Pelicans Coach Monty Williams following Monday's loss:
Q. Coach, did you feel like in that last five minutes they just really shut you down, or was it poor execution or a combination of both?
COACH WILLIAMS: Probably a combination of both. We both struggled to score the way we typically score. They're 109, 110 points per game. They were at 97. We were at 87. But the whole second half we just couldn't get much going. The offensive rhythm is important against a team like Golden State because they can run it down your throat, and I thought that's what they did in the second quarter. If you look at it, they had two bad quarters and two great quarters. The fourth quarter was okay, but they held us to 16.
So I really thought the second quarter when they had 38 points was a bit of a hold for us, because we had played good defense in the first, and then in the second quarter they got a great rhythm, and it took them right into halftime with a plus. Then we came out in the second quarter and held them to 16, and then, like you said, down the stretch, there were times where we tried to push it, and we got a stop and we turned it over, then they rammed it right back down our throat. Those are the possessions where you want to make sure if you have a lay‑up, take it. If not, you have to slow it down.
So we'll be better at that. But I can't fault our guys tonight. They fought their tails off and gave us a chance to win. I think it was a two‑point game with four minutes to go, and we just fumbled a little bit down the stretch.
Q. There have always been comments from people that a team has to get to the playoffs, especially a young team going through it for the first time. What are you seeing from your guys now that you have two games about their adjustments to this new level and what they're learning? What this process has been for Anthony in particular, but your team in general?
COACH WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think everybody's ‑‑ you can't say it enough about just getting here and understanding what it's like. I was speaking to Reggie before the game, and he understood exactly what I was talking about. Like all the things I talk about in practice and guys look at you like you're crazy, and you get in a position like this and now they understand. All the tricks, how physical it is, the atmosphere is different.
At the same time, I don't think it's overwhelmed us. I think it's new to us, but I think we've settled into it. It's just we're playing against the best team in the league and we're fighting tooth and nail for every possession, but your point is well taken.
It's hard to mimic this in practice. It's hard to mimic the physicality. It's hard to mimic the fouls that don't get called. It's hard to mimic all that stuff, and we have to learn to do the same thing. Our guys are growing up on the fly. And Anthony, and we've had some talks the last few days, and it's all sinking in now. He understands why we push the way we push. And it's only going to make us better, but right now we've just got to focus on the next game because that's what we have in front of us.
Q. Can you talk about the playoffs and the intensity and the atmosphere?
COACH WILLIAMS: Just all of it. Every talk I've had about him from a basketball standpoint is about this. He's a great player, but in order to be the best that he can be it's these moments where you've got to get used to it. And he embraces all of it. He wants to learn and experience all of it. I think he's settled into what it's going to be like. I don't think he's having a problem with it. I think in the first quarter the other day it was like this is different. Then after that, he's like, okay, I'm good. I think from here on out, he's going to be fine.
Q. There were a couple of plays late where Davis seemed to be going up against two, three guys. Was that him trying to do too much do you think?
COACH WILLIAMS: No, because if he makes the shot, nobody says a word. He's done it before. He's carried us all year long. I get your point that they have ‑‑ they pack the paint. We went through a drought where we couldn't make ab outside shot, so at that point he's thinking I've got to go. But I'm not going to second‑guess what he's doing. There are opportunities to pass out, but he makes so many of those shots, and nobody says a word. He's missed a couple, and now ‑‑ so I'm not even going to do that.
Q. For a lot of people watching nationally, this is the first time they've seen Anthony Davis on a national stage. He scored 35 points in Game 1, 26‑10 tonight. Do you ever have a moment where you forget he just turned 22?
COACH WILLIAMS: I don't have time for that. I really don't. I don't mean to be curt, but I'm telling you my responsibility as a coach is to push him and get him to be the best he can be. To a degree I may push him too much because I'm not looking at his age. I see the gift, and when you have that, it's your responsibility to get the most out of it. I try to do that with all of our guys. That's why they don't like me that much during the season. I don't have time to look at their age. I'm aware of giving them too much responsibility at times from a leadership standpoint.
But as far as developing him as a player, I've got to push and coach every day, and that's my job, and I don't duck that responsibility.
Q. When we talked this morning you mentioned that Ryan Anderson, it's tough with the match‑ups that they provide against him. He played nine minutes tonight and you were searching for more offense. What does he need to do to get back into rhythm and back into the rotation?
COACH WILLIAMS: It's not so much what he needs to do. They do a really good job of taking stretch fours out, because they have Draymond, and Harrison, and Andre who can both. All three of them can play the three and four. And they can switch out on a point guard. If you can do that to a team, you can take them out of the offense.
Ryan hasn't shot the ball well this series, but that doesn't mean he won't play the next game. He's got to be ready to go out there and do what he does. I just didn't like the match‑ups tonight. The game started picking up in pace, so it wasn't a good match‑up for him or Lexi from that standpoint. We didn't shoot the ball extremely well. It wasn't just Ryan, there were a lot of us who missed shots tonight.
Q. How about Tyreke Evans? He seemed to be playing close to his level?
COACH WILLIAMS: Yeah, he was OK. I thought I played him too much though. You know, I felt it during the game, but they were all so bent on staying in the game. I wanted to take him out, and then down the stretch I felt like he got a little winded. A couple times he went to the basket. Those are times he gets the foul or he finishes over somebody and he was a bit short.
But he looked fine tonight. I mean, he was typical Tyreke. And I thought his defense was pretty good too. Harrison tried to drive on him early and Tyreke blocked his shot. We were much better with our switches tonight. And a lot of it was due to him being on the floor because he's so dog gone strong that you can't just run through Tyreke. He's about 230.
I thought he played a decent floor game. Down the stretch I think we all fumbled a little bit. That wasn't just Tyreke.
Q. Guys struggled in the first half when Anthony went out, and you played him the whole second half. How can you manage his minutes in the future or get more production when he's out of the game?
COACH WILLIAMS: I talked about managing minutes, but last time I checked, this is the playoffs. So we've got the rest of the summer to rest. We're trying to win games. So he's our best player, and if I need to play him 48 minutes, I'll play him 48 minutes, you know. So managing minutes is based on wins. Tyreke is different. He's coming off a bit of an injury. AD, he can play minutes. He's the one that fights me all the time about coming out of the game.
Now there are times where I may be able to get him out for a couple of minutes and get him back in. But tonight wasn't one of those nights.
Q. Anthony, during the Final Four minutes, how much did you feel it was you guys offensively maybe forcing things a little bit too much and not being patient, or how much credit do you give to the Warriors defensively during that timeframe?
ANTHONY DAVIS: I think it was just missed shots. I think we were being aggressive. We didn't want to not be aggressive and try to take away from our game. We made aggressive plays, and the ball just went the other way. Eric hit a couple hard drives, and nine times out of tenure not going to lose the ball, same with Tyreke. We just missed shots towards the end, and they made shots. I mean, we were right there, gave ourselves a chance.
At the same time, we want to win a game. That's all we've been talking about is winning Game 1 on the road. It's tough when you're battling like that, but at the same time we want to win. We gave ourselves a chance, and we knew we were right there and we just didn't do a good job of executing towards the end of the game.
Q. Anthony, what are you learning about the difference between regular season basketball and playoff basketball in terms of this being a step in the process of wanting to get to the top, but this is just the first step? And Norris, with your experience, are you talking to some of the younger guys that haven't been there before? I don't know if you've spent any time talking to them about the playoffs and how it's different from the regular season?
ANTHONY DAVIS: Yeah, it's way different. The physicality is different. The pace is different. The calls are different. You know, so I mean, it's tough. It's all new to me. I'm going to let Norris answer, but he's been on both sides of the totem pole, so he's doing a great job of helping us players while we're on the floor where the coaches really can't tell us everything because they're not out there. He does a great job being in that situation plenty of times and helping us out.
NORRIS COLE: Yeah, I try to fast track from the guys what to expect. It's a different game in the playoffs. The intensity level is different. Like Anthony said, the physicality is different. The way the flow of the game is totally different. I just try to be consistent. I want the guys to be themselves. That's how we got here, not to be too uptight.
You know, AD is going hard for us out there, and we have to be there to support him when he has an off night like this. Tonight was a tough shooting night all around, but I think the more games he plays in the postseason, and the more games we play as a group in the postseason, the better we'll be.
The only way you can get experience in the postseason is by playing in the postseason. Nothing you can really say during the regular season that can get someone ready for the postseason. So I just try to fast track the guys on what to expect. Then when we get out there, the guys will just have to feel it.
Q. Anthony, Coach Williams talked about how you fight him when he wants to take you out, do you feel comfortable playing that many? Would you play all minutes if necessary?
ANTHONY DAVIS: It's playoffs. We didn't get this far, and having Coach tell me I need a break or whatever. I'm trying to win, and I want to do whatever it takes to win, whether it's playing 48 minutes or 42, whatever. I want to be on the floor and do as much as possible in the time that I'm allowed to play. So that allows me to be on the floor for 48 minutes. By all means I'm going to do it, and I just want to win. So when he takes me off the court, I tell him I'm good. I mean, every player does it. You know, so it's just me being hungry and just loving the game and having passion for it.
Q. You guys played the Warriors so close throughout this game. But the last four minutes of the fourth quarter the game got close, and the Warriors pulled away on that 12‑3 run. Do you take any positives from this game that you stayed with the Warriors all the way through?
DAVIS: We know we can beat this team. You know, we just didn't execute in those last three minutes. We were right there tied up going into the fourth, down 2 with four minutes left. You know, they made shots. We did it, so we don't believe in moral victories, oh, we did good. But an L is an L. So we've got to go back and look at film and figure out how to correct our mistakes and figure out how to execute better towards the end of the game. So when a situation comes, next time we'll be ready for it, and we'll come out with a win.
Q. How difficult is it getting that loss tonight out there?
NORRIS COLE: It hurts. Any loss hurts this time of the year, like he just said. There are no moral victories this time of the year. It's either you win or you don't. So, of course, we wanted to get one here, but now you can't change the past. Now we have to refocus and get our minds right to get a ballgame at home, use our energy, use our crowd, you know, use the couple of days of rest and get our minds back ready to get a ballgame. You can't sit around feeling sorry for yourself this time of the year. No one will feel sorry for us. So we have to prepare for the ballgame for Game 3.
Q. Anthony, admittedly you had a little bit of nerves coming out in the first quarter of Game 1. You said that the whole team, including yourself settled as the game went on. It seemed you guys had even more settled into a playoff atmosphere tonight. How do you expect things to change tonight and once you get home to New Orleans?
ANTHONY DAVIS: I think we did a good job coming out tonight. Like you said, we were definitely calm and collected, and ready to come out and play. I don't think anybody had the jitters that we had in Game 1. You know, there were probably still some there, but it didn't show coming out the gate. We're going back home, so I mean, we're on our home floor. Our crowd is going to be just like this crowd if not better. Not that can you top this because it's pretty hectic in here. But we're going to need them, you know. Hopefully we can come out with some wins at home and try to make this a series.
Q. You guys were talking about the last four minutes. But it seemed the whole second half you were a little out of sync on offense. It seemed you only had 35 shots on the floor in the second half?
ANTHONY DAVIS: I don't see how we had a single. We tied it going into the fourth.
NORRIS COLE: It's ugly sometimes in the playoffs. The game isn't always going to be pretty, but you have to find a way. Like I said, it was tied. We gave ourselves a chance. It wasn't out of reach until maybe the last 50 seconds of the game. So we gave ourselves a chance. The ball didn't bounce our way tonight. Every time that we didn't execute they made us pay, which is what good teams do. We're going to watch the film. We're going to learn. We're going to rely on our home court, our energy, and we're going to try to get Game 3.
Q. Can you guys talk about Tyreke? He seemed like he was really playing his guts out there tonight coming off the knee injury?
ANTHONY DAVIS: He's a warrior. He goes out there and fights. Even though he's banged up with his knee, he still gave it all for the team out there. You can't ask much more of him. He left it all out on the floor. He was tired asking to come out, and then he told Coach, no, never mind. That just shows a lot of heart, just to be out there on the floor and give it all for your teammates, especially in a time like this. He's one of our teammates, one of our soldiers. He's going to war for us every single night. He played well.
Like I said, we just came up short, like all our guys. Every guy on the team, everybody leaves it out there on the floor every night.
Q. There is a lot of talk about the offense. Are you pleased with how the defenses looked in these first two games, especially Norris with you, and Cunningham playing a little more than he did in the regular season?
NORRIS COLE: Well, both games, Games 1 and 2 we've held them under their average as far as how many total points they scored. We only gave them 97 points tonight. But the offense didn't come through. So we're defending them well. They shot 30% from three tonight, 34 from the floor, which is not terrible. We both had even turnovers. 13‑13.
So we were right there battling. It's just a matter of when we do get stops, when we do hold them down, we have to make it count in the end. There is no room for error at this point in the season especially against a team like that. So we have to capitalize on those. When they have a miss cue or we get an opportunity, we just have to capitalize. Our defense is competing out there. We've held them under their season averages both games as far as total points, like I said. We've just got to cash in in the end.
Q. Do you guys feel like you're there? After two games you're going back home. Do you feel like from what you've performed that you're right at the door of this thing? You're looking at this game, you're in it the final four minutes it gets away, but do you feel like ‑‑
NORRIS COLE: Do we believe in ourselves?
ANTHONY DAVIS: No, I understand what he's saying. It's more like when you're on the road and we're playing against a team like this, first game, lose by 7, lose by 10 on the road in an environment like this, of course we're going to feel good about ourselves going home knowing that we play well at home. We've got a great record at home. Imagine what we can do on the road and what we've done well in the first and third quarter we held them to 17 and below as far as points. That's all defense right there. So we bring that same defensive energy going home, then it makes it a lot easier on us.
But when you're making shots and they're making shots, their crowd gets into it, so it gets very loud and it's hard for us to hear our teammates on defense. So everything that we're going through here, they're going to go through in New Orleans. The crowd will be on our side, so they're going to be in the same predicament. Just how they capitalize, we have to capitalize on
Q. You played The Finals one year ago. Did you share your experience with your teammates?
NORRIS COLE: For sure. It's all in the preparation. I try to tell the guys, it's all in the preparation. As long as you prepare, which I believe we are, we give ourselves a good chance to win and go out there and compete and fight. We've been doing that. We just have to learn from our mistakes, but it's not going to happen overnight. We have to continue to battle. We have to continue to fight, and we'll have a breakthrough. There are no moral victories, like I said, but our guys are continuing to fight, and we're right there. All you can ask for is a shot to win it at the end. All you can ask for is to be in striking range, and we've been right there both times, but we haven't been able to cash in on it. Hopefully when we go home, we can take advantage of that.