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| Wednesday, January 18, 2012 Final Score: New Orleans 87, Memphis 94 Hornets Post Game Quotes Head Coach Monty Williams On where the game escaped them tonight: “The turnovers, it’s the same thing every single night. We dug ourselves a hole in the first quarter and every time we’d get back to closing the deficit, we’d turn the ball over two, three times in a row. They (Grizzlies) shot the ball well tonight. With that being said, they only scored 93 points. We don’t have enough to overcome the turnovers. It’s not one or two guys, it’s everybody. Until we conquer that, we only had six in the first half, we had 12 in the second half when we needed to take care of the ball the most so the turnover, but also I thought the first quarter really put us in the hole.” On the cause of the turnovers: “I have to look at the film first. I don’t want to accuse anyone or any situation, but I think when you have a team on the ropes and trying to get back in the game possessions are so valuable. We were trying to make homerun plays. That, to me, is a sign of inexperience. It’s also a sign that guys are trying their best, but there are times when you need to just back up. You don’t need to swing for the fences every single time; singles would have gotten it done tonight. We just made a few mistakes in the game, but especially in the second half.” On if yesterday’s spirited practice carried over to the game today: “A little bit. I was still not pleased with the way we set up to get the ball. I thought our bigs had a rough time catching the ball tonight for whatever reason and it’s the same thing every night. The frustration mounts when you see that ball going to the opponent and they get easy baskets out of it. They (Grizzlies) hit timely shots when they needed to down the stretch.” On Trevor Ariza back on the court: “We have some know-how with Trevor on the floor. Obviously, sitting there trying to shuffle which guy to play behind him, but it was good to have him on the floor tonight. I thought he gave us some energy and some experience on the floor. Unfortunately, we couldn’t win this one with him being back.” Hornets Forward Jason Smith On the positives of the game: “We fought. They were shooting the ball great in the first half. At one point they were shooting above 80%. That’s tough to deal with mentally. I think we fought to the end; we kept it close to the end. It’s just one of those things that we have to keep fighting and keep our heads up next game.” On the hot shooting from the Grizzlies: “That was a difference early. Toward the end, they got offensive rebounds. We just have to keep our heads up and stick with it. We have Houston tomorrow. We have to continue to fight hard and stick together.” Hornets Forward Trevor Ariza On the play of Jarrett Jack in the fourth quarter: “Jarrett Jack was big in the fourth quarter. He made some tough shots, but we couldn’t come through in the end. Defensively we didn’t get some key stops and key rebounds that we missed. If we come up with those rebounds, I think the game would have been different.” Grizzlies Post Game Quotes Head Coach Lionel Hollins On the game: ”We got a bunch of stops and we executed. OJ [Mayo] got hot and made some big shots. We got a couple of offensive rebounds. They’re a tough team to play. You’ve got to respect them. As I told our team, this is the way we were four years ago. We weren’t winning a lot of games, but we were battling and trying to get better every day, regardless of win or loss, and that’s where they are now. You have to honor and respect that. I respect Monty for what he’s doing with the team that’s giving effort for the full forty-eight minutes. We just had to stay after it. We’d get up by 13, they’d make 2 or 3 shots, and the next thing you know it was back to 6 or back to 5. Down the stretch, our defense was good.” On the first quarter: ”I liked our focus, our intensity and our discipline at the beginning of the game. I told our coaches that if we could battle that for forty-eight minutes, that would be what we’re trying to build to, where the guys that come in the game play the same way and with the same smartness. It’s difficult because we have a lot of new guys and a lot of young guys. The veterans that are here are starting to get it and figure it out, so it’s important that we do get off to a good start when we’re on the road.” Grizzlies Guard Tony Allen On the game: “Another great win, we’re trying to build some consistency, I thought we did a good job of keying in on their offensive sets. We made some great plays down the stretch, they made a run and we were able to weather the storm. It was an overall team win, I liked our focus for the entire 48 minutes. We’re doing a good job of sharing the ball and we have the confidence to make the pass to the open guy, like coach said if you’re double teamed make the pass.” |
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