12/01/10 Post Game Quotes - Hornets vs Bobcats
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| Wednesday, December 1, 2010 Final Score: New Orleans 89, Charlotte 73 Hornets Post Game Quotes
On closing out quarters: “Coach Mike Malone has been talking about closing out quarters since the beginning of the season. I was pleased with the fourth quarter. I think we have been giving up 25 points a quarter in the fourth and to hold that team to 11 in the fourth says a lot; to hold any team under 80 points, let alone 100, says a lot about our defense. Our guys know we didn’t have our best stuff tonight as far as energy and playing with force but we got the stops when we needed and different guys came up with plays.” On contesting shots in the fourth: “Willie (Green) and those guys came in and gave us a different scheme, we were able to switch. D. West does a good job of switching and getting a hand up. He has such good hands, I don’t know if it comes from boxing or just having big hands, but he does a good job of contesting shots and then we rebounded. That was another key we talked about, rebounding. That team does a good job of getting points in the paint and a lot of it is from second possessions. A lot of things happened in that fourth quarter, but I was pleased that our numbers were a lot better tonight defensively and to hold that team to 40 percent says a lot about our team.” On it being a frustrating game: “It’s not going to be pretty all the time. As a coach you’d like to have everything look nice and execute offense and guys come off screens and hit jump shots, but in the NBA you are going to have games like that and we are just glad we came out on the winning side.” On the team’s resiliency: "These guys have a lot to prove, I have a lot to prove as a rookie coach, but you are talking about David (West) and Chris (Paul) wanting to get back to their level of play, and then you have guys on the bench and that is just who they are. Trevor (Ariza) is a guy who has a chip on his shoulder, Emeka (Okafor) wants to go somewhere he hasn’t been before, so I just think it’s who they are and our coaches do a good job of getting guys prepared. Its part of the culture we have tried to establish but at the same time I just think it is the character of our team.”
On the win tonight: “They (Charlotte) came out here and they played. They definitely were physical. We responded and came out with a win.” On closing out the game with an 18-4 run in the last quarter: “The past couple of games, we thought that we should’ve had it (a win), but we just didn’t earn it in that fourth quarter. We learn from our mistakes and turn it up (like tonight).” On playing back at home: “It’s great to be back home. The home town crowd is great. It gave us that boost that we needed.”
On playing tougher in the fourth quarter: “I thought we came out and changed up our coverages a little bit and just made them beat us with execution…(We were) just being aggressive on the defensive end.” On being aggressive in the second half: “We wanted to come out and try and attack them by getting those guys on the wing (involved) to get those guys going. (We wanted to) get opportunities to get the ball. In the second half, I just thought that guys found their shots.” Bobcats Post Game Quotes
On the game: “It’s the same old, same old. We’re trying to end the game, going into the fourth quarter and had turnovers. We didn’t match their intensity. They have a couple of finishers. (David) West and Chris Paul took over. They defended great. They made every play and we didn’t. We didn’t handle their zone. We didn’t even know they were in the zone. Came down and had three straight turnovers. At critical parts of the game, we gave up offensive rebounds. It’s disappointing.” On Hornets Coach Monty Williams: “Monty did a wonderful job of managing the clock and putting them in a position to win. They’re committed to defending. Monty’s got unbelievable character. He’s had a pretty good background. When you’re in this profession and you see people like him doing what he’s doing, it makes you feel pretty good. He’s doing a wonderful job, and it’s neat that someone took a chance with him.”
On scoring 3 of the last 14 possessions in the game: “I think in the 4th quarter we put ourselves in a bad situation. They jumped into a zone and we kind of acted that we didn’t know what to do when they were in zone. Some guys didn’t want to take the shots in the fourth quarter that would usually take them (shots). We put ourselves in a bad predicament. We played like we were trying to work the clock down, instead of playing the same way we were playing the first three quarters. They (Hornets) kept playing, and actually got even better in the fourth quarter. They scored on their possessions and took care of the ball, and we didn’t. We went totally the opposite way.” |
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