Larry Nance Jr. on his return, offensive weapons | Pelicans Jazz Postgame Interview 12/28/23

Larry Nance Jr. on his return, offensive weapons | Pelicans Jazz Postgame Interview 12/28/23

Yeah I mean you beginning of the Season seemed like you’re just dealing with an accumulation of stuff I mean did you feel like you tonight physically I I felt as good as I felt in years um you know again I like you were right beginning of the year you know ankle

Here groin here you know little things that just hadn’t healed up yet but um I feel great you know I’m appreciative of you know Stan Williams was massive in this um Brandon Brandon uh Deus was huge in this Casey Hill Player Development Darnell Lazar the training staff these

Guys were awesome in in in terms of the work we put in and and getting myself back back to myself it feels great yeah I mean what can you just share about however the decision was made to like let’s give him a few weeks off let’s let

Him get right and so you can come back and look like you did tonight well I mean don’t get wrong it wasn’t I didn’t want to I didn’t want to take time off but I mean it it all started because I couldn’t play cuz I kind of broke my rib

So I I had to be off at i’ to be off regardless but um we kind of took that as a normally you just rehab and stay ready this was more than stay ready it was get ready you know cuz I wasn’t before so um you know there was a lot

That went into a lot of explosion work a lot of quickness a lot of um a lot of lifting and and and you know we just saw conditioning change my body changed and and you know I again I’m just so thankful to everybody that took part in

It um but it just feels good to be back healthy yeah with that you had a lot of time to kind of evaluate these team watch from the side and see what was going on uh for you knowing you were able to come back tonight what what was

Key for you to kind of make an impact and kind of provide what they needed um what they need what what the team needs is different every night you know so like you know tonight tonight just so happened to be a night that I could really leave my fingerprints all over

The game you know they they play you know Lowry and and Kelly and and and John Collins who are like who are some stretch bigs and can can roam around the perimeter so for for that’s really tough if if Walker Kessler’s not in the game

So this was the type of game that I can leave my fingerprints on and and so um you know this team just needs needs different guys to step up every night you know we we are it’s it’s a gift and a curse to have so much talent it really is because

We’re leading at halftime Trey Murphy had zero my man should never have zero but we’re winning so I don’t not like we have so many guys and so many talented scorers and different guys at each position that what we need at every given night is different and that’s what

Is is is what we need to get better at growing going forward is is every night is different right it could be Z one night it could be Z in the first half like it was tonight then be in the second half like you know and CJ throughout like guys were guys were

Great and I just think we need to um we just need to plug the holes as we as we see them rather than just like go in with a staun game plan of this guy gets this many shots this guy gets this many shots we’re just we’re too talented for that

As soon as we figure out how to use all the weapons at our at our at our disposal it’s going to be a real problem but tonight was just a a night that I was very fortunate enough to get my fingerprints all over yeah part of the

Process of trying to figure out how to use all those guys has been some of the struggles lately and clutch situations tonight y’all had another one were able to close it out I guess what did you kind of see different tonight when the way y’all kind of

Executed um it just felt like more grit more scrap it felt like we weren’t playing playing didn’t feel like we were wasting clock playing not to win or playing not to lose and that’s what it’s felt like the past few games as we’ve just been like looking at the clock like

Please go down um you know we were executing and scoring and looking at the offensive end instead of like using it as an opportunity to run clock off like they can’t guard us they can’t guard us so why would we why would we let off the

Gas and um again we just need we we just need a little bit of Chip a little bit of grit um and I thought herb was great Nai was awesome um and again you know Trey Murphy I you know a man was awesome he was great the ability as a shooter

The ability to have zero zero for three quarters and then be able to step up and knock down the two the two closing threes was massive if if you know if he wasn’t out there and he didn’t keep his head in the in the game we probably

Don’t win that so um Everybody played their part again I’m going to keep saying it but um you know I think the difference in tonight was just a level of tenacity and Larry be seem to get really get going in that third quarter it seemed like a lot of them came good

Looks for him off of your screens was that a concerted effort on your part yeah absolutely um absolutely you know bi is a downhill player right so if we can if you can set screens for him high up the court and he he has time to you

Know get get his long dribble out there and get to like get to moving in and outside you know in and out of the paint and whatnot he’s we saw he’s a bear to guard so um slow developing plays are I don’t want to say tough for him but he’s

Better in a in a transition setting or in a setting where you know the big is sprinting up into the ball screen so he can come up off he can come off the screen and kind of get downhill rather than you know have to pull it out and

You know ISO make an ISO move that’s that’s tough to score a lot like that so yeah just try to Spring him try to free him up on on on random ball screens and you know my job’s easy I just got to hit the guy he does the hard part and you

Just mentioned right uh Trey had a tough night going until right the last couple minutes did any of you guys say anything to maybe maybe in that fourth quarter when I think he saw his last one missed then he had to sit down then he came

Back in at the end of the game mhm yeah I mean I’m always in Trey’s ear you know I’m in Trey’s ear we have a lot of guys you know Cory Brewers big time for him you know in his ear um but you know we guys you know Trey’s too good he’s way

Too good to stay silent for a full game you know he’s he’s you know he’s way too good to stay silent for a full game we knew his time was coming we just needed to make sure he knew his time was coming and again I’m just so happy for him because that was

That’s a huge step in in development really Larry you mentioned the scrap and a grit tonight the other night Willie said that y’all just weren’t the tough rou team do you think that’s something y’all are still building on especially with you coming back and getting healthy

That you can be a tough team when you want to be um uh I don’t think toughness is something you build on I think we’re here you know I think we’re here you know it’s it’s Naji tough as Nails right different he’s outwardly tough as Nails herb not so outwardly tough but tough

You know Jose tough outwardly like different guys have their own way of carrying carrying their level of toughness but I think you just need you need the right group or the right people to bring it out of you and so and so again that’s what I was looking for

Tonight like I I kept pulling the guys aside like hit you know hitting him in the chest or doing little things here or there just to like or pumping the crowd up you know diving on the floor so like look apparently I’m the old I’m old on

The team I’m 30 and I’m old so like if I can dive on the court there’s no excuse for anybody under me under my age to not be diving on the court so it’s you just try to set you try to set that toughness example of like no this is this is the

Standard period And so uh you know I don’t think that’s something we’re working on I think that’s something that that’s something that has to stay emphasis on has to got and throughout the year you’ve been the game recap Guru Zion Wills kind of joined it tonight you

See his recap or is that something you’re going to get surprised I I I haven’t seen it but I’m I didn’t know that I was planning on leaving alone ton night I was planning on I was planning on leaving the game recap alone T night

Um what was it like for you to get that dunk in the fourth quarter I think you dunked on somebody and just seemed like you reacted pretty vehemently to it um yeah I mean it was good you know that’s that’s that’s who I am that’s who

I am and it just felt good to get back to who I am early in the season you I would have gotten that drop off and try to throw some BS hook or some floater and I can make it but that’s not who I am that’s not what this team needs from

Me this team you know that that was a major pickup you know they were scoring and we Wen a hard time getting stops and Z drops it off and you know put their big man on a poster their shot blocker and it’s like oh confidence confidence

You know around the whole team so um again it just just felt good to be me Larry was there any point at the game maybe early in the game right when you got in where you took a shot and you’re like okay I can do this my rib’s going

To hold up I don’t feel any pain or whatever oh they’ve been beating the hell out of me no during our pickup games no I’m I knew my rib was okay yeah for the past past week or so they’ve been they’ve been they’ve been they’ve been checking my ribs it was just little

Third one right here but they’ve been checking it but I’m I’m good and there’s no pain there I think that the toughness question earlier was related to Willie saying after the Houston game they’re a tougher team than we are right now and there were two close losses and I think

Maybe he meant more like mental toughness yeah possibly you know like maybe composure in the clutch but also like you’re exhausted but giving more effort than the other team like could you speak to that specifically yeah I mean there’s a look there’s a wall we all get to you know basketball games are

Supremely taxing very tiring and especially like for the guys you know Brandon Z CJ her the guys that are playing 35 36 minutes it’s tough um you know at the level that they do so um and and I think JV was in that game as well

Who just came off 37 or 36 minutes it’s really tough to to refocus again when five you see five minutes on it’s it’s a new game you know you were up 10 or something and you know got to relock in that’s a really mentally that’s a that’s

That’s a really tough thing to like to do to wrap your head around it’s like man we just blew aad again you know you know and it’s easy to sink into like here we go again you know one of those but again I guess you know physical

Toughness is one thing which I thought that’s what you meant so that’s my fault but uh mental toughness again that that just comes with that comes with being in the situations you know this team hasn’t this team hasn’t this is I think since I’ve been here this is the first time

Everyone’s healthy I for the most part right I think this is the first time everyone’s been healthy so we we’re trying to figure it out we have seven eight guys nine guys that realistically can finish a game depending on the night so you know that mental toughness has to

Come from somewhere and again tonight it just so happened to be me you know you know it just so happened to be me but again we’ve got plenty of guys that are willing and ready to step into that role um we just you know it’s got to be we

Have to grow from our mistakes right we’re I I I see all the graphics we 0 and six and games decided that you know under three points that that’s something good teams don’t do do where we’ve given up nine 10 plus Point leads in the second half that’s something good teams

Don’t do and another thing the best teams in December or the best teams at the end of the year don’t do is peak in December so yeah we’ve got our lws we’ve got our mistakes we’ve got our hiccups bumps and bruises but at the same time like I’d be more worried and more

Concerned if we were firing on all cylinders right now because then where do you go from here we’ve got plenty of room to grow in this team is going to be ready when it matters cool thanks guys yeah

New Orleans Pelicans post game interview with forward-center Larry Nance Jr. 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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