Jonas Valanciunas on Zion vs. Giannis Matchup | New Orleans Pelicans

Jonas Valanciunas on Zion vs. Giannis Matchup | New Orleans Pelicans

They’re tough team you know they’re they got they got size they got you know they got interior scoring you know it’s it’s not easy to battle but we did what we need to do you know we’ve been we’ve been physical team we’ve been you know attacking a pain we did it yesterday too

And that’s how we got it win yeah I mean how do you you know come out with like the motivation like you did last night you know considering your role is kind of like fluctuating right now it’s like is it is that mentally hard to deal with as a player

Is it hard I don’t know it’s it’s not easy you know everybody wants to play more everybody wants to to be on a court you know have a lot of shots and be productive you know sometimes you got to take a step back in your role uh I’m

Ready every night I’m I’m here I’m not going to go away I’m not going to you know broke mentally so I’m I’m here I’m going to play every game as much as I uh coaches need me I’m going to be on the court you what was it like seeing

Giannis and Zion go up against one another they guarded each other most of the night put pretty two good games out there it was physical matchup you know it was uh uh two guys going at each other you know and you know all this

Just fun to see fun to to be a witness of are there two more phys are there any more physical players like that in League are they at the top where they play with such Force this this was the perfect match up between them two you know it’s kind of same position

Uh you know doing kind of same thing uh it was it was just very cool to see that how do you like have the way Z closed that game particularly coming off the heels of that loss in OKC where you guys couldn’t get anything going down the

Stretch of the game but he took it he grabbed the reins uh himself and led you guys basically season that moment we’ve been talking about them about that him finishing strong and he’s been doing that you know over and over over again but uh yesterday he really took it

Personally and you know we you know every game matters for us right now you know we don’t want to we don’t we want to stay where we are or even go higher so um every game really really matters for us and there was a few times when things

Got heated yesterday when it was her and Dame going at it Bobby poris was like going at everybody do you think y’all kind of like like that stuff when games kind of get more physical more heated and guys start going at it I think competitive teams do that competitive

Competitive teams uh you know trying to win no matter what you know is is that you know going at each other you know chirping talking smack whatever but it’s it’s going to happen if you want to win you know if you really take this seriously it seemed like your guys

Defense in the beginning of the first half kind of set the tone for the whole game and put you guys in good position what did you like about the way that you guys defended um I think Milwaukee only had 40 something probably yeah Milwaukee Milwaukee only had 40 something points

In the first half well we really prioritize our defense you know we got to stop you know rotations uh being being be being able to help uh you know take the three-pointers away that’s our uh priority you know to to be a good defensive team and we did it last night

Uh physically I mean Zion just looks like he’s in a great place what do you think about the progress he’s made you know getting himself into into great shape as the season has progressed he’s being he’s been great he’s been great he’s been uh he’s been really you know

Focused on his you know body playing basketball you know he’s he’s been monstered this year and you know you can you you need to just come to the game and watch you know everything is clear

New Orleans Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas’ post-practice interview on Friday, March 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
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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