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2019-20 NBA Restart Seeding Game: Pelicans vs. Spurs Postgame Quotes 8-9-20

On the Pelicans’ first-half performance:“There is no explanation. We talked about it, and it is a game seven, and we did need to approach it like it was a game seven. Obviously, we fell [behind] early. Defensively, we weren’t into the ball early on, and I don’t have an explanation for that. I wish I did. The only way you’re going to beat a team like that, you have to be ready to play, you’ve got to be willing to execute, and you’ve got to be able to protect the basketball. Those things we struggled with today.”

On JJ Redick’s performance in today’s game:“Well, I thought JJ – he talked the other day about us playing and bringing the right spirit to play with, and I thought he did exactly that. I think we’ve got to do a little bit better job of being able to move on to the next play when things are not going good, and then we have to be able to rally together. But I thought JJ was really good today. I thought he did a really good job. I thought he made some really tough shots for us to kind of keep us just within arms reach, but we just couldn’t get over the hump, and we never got to the point where we could get ahead.”

On the Pelicans’ struggles to start tonight’s game:“For whatever reason, I don’t have an answer, but I don’t think we started the game with a great competitive spirit. We’ve had a couple of games like that down here, for whatever reason. Our group eventually picked it back up and whittled that lead down to a one possession game. We just didn’t start the game right, for the whole first half; not just the starters, I’m just saying the whole first half.”

On why the game got away from the Pelicans in the first quarter:“We just didn’t have any competitive spirit to start the game. We were flat, we weren’t talking. That’s what it comes down to.”

On the Pelicans’ lack of spirit in the first half of today’s game:“It’s something that is not acceptable. The lack of spirt in the first half really dictates the second half. If we would have come out better, maybe we would have had a different outcome. Like I always say, you’ve just got to learn from that experience and just be better.”

On the Pelicans’ slow starts in three of their losses in the bubble and what he can attribute those to:“I’m not sure, to be honest. Me giving an honest answer, probably it’s just that we’ve got to come out ready to play. In those games where we didn’t come out ready to play, it showed.”