LIVE: Pelicans vs Lakers Postgame Interviews 12/31/2023

LIVE: Pelicans vs Lakers Postgame Interviews 12/31/2023

All right coach um you use the term force and Pace all the time uh just the way you got started this game but you really came out you took it to him you scored 42 in the first quarter and and really set the tone early for sure yeah

We did we we got off to a great start and I thought that the start that we had it it it set the tone for the rest of the game CJ was was big and hitting some big shots Big Shots after big shots to start the game he got us going and then

You know the Domino sort of fell from there but really good start um by our starting unit got to give props to Jose Alvarado just all over the place tonight credited with five steals he might have been able to get more he was just he was Jose

Tonight he was and um he’s one of our emotional leaders and his ability to impact this team with his energy with his effort uh it was huge tonight some big steals that led to transition baskets for us um you know it’s once again it’s it’s a

Blessing to have a guy like that on your team who who can you know really ignite the whole building and um that’s what he does when he touches the floor last time you guys played the Lakers they seemed like they really loaded up on Zion inside did CJ and some other guys making

Shots early you feel like loosen the floor a little bit for for Zion Brandon and other guys I think it did for sure I I think CJ with the start that that he had in the threes that he hit Jose hit some threes herb hit a few threes you

Know it allowed our offense to get the ball to Z and now they were looking for you know you know their defense was wasn’t as packed as it was uh the previous game and um once you get the ball to Zion in the middle of the floor

Or at the elbows he he’s extremely dangerous he gets downhill he can make the right decisions and then he gets to the free throw line yeah had another night where I guess I was going to ask about Brandon’s defense um you know he’s had a lot of these nights lately where

It’s multiple Steals and multiple blocks have you seen like an uptick from him in recent weeks and if so like how does that help yall we are seeing that and that’s um that’s the challenge that we all are accepting is that we want to be a better defensive team especially in

Clutch situations which we all talked about and it starts with our leaders uh bi Z CJ taking ownership in getting stops making sure we understand who our matchups are and I thought bi was was really good on both sides of the ball tonight yeah I’m going to be the guy to

Ask about the three 20 point scores again I mean before it it’s you know you’re saying hey it’s good to see it once but now seeing it two games in a row how good is it now seeing it just becoming more of a regular occurrence with those three guys it’s great um you

Know what’s more impressive is bi 268 assists Z 26 six assists and CJ 22 and N assists so not only are they scoring but they’re sharing the ball with each other with their teammates and that’s the trust factor that we have to have on both ends of the floor we talked all

Year also about the three-point shooting how important that is for you guys uh how much does has just changed just the energy around the team the way you’re playing when the threes are falling the way they were tonight it’s a huge component especially in today’s game to

Be able to space the floor to have guys ready to make shots and credit to all of our guys they they put in the work and we’re constantly you know watching film I guess we could say teaching preaching just continue to make the simple play Simple pass if you’re open shooted if

Not swing it drive it and we did that tonight LeBron’s one of the most cereal players to ever play the game what was your reaction to seeing Jose get him not once but twice with those steals from behind I was extremely surprised that he

Got him um but it is a back toback so maybe you know a little tired on his part but Jose it’s what Jose does when you least expect it here he comes and I didn’t even see him I you know my my attention was somewhere else I heard the

Crowd go crazy next thing I know he’s got the ball in his hands but um know he he has a knack for being able to get steals like that and then 8 got off to a pretty quick Offensive start out of the gates but then he kind of slowed down it

Seemed like a lot of it coincided with Larry being being out there who got another double double for you yeah it did it it was a combination of Larry and jv on him and um look he’s a fantastic player we we he hurt us last game he can

Catch it in a post they use him in pick and rolls he can pick and pop and we wanted to mix up our coverages on him we doubled him a couple times in the post we switched some screens so that we can keep him in front of him and then we

Guard them one-on-one to try to take away some of their threes but I I thought Larry and and Jonas did a really good job tonight how do you view this result in the context of the last time you played them is is there any Pride Factor um coming into this game for sure

Um the the way that we lost a game you you want to redeem yourself you want to have an opportunity to play that team again and you know have a better performance and that’s what we did tonight you know we talked about it the last couple days

And watched some film on it as hard as it was uh like I said we own it um but tonight was a was a good step in the right direction playing against a team you know that you could potentially see down the line I’m kind of following up

On that you out scored the Lakers 25 to7 Second Chance points how did you feel about that sustained effort for the full4 48 minutes of the game I thought it was great uh it was one of our most complete games where from start to finish uh we we our game plan discipline

Was at a high level coach you emphasized of course in the press conference and practice yesterday that you guys needed to redeem yourselves versus this team but to be able to go out and do it in the fashion that you have done it what does it say

About the bounce back ability in your locker room well the biggest thing is that it’s it’s a blessing to um be able to coach a group of young men that care they care about each other um they come in every day and they give you everything they have it doesn’t mean

We’re going to win every game um so we’re fortunate We Got High character and guys that work at it and so you know when game time comes we we we lay it all on the floor and um I’m extremely proud of what we did tonight I don’t know if you can Recon

Any specifics right after the game I just want wondering there seemed like a few points where the Lakers looked primed to try to make a push to get back into it and you guys always had some kind of response momentum turning response I think of for example um

Jose’s swipe from LeBron and then immediate three in the corner from her any did you notice that Trend throughout the game and the other standout yeah we I mean look they’re they’re they’re an experienced playoff team um call it what it is LeBron you said it you know one of

The greatest players to ever play uh they’re going to make a a run at some point and I thought it was it was really good on our part to be able to sustain even when they made their runs we continued to execute we didn’t hang our

Heads and then the last you know five or six minutes you know I think it was a 12-point game or what have you and we we continued to make plays we got stops we continued to run and those are the improvements that we want to continue to make okay thank you happy New

Year no the uh ankle issue you dealt with early season was you know tough to overcome what’s just been the process like of getting back to you this year Rhythm you know that’s the most important thing you know just get a rhythm and you know

Uh try to fill it out every time you know practice ain’t the game you know scrimmages ain’t the game so when you got to get game reps and you know that comes with you know a lot of trust and that’s what they got in me so a lot of

Trust a lot of uh you know uh you know mistakes that they going to let me learn and that’s what happened and today was one of those days you know you just got to figure it out you know I’m figuring out little by little and and um yeah

That’s that’s what it is it is yeah I mean it was a I think a second straight game where Zion CJ Abbi all had 20 plus the assist numbers for those guys are really high just I guess what you see overall offensively where there’s just

Like a lot of balance for you guys trust I think that’s the most important thing I think it’s come down the trust you know like I said all those games we lost you know was close games you know I think we know that and um some days it’s

Going to be one of those days that we look at each other and we don’t know what’s going on but we just got to trust the work that we put in I’m behind closed door and um those guys right now they you know they ain’t no surprise they just

Trust in each other and then they trust in us uh that’s one thing I think is the beauty about this team you know um even though we got you know we know we role players and they they don’t treat us like that though they treat us like you

Know like teammates like brothers like human beings so and they see how much we put in work and those guys like I said it’s going to be a lot it’s a lot of trust going around and uh through different stages of your career we’ve talked about kind of The Surreal

Feelings you’ve had uh just how s was to get two GTA on Lebron in one game I mean surprising because you know he watched films and you know he’s always you know alert to me when I when I am on the court so um you know it’s fun you know I

Mean it would have been anybody who had the Bard driven out the court but you know LeBron I could say you know that’s um the one of the greatest players to ever play this game and for me to be on the court it’s for me to get steal for

Me to do anything so that’s pretty you know amazing and you know like I get back to watch videos when I grow old and you know when they say that you know one of the best is the best player to play this game at least I got a video on him

You know getting the steal I know Willie talked a lot about wanting to uh kind of respond in this game because of the way it looked the last time y’all played them but just overall since the in season tournament what do you think about just the way the team rebounded I

Mean the message to my team you know we we needed to win this game but um I want to beat them or play them in the playoffs and then win that cuz you know the n seon in season tournament meant something you know not saying this game

Didn’t don’t mean nothing you know we got to you know I’ll behind kick that but it meant something so you know um we got to go look at back good you know when we win today and we glad we took care of business as we should but when

Something means something and we play them that’s when the payback I think is going to be better so U we got to look at it it’s like that but great win you know we going to end the New Year’s with a win and um yeah and Jose you talk to

Us that first interview after you guys got back from Vegas after that disappointing loss you took a lot of responsibility for not the team kind of being prepared right for getting them up getting your teammates up for so how would you grade your job of doing that

Tonight you know uh trying to do the little things you know get uh every steal uh I think one of my I don’t know who was it but they said I never met something about like it’s so crazy that a person with zero points could impact

The game how you just did you know and it and that felt good you know um it felt like getting back to the old me you know that’s how I how I impact this game it’s not about scoring with me at least and you know uh and that it felt good to

Hear that so I BR the energy and speaking of impact without really getting in the points category it’s nice when you do but Larry what’s it mean meant for you guys your team having him back these last two games I mean that’s just approv that’s just a a point right

There that when you a player that don’t want to score impacts in every in every category you know we know that though um we always talk to each other and you know we always say that you know right we’re not here to score it’s a plus that

We could score though like don’t get that Twisted you know they going to leave me open like I said before I’m going make shots they going to leave Larry on a open three he going to make shots so um it’s just about the little things to get these guys growing you

Know um they they important to this team you know without them three or them four five you know what if they’re not going it’s going to be tough for us for it’s going to have a long season so we need to get them going so that’s that’s important for

Us tonight yeah yeah yeah you know obviously I think the whole building know we got a white you know that means front the poe I said hell no I got this one and you know I think it went the right way cuz if it went somewhere else

Way I would have been in trouble but um it went the right way I believe in myself down there appreciate it take care yeah y too happy New Year everybody Happy New Year That uh the meeting earlier this month the the Pelicans I think you guys hit seven threes as a team you guys had seven threes in the first quarter could you just feel like the shot making loosen the floor up for you as that game went along uh yeah you can definitely say

That but I think it just started with in the first meeting they brought the game to us so our whole thing was we gotta bring the game to them I think we did a good job with that rightor right what you just think about the force the pace

You guys played with tonight uh great started off great and we kept it going and what kind of impact did hose make on this game with the GTA come on man you was there y’all was there uh man that’s big time especially if you know Jose so when he does stuff

Like that and man it changes the game like those are plays that like Braun could have came down and just hit a pull up three but Jose gets the steal leads to a three for us and I mean stuff like that is huge for momentum in game so

That was big time now was backto back games for y’all where all three of y’all hit at 20 plus you CJ NBI how much do you just feel like that that’s that chemistry that understanding how to play together is really coming together uh I think we’re figuring out

Um I think the more we’re on the court the more we figure out what spacing we like and when which players going to attack and like I said The more games we play the better we’re going to get at it I got to follow up on that GTA with Jose

Are you surprised that he was able to get LeBron not once but twice because LeBron’s known as one of the smartest players ever played a game um am I surprised oraz you know what out of respect um for him to get Bron twice that is is impressive uh the first time

I think his teammates didn’t communicate to him that uh Jose was coming but when he got him that second time and nobody I don’t know if nobody said nothing to him but that was like I said that momentum is is big for us n z since the win over

The Jazz have you guys been talking amongst yourselves or did you even need to getting ready getting up for this game tonight What’s Understood doesn’t have to be said a lot it just didn’t have to be said just just big picture this team is five years

Ahead of above 500 going into 2024 and you know there’s been some ones where like didn’t go your way the felt like could have gone your way like what is the feeling on the team of we winning right now like it could probably be even better

Um just fixing some of the small nuances for us like late game execution uh turnovers we have uh I feel like once we fix those or especially limit those I feel like we can be at the top of the west or near the top you feel like you’re finding a rhythm with the

Starting lineup especially you CJ and bi because now CJ’s come out last two games really big first quarters and I know it’s kind of set the tone he’s wanted to have that pace there but it feels like everything else is falling into place for you guys U most definitely I think

That goes back to what I said like the more we’re out there the more we can see matchups the more we communicate like CJ might like his matchup or be might get it going or I might get it going early so I think we just try to exploit

Matchups in Vegas what do you think about the way the team has responded these last games fig things um I think that was one of those kind of blessing in the skies sucked uh went to Vegas hoping for a different outcome but I think it definitely

Brought us together more as a team and it definitely brought us closer with the staff um and every everybody just communicating uh and I feel like we’ve been playing great since then we still got some things to figure out but I mean so does every other team see do you

Still think back to that game like it’s easy to remember the feelings from it because of how painful maybe it was how disappointing it was um yeah uh something I picked up from one of the great uh I don’t want to misquote I feel like Kobe might have said

It you know you can go watch highlight say good games but it’s those bad games that you got to sit there and watch the whole thing to see why the result was the result um so yeah espe not just that game but other games where feel like I

Just played bad or I wasn’t there for my team watch the whole game so room for improvement but keep building happy New Year you guys I

New Orleans Pelicans vs Los Angeles Lakers post game interviews with head coach Willie Green and Pelicans players as they recap their game on Sunday, Dec. 31 during the 2023-24 NBA season.
#NBA #Pelicans #neworleanspelicans

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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