LIVE: Pelicans vs. Magic Postgame Interviews 4/3/2024
E e e e e e e e e e e uh coach kind of similar ways the two games against Orlando uh kind of unfold especially the the second and third quarters that’s when they established themselves what did you see in in the second and third quarters well they’re
Big team they got in the paint uh got to the free throw line you know they made some shots and um we battled we battled the guys um it came down to the last you know couple minutes of the game but we we once again it’s you look at the third
Quarter and 21 points you know it it it goes back to putting together a full 48 minutes can you describe what happened at the end of the game I know frustrations were boiling over but the you know you had three guys thrown out of the ball game yeah our our
Frustration like you said graph it boiled over and um we we have to keep our composure look I I get it um some calls aren’t going our way we feel like other teams are getting those calls and our guys are frustrated about it right y so and I’m okay with
Battling and you know there’s some times where guys get Tech here and there but at the end of the game we we we have to keep our composure game’s over pretty much and we got to take it you know we lost we got to be able to take that
Sometimes you brought up the offense in the third quarter just what do you feel like you guys could have done better in in that quarter to to put some more points up yeah we got to create some stops uh first and foremost and then capitalize on our opportunities to to
Get out and play in the open floor but they did a great job of packing the paint on Zion um making us take tough shots and then they hit a few big threes to start that quarter and they got them on a run yeah why why do you think the
The three-point attempts were kind of low again tonight they’re they’re one of the best defenses in the league and that’s what they do they they do a great job of taking away your pain opportunities and they they close out extremely hard to to your Shooters so
They make you put the ball on the floor and uh that’s what they did tonight uh I don’t think Z played in the final seven minutes um is he okay physically just what do you see there uh he had something going on with his finger I’m
Not quite sure what it is at the moment but um we’ll have an update for you for you guys soon was that the reason you left the game initially or was that something to the to the what’s it Gary Harris into his legs uh he left the game originally
Because something was going on with his finger I’m not sure what exactly what the diagnosis is at the moment but um I’m hoping he’s okay and you know like I said we’ll we’ll have an update for you guys shortly and just what are your thoughts just on the state
Of the team right now you know losing four the last five during this Ro this home stand we’ve talked about and kind of just the way the game ended with frustrations being as high as they were this is exactly that it’s it’s frustrating but you know it it this is a
Part of it uh it’s not going to be easy to go where where we want to go and this is a part of the NBA journey is that we put ourselves in a unbelievably good position uh but we have to run through the tape and I think we got six
Games left we got to put it together and that’s the deal for us but it’s definitely frustrating losing some of these games I know we want to be better and we will but right now we got to regroup uh keep our heads up and and continue to go after the season got six
Games left so that’s the deal for us just how high was the the level of concern just because of the fact that you know they they were just a more physical team for most of than that they use their physicality throughout the game and it seemed like y’all had a hard
Time kind of responding to that yeah we knew that going in they’re they’re a big physical team and um they Pride themselves on being able to rebound keep teams out of the paint defensively they’re good defense they’re long they’re active um but it it boils down to the same thing that’s been happening
In the last few games is trying to put together a a a 48 minute game or in the 40s will give us a better chance to win and we had that one quarter where you know we we couldn’t score and they scored 33 points I think Larry also left
The game at some point wasn’t wasn’t playing on four just uh what was going on with him uh he was a little under the weather today coach heading into the postseason you want to be playing your best basketball what do you feel like this
Team has to do to get to that level keep staying steady through adversity simple you know do what we do come in we’ll watch film we’ll have a good practice and um you get back on the floor and you do it again all right thanks all right thanks e e e e e
E e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e the
Uh the the Gary Harris dive into your legs I mean obviously did not look like a a fun sequence I mean for you how do you how do you just handle you know like extreme next question uh third quarter I think was you know where they created a lot of the
Separation just what did you see in the third there uh kind of going back to what I said kind of in the bossing game um not only did they pick up their physicality but they execute it we we tried to match it but we uh offensively
We didn’t execute and run our stuff with Force yeah and I mean more to that what you just see on the offensive end I guess besides besides Force if anything um we got to attack the gaps I don’t think we’re attacking the gaps uh with a purpose I think we’re going but we’re
Not doing it with a purpose uh call it for us we call it point five decision and we just got to just do that a lot better what’s your feel just on the the state of the team right now after losing four the last five you know big hom
Stand and just a frustration building at the end of this game uh it is frustrating but um I’ve said it before the beauty in the NBA is you got a game either the next day or the day after so you know uh I always tell
Myself on the court and off the court uh Don’t Panic cuz when people panic it cause other people to want to panic so no there’s no need for us to panic uh we just got to come with the higher level of focus into these next two games but like I always say one
Game at a time and I know you talked about execution but how much do you think just matching their physicality was the issue tonight as well um you just got to be physical I mean the end of the day we just we got to be physical uh they call a foul they call
It but I i’ rather I’d rather us uh make the refs call it than not try to match it and uh you left the game with the finger issue I guess how is it feeling and was was there did you feel like you would have been able to play at the end
If they put you back in um I don’t want to dive too deep into that question because I don’t want to say anything that’s not right to be honest um but yeah uh tweaked it a little bit um I’ll have more information on it um um tomorrow morning I’m going
To get a looked at and go from there Z did you hurt that finger on that dunk attempt in the fourth quarter uh early early in the game uh he got hit a few times but uh when I went for the block on sugs I kind of went with force
And just banged it against the backboard really hard six games left um what do you guys have do to make this playoff push a success like I said we got we have to have a higher level of focus we we just do um spoke on it a lot
Throughout the year um but at a certain point is I just can’t keep speaking on it we got to make it happen uh if we want to be one of those contenders we we got to get wins even in tough games like this we got to figure out how to get a
Win it’s you know these guys I your teammates obviously but you feel like yall have what it takes to kind fight out of this absolutely um go to practice tomorrow and make sure energy is high make sure everybody uh make sure nobody’s tripping over what happened uh cuz like I said
You can’t Panic there’s no need to panic we just have to have higher level of focus and taking one game at a time obviously the frustration was high at the end but how surprised it was to see three guys you know get tossed basically five seconds
So I had I had already started I had already got to the locker room so I didn’t even get to see it happen um but you know coach coach spoke to us about that um I don’t know if he shared it so I don’t want to speak too much on it but
Uh I think that’s something we just got to talk about internally as a team thanks you guys have a great night e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
Yeah for you you know in the in the fourth quarter did it feel like anything changed to allow you to to get into a little bit of Rhythm there or anything like that no I was just more decisive made some open shots created a little
Bit more space but I mean I had some great looks in the first half I missed two floaters in and out two threes in and out um it happens I got to get off the better starts but I think for us collectively we were just more aggressive got to be aggressive
Throughout the game and uh sense of urgency need need a sense of urgency um earlier in the games and I think that’ll be the difference for us going forward yeah for you guys this is another a second game in a row with pretty low three-point attempts I think you guys
Were over 30 was there anything they were they were doing tonight to just like limit you guys from the AR I mean they’re a good defensive team I think they’re ready the second best defensive team in the NBA so like they they make you play in the yard um they load up on
The paint and they close out well they do a good job of playing well out of scrambles and some of it was us missing shots some of it was them just playing good defense but I think you know these last six games we playing against good teams you know good defensive teams they
Got good offense they got you know star Powers so we not going to get open looks all the time it it becomes more of a half court game and that’s why it’s really important you get stopped so then you can get out run and transition and be more
Free obviously you know guys going to be pissed about losing uh but how would you assess just where the guys are right now does this kind of feel different than some of the lows y’all experienced early in the season I mean we got 45 WI with
Six games left it’s not the end of the world you we would have lik to win more games at home during this home stand we would like to have clinched the playoffs already but if you would have told me we got six games left before the playoffs
Starts so we got a a way to control our own destiny I would say I’ll take that so I mean you got to look at it um two ways right you know we got to be better obviously we got to uh get back to the basics but it’s also you know not the
End of the world we lost some games um some games that we feel like we should have won but still games left to be played we still have a say and how this season is going to finish up for us and we still have control um over over how
We play and and hopefully we can get some wins and and lock in this playoff seed and does it feel like there something that’s kind of connected these losses that that y’all need to address whether it be offensively or just just focus or execution just do you think there’s something like bigger picture
Y’all need to address uh I mean I the game just ended I got I haven’t even watched the game yet so I have to watch the game but I mean we gave up 117 points we had what seven technicals so that’s seven free throws that’s 110 that’s that’s not a
Bad defense tonight gave up 26 in the fourth a lot of technical free throws we was in a bonus early in the first quarter um so we just got to do a better job of guarding smarter we guard well but we got to guard smarter getting in
Foul trouble early getting them in the bonus early makes it harder to play defense but I mean that second quarter we gave up 34 points gave up 33 and the third and that was the difference in the game really um so we got to be better defensive I think from an offensive
Standpoint um continuing to play five getting downhill you know I had you know four turnovers so I think it’s the little stuff right like I can’t control me making or missing shots you know I I get my work in every day uh I watch film I pride myself on being prepared but I
Can control for a turnover so I think it’s about us just figuring out collectively individually how can we be better for our team how can we can control some of those things and you know making the mission shots is a part of the game but we got to be better at
Had the things that we can actually control and what was kind of the reactions to seeing three guys tossed at the end of the game you know back to back to back like that yeah that was tough um this is an emotional game you know everything you know that happened probably shouldn’t
Have happened but we got to be better and I think some of it was questionable questionable rejection you I don’t know what Trey said I think Trey said something but then I was by Dyson when Dyson got thrown I don’t think that he should have been ejected for that uh
For what we said he didn’t say a curse word or anything um he just agreed with what Trey said and he threw him out so I was like that’s kind of tough you know I think you know they obviously wanted to get control of the game but there 7
Seconds left now like it’s the deed is done you know let the game end and let us go home but we got to be better it’s a it’s a growth moment for us um to learn you got you got to win with class you got to lose with class and it’s a
Part of it and obviously we was all frustrated we all wanted to win but I credit them they played well and they beat us CJ do you feel like some of the frustrations came from stuff that happened earlier in the game like for instance well I know I think Gary Harris
May have slipped but he still took Z out from underneath his feet yeah I mean it looked it looked dirty but I know G we all know G he’s not a dirty player but it looked it looked bad and you know I fouled sucks and I’m sure it looked bad
But we all just trying to compete and trying to win a at the end of the day we’re going to protect each other and protect our teammates and and do what we can to to win the game and you know I don’t I don’t necessarily think that was
The issue I think it was a collective 48 minutes of inconsistencies throughout the game where I think that just that that causes frustration sometimes because um since since what January or February the game has been referee different right like I mean I it’s no secret it’s it’s the
Least amount of free throw attempts per game G since 1930 1940 since before was the NBA so the game is being refereed differently right so we’ve adjusted to that and then you have a game like tonight where they calling fouls like it’s pre- January so it’s just confusing
And I think that’s the the frustration and the and the frustrating part is like yo we’ve been guarding like this for like 20 games and it’s these aren’t fouls you know for those 20 games we played and now these are fouls and then we get guarded the same way and it’s
Like it’s just it’s just confusion I think we just got to get a better understanding of how the game is going to be caught every night because tonight was different than how it’s been like I shot 11 free throws I went five games and I shot three free throws through
Five games I had multiple five game stretches where I wouldn’t shoot free throws for three or four games if I’m shooting the ball 20 times a night I’m I somebody’s hitting me at some point right so I think that’s that’s why it was we was just we were just a little
Confused um with how the game was being officiated tonight a lot of young younger guys on theost are you pretty confident that that mentally oh yeah we’ll be fine man we’ll be fine we know what what needs to be done they they here for a reason e
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Orlando Magic post game interviews with head coach Willie Green and Pelicans players as they recap their game on Saturday, March 30 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
E.J. Liddell #32 Forward
Naji Marshall #8 Forward
CJ McCollum #3 Guard
Trey Murphy III #25 Guard
Larry Nance Jr. #22 Forward
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl #50 Forward
Matt Ryan #37 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward-Center
Subscribe to the New Orleans Pelicans YT Channel: https://bit.ly/PelicansSubscribe
Latest Pelicans News and Updates: https://www.nba.com/pelicans
Latest NBA News and Updates: https://www.nba.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PelicansNBA/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PelicansNBA
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pelicansnba/
Find us on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/pelicansnba
Get the App: http://apps.yinzcam.com/nba/nop
