Willie Green recaps game against Phoenix | Pelicans-Suns Postgame Interview 1/19/2024

Willie Green recaps game against Phoenix | Pelicans-Suns Postgame Interview 1/19/2024

All right coach uh tough night at the office it started uh on the defensive end Deon Booker went off and then just no shots seemed to be falling it was just a really tough combo yeah it was um not our best night on either either side

Of the ball defensively um I don’t I don’t just didn’t think that they felt us all game they played pretty comfortable and give them credit they came in and they they dominated the game offensively did you feel like it was just a matter of shots that do you guys

Normally make just weren’t going down what you what did you see on that end I think it was a combination of um we missed some shots but they they put their hands on us was physical denied us tried to take us out of some of our offense and you know when teams are

Physical with us we have a tendency um to get stagnant and that’s when you got to play with more Force more execution more communication on the defensive end and um they kind of knocked us on our our he heels early and then once they

Did did you know it was just hard for us to get back into a rhythm yeah and then uh you know with with what Devon did specifically I mean was that just a lot of tough shot making I mean what what if anything could you guys have done to to

Make it more difficult on you think he’s got to feel us from the start and um give him credit heck of a score he he had a terrific game but we have to be better we know it our guys in the locker room know it um we okay with tough shots

But he got some easy ones too he got some easy baskets in transition and when a guy has it going like that you can’t give him anything easy and you know a part of it was him and he’s talented he can score and and some of it was us just

Not um collectively playing with the physicality that it takes to take a score like that away and uh even during the moments when y’all were able to get the ball out of his hands they were able to kind of get it to the middle of the

Floor and spray it out to the to the shooters I guess how much of that was like you talked about just not them not feeling y on defense or not being able to execute overall on defense a lot of it is that is is you know we we threw

Different looks at them but even when we did our rotations weren’t clean on the backside and so you know we need to go back to watching some film on it and uh we’ll have a day off tomorrow and come back and and just be better uh tonight

Was not a great night on our part and we got to own that and look look at it and try to see where we can improve obviously the threes were a big part of the win a couple nights ago the first half you guys go three or 20 how much of

That were the the threes y’all were taking or how much of it was just you know shots not falling say that again how much of it was the threes y’all were taking versus just shots not falling uh I you know I give them some credit for sure uh like I said I thought

That they knocked us on our heels and some of the shots that we normally would make we were a little hesitant just across the board all of our guys were and um you know some shots just didn’t fall as well so it was a combination yeah well in addition to that shot shot

Selection um uh question what about Zion and theonas they seem to have it going in the first half were you happy that they got enough touches and shots yeah I thought they they played well both of those guys played well um but we just didn’t play well enough as a

Team to win the game and that’s what matters to our group is even when we have individual performances that are great which we want you know we want that to contribute to wins and tonight collectively all of us you know wasn’t our best night were you surprised that

The team wasn’t able to make a run at all in the second half um I don’t know if it’s a surprise it’s just you know we we have to come out with the mindset that we are going to make a run and every time we got a

Little momentum they hit some big shots on us oh will just stepping out looking at the big picture a little bit you’re entering the second half of the season now um one of the positives that you guys have had is your main guys have been mostly available your starting

Group this is the most you’ve had them since you’ve been here um they they have struggled a little bit as a unit just how would you analyze why they’re facing those struggles particularly on on the defensive end that’s exactly what it is um we have that group has to be

Committed to defending that’s the that’s where their biggest struggles are we’ve talked about it and had honest discussions about it and um that’s the challenge that’s the challenge for them for us as a coaching staff is to try to put them in a position where we can be

Better defensively they can score but we got to guard and in like moving forward if that’s something that doesn’t improve to your satisfaction is there is there a threshold where you guys would consider like shaking things up with that group interest trying something different new possibly but that that’ll be a

Discussion a private discussion that happens later if that’s the case for sure coach you talked about how they came out knocked you on your heels and that seems to have been a theme when it comes to teams punching you in the mouth first and not being able to punch back

What is the consistency that happens in those moments um we stopped executing on both ends of the floor whenever we not whenever but there’s been times where we played physical teams and when they take us out of our our offense and things aren’t flowing easily for us there’s been some

Tendencies for us to get stagnant and the message to our team is that that those are the moments where we have to play with more Force continue to Trust share the ball and continue to communicate and execute our our game plan defensively and tonight um we

Didn’t do that at a high enough level to win the game than okay thank you y

New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green’s postgame interview after the Pelicans’ game against the Phoenix Suns on Friday, Jan. 19 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
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

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