Hornets vs Hawks: Coach Clifford Postgame Media Availability | 2/14/2024

Hornets vs Hawks: Coach Clifford Postgame Media Availability | 2/14/2024

Spoke a little bit for the game about how good offense how good Atlanta’s offense has been the last nine game I think it’s first in the NBA uh how good is that 99 look there in the Box Score yeah and our second half defense was

Really good um you know they had 44 and I I got to say this I I mean everybody’s you know doing a good job about Cody Martin’s defense these past two games like the other night the film The edit that we watched yesterday was all him and and I mean switching and guarding

Big guys in the post uh his help defense his rotations but his defense on the ball like the other night and tonight uh just like great you know so um again a lot of other guys it’s not one guy but his his has been stands out I guess is a

Good way to say it I know you didn’t get to coaching very much last year I know like the eight games he played probably wasn’t able to do as much as he wanted you see what what you saw maybe looking on the te the year before like this is

What the best he’s kind of where you think he can be yeah well I think he’s just finding his rhythm still to be honest with you you know he still gets really sore after the games um and you know he’s not able to fully participate every day in all the

Practices so he can play the game so I would say that he’s getting there but I I don’t think he’s anywhere not anywhere near but he’s not where he’ll be I think in like 3 weeks or a months feels like Tre is getting better every single game out what have you seen from

Him are you kind of surprised how quick he’s catching on the things well happy but he you know he’s diligent like he came in the other day and I mean he’s right what he says he’s like you know you guys give me this film with all this offensive plays and he

Goes it’s like Oklahoma City it’s every team and he goes you know it’s all these plays and we only run like a third of them so can you write down like the third I need to know you know which no I mean it shows thought and it shows that

He’s going home and saying like you know I want to be on top of stuff and so but I I think for him a lot of it is just confidence you know like getting a chance to play regularly but what he did tonight was he was in the middle of us

Getting off to a good start in the first quarter and then the third quarter which was the most important quarter of the game he was right in the middle of the start of that too coach the pregame how Trey young presented Hees a lot of problems two free thrs tonight you just

Talk about playing defense but also not F playing defense which is one of the biggest aspects of playing defense I mean it’s been a problem we we have been getting better at that but the worst thing you can do in our league and this is just fact is put somebody at the free

Throw line so if you shoot a free throw right now going in tonight it’s like 1.55 points per possession a layups 1.32 now think about that so people don’t realize you f somebody taking a three you know basically you’re moronic I mean no I mean you you’re you’re it’s just

It’s just senseless I mean you’re killing your team it’s not like oh it’s you know tough it’s it’s a horrible play and he leads the NBA and free throws attempts he’s great at it but we did a good job with that tonight you know he

Had 15 the last time we played him here talked about Trey Trey man’s performance but the rebounding too was going up and I think he had eight rebounds tonight he just talked about is rebounding from back I know he’s surprises I know and you know what he gets some traffic ones

It’s not like he’s just getting the ones by himself he can really Jump Plus he had six more assists so I believe that’s 16976 22 for three games if you want an average that’s 7.32 three per game something like that you know you impressed with just how

Quickly guys hav been able to do yeah no no for sure but I mean I think that that’s not I mean that’s just basketball IQ veteran players um guys that have been around you know for Seth uh for DB um you know those guys you know guys

Get used to playing on different teams every year so they I think they it’s easier for them but I also think like the guys that were here you know bought into it quickly um and again the smarter your group is everything becomes easier you know but

The thing I’ve liked is I thought we could be good offensively but now I’m starting to see that you know the defense can also be really good without running around a little bit you know you always have to double te you know we double team quite a bit tonight but the

More you can just play in your base the better off you’ll be and I will say this Grant Williams is a big big part of that uh plays two spots he’s he runs the defense when he’s out there he’s a great communicator and he’s bringing a physicality to the group you know that

You need Steve last season there was a noticeable Improvement defensively after the trade deadline do you feel like you’re seeing some of the same stuff you saw last year I hope so you know last year really a big part of it too was um we started playing Mark Moore you know

And he was he was um a big part of it and by the number last year what we started doing was guarding the ball a lot better which we struggle with early in the year right now we’re guarding the ball well I mean we’re not getting beat

A lot um but got like tonight they have guys obviously who are tough to guard and I thought our individual and our help defense was good coach you mentioned how having small ball back is huge but you can also go big with Nick richs and he had pretty good game

Tonight talk about how you have different lineups which you’re going to need I mean I mean you know look size is still when you you play Milwaukee or Boston you know it’s positional size and you need size and strength I mean we need all of it so but you know having the

Ability to play both ways is is is great you think it’s 30 assists 27 assist 27 assist which is a 28 per game average pretty good yeah I mean so you could have gotten a two all me Farmington also just like I did yeah that’s right yeah if I applied myself if you

Yes um is it surprise to you though that I with this many you guys that that it has the ball M has been there this quickly yeah I mean yeah yeah for sure but I mean I think that I probably if you knew the players which I didn’t

Either you don’t know him until you have them but that’s you can emphasize move the ball it’s all there basic intent in the way they’ve always played you I’m so sure if you if you went back through these guys whole careers um that’s how they’ve played you know and uh and

Vasa you know like he knows how to finish a game he’s done it three times now like you put the ball in his hands in the fourth and you can tell he’s used to having the ball late he knows where everybody is he’s very poised and his

Decision making has been just spoton and that’s very hard to find mind you know but again he’s a two-time Euroleague MVP so he’s played you know under pressure in big moments you put him in a pick and roll now there’s a good chance somebody’s going to be open good thank you

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