New Orleans Pelicans Head Coach Willie Green
On what can be done to make it more difficult on Chris Paul:
"It's a long series. We’ve just got to continue to stay with it; continue to wear them down. Those are the things that he can do well, but we have to do our part especially early in the game. We can't turn the ball over. We have to make sure we get back in transition. Things like that, and then they scored a bit too many points in our paint. We'll be fine. [It’s a] long series. We still won at their place. They came and got one at our place. Give them credit. They played hard [and] played together. We'll regroup, watch some tape, and come back Sunday and be ready."
On what made Deandre Ayton tough to stop in the first half:
"Just [that] he's a big boy, and like I said, we have to do a better job of getting to Chris (Paul) and then multiple effort back to Ayton. But they did a great job of looking for him, going into the post, and he did a great job attacking. We'll be a bit better come next game."
Pelicans Guard CJ McCollum
On DeAndre Ayton's first half:
"Yeah, CP (Chris Paul) got him going. He doesn't really try to score until the fourth quarter. He kind of rests throughout the game and then tries to take over down the stretch. He fed Ayton early in the pocket. He hit a three, got to the free-throw line, did a little bit of everything, and I think we did a much better job showing bodies in the second half."
On his message to the younger guys:
"It's a long series. There's a lot of emotions that go back and forth in the wins and losses, in execution and lack of execution. You've got to turn the page, learn from your mistakes, figure out where you can play better, but also look at all the things we've done well up to this point. Down 1-2, with a game to play at home, I'll take that. Obviously, we'd have liked to win, but we've got a chance to even up the series in front of our fans at home on Sunday and hopefully it's an 8:30 start instead of 9:15."
Pelicans Forward Larry Nance Jr.
On the team's fight down 13, and getting back into the game:
"What did you expect? We’re going to fight down 20, down 15, up 10. No matter what the score is, there's fight in this team and, I thought the effort was great."
On his defense against Chris Paul:
"Obviously, that's his shot, but you ask any defensive coach in the NBA like 'Hey, what do you want to force? What kind of shot would you like to force from the other team?' It's going to be a tough mid-range pull up. Like, that's his shot and, you know, that's why he's a hall of fame player. That's his shot, but we're going to keep experimenting, trying things. This is going to be a long series. So we changed coverages after Game 1, after Game 2, and I'm sure we'll tinker some stuff after Game 3 and come back ready to fight again."