once again
Yeah and to that half court defense you started out hot but then only two assists the rest of the first quarter I think over the whole first quarter you made two pointers inside the three-point AR on that second quarter just what were they throwing at you that kind of got
You off your RI they’re they’re handsy they’re a handsy physical defensive team and if we don’t play with Force slip screens get into our offense quickly and we want to play isolation basketball that could be difficult against this type of Team you got to move them side
To side you got to shot fake Drive kick d Drive kick pick and then the dominoes will fall and and tonight um we didn’t do a good enough job of that and to rec clarify the Zion did you say he pulled himself like it was his call on going
Back in and out he checked himself out there yes yeah yeah yeah he he just was like uh you know I’m not I’m not going back in So coach you talked about not becoming too emotional after wins and losses but you kind of use games like this as a
Barometer to kind of see where your team is especially against a team that’s playing so well coming into here we definitely we wanted to meet the challenge and we we it was we didn’t we didn’t meet the challenge they they’ve been playing well we’ve been playing
Well um and they came in and I mean just kicked our butts okay thank you
New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green’s postgame interview after the Pelicans’ loss to the LA Clippers on Friday, Jan. 5 during the 2023-24 NBA season.
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New Orleans Pelicans Roster
———————————————–
Jose Alvarado #15 Guard
Dyson Daniels #11 Guard
Kaiser Gates #12 Forward
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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9 Comments
U can see Willie was pissed by Zion saying he wasn’t coming back in lol
Green can not make adjustments play Hawkins man!
Games like this happen but he did get out coached by Lue
Can’t believe I’m saying this but Russell Westbrook changed the game…but Willie got outcoached as well
This man said maybe its fatigue smh.. if delusional was a person he'd call himself Willie
Should have just rested Murphy. He didnt look good and it looked like he wasnt 100%
Best coach in nba history right here
They kicked our butts. The match ups are difficult against the Clippers. PG, Russ, Hardy, Leonard these are premier players that can create of the dribble and find that knock down 3. We have to mark this team as a team to beat in the playoffs.
Nice lineup with Dyson herb and Jose next to Ingram. Great lineup coach keep it up