Pelicans-Suns Postgame Quotes

Pelicans.com

On his message to the team in the locker room after tonight's loss

"My message was: Look, don't hang our heads, we're in a great spot. We came out and competed tonight. We played hard. We made some mistakes and we'll get back to practice and watch film and try to clean up some of those mistakes. We're also grateful to have CJ (McCollum) back. He's knocking off some rust as well. It's just a part of adjusting. Now we’ve got to go on the road and try to win games."

"I take full responsibility for whatever it is. We came out of the All-Star break well, locked into our game plan and it's just an area that we have to keep working on. The way we played the other night and looked great but tonight, not so great. No matter who we play, that gives us a chance to win games if we get stops on the defensive end."

On what makes the Suns so difficult to guard

"When they don’t miss a shot, it’s pretty hard. We were 50 percent from the field, and they were 55 percent. They’re just constantly moving and having different actions, so guys will be running around the low man. Then, you have to run out and fly out on their shooters, so they’re just hard to match up with."

On the mentality from the team with how important these last 13 games are

"We’re just locking in and taking each game at a time. We can’t focus on any games past the game that we have next, which is the San Antonio Spurs."

On the inconsistent defensive performances from the team

"We try to stick to the game-plan. Sometimes, we’re just out of position and not following the game-plan. Sometimes, we may gamble when we don’t need to, but hopefully, we can turn it around."

On Devin Booker killing the momentum before the end of the third quarter

"He’s a very talented player. He made some big shots. It’s kind of just how the game goes, especially the and-one. When they came down in transition, he just made some big shots. They stretched the lead, and we just never recovered."

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Pelicans vs. Suns Postgame Quotes 3-15-2022

On what enabled the Suns to control this game:

"It just comes down to execution. They executed well at the end of the game and got quality looks and made them."

On the lack of foul calls for Brandon Ingram:

"have no idea. He goes in and attacks and does the things that we’re asking him to do. It just seems like it doesn’t go his way, but we have to stay with it. I’m not going to complain about it. I’ve talked to our team, and I’ve talked to Brandon. We just have to keep going in with force, and make them make those calls."

On where he feels the team is at after playing the Suns tonight:

"It’s good. We’re competing to the end. Honestly, that’s why Utah and Phoenix are top teams and they know how to finish the games. Guys get to their spots, and they just make plays down the stretch. That’s just what it was. We didn’t get stops when we needed to, they did, but we played great.”

On what the team can do to be more efficient on offense:

"I think we just keep doing what we’re doing. Driving, kicking and making the simple plays. Sometimes we’re penetrating a little too far instead of just making the easy plays. Obviously, (Brandon Ingram) struggled, which, a lot of those shots we’re used to him hitting. That’s just how the game goes. You make shots, and obviously, we’re going to keep going to him late in the games like that because we’re used to him closing games. Next game, it’s probably going to fall, so we just keep doing what we’re doing, keep believing in each other, keep shooting our shots with confidence, and next game they’re going to fall."

On how he is working to return to pre-injury shape:

"Just continue to work. Continue to stay in the gym. Continue to stay encouraged. Especially by all these missed shots and me being out of it, it’s only encouraging for me to continue to be in the gym and go back and fix everything that’s been going on."

"It’s frustrating, but it’s the game of basketball. It was the heat of the moment for me tonight, getting a technical foul out there, a couple missed calls. But, I’ve got to take in that the referees are human too, they don’t see everything on the basketball floor, and they can’t make the correct call every single time on the basketball floor. I just continue to go hard, continue to the basket, and continue to play my game and try to make the best of it."

On what the Suns do well running a similar offense to the Pelicans:

"Well, when you have good players and a team they’ve built, they’re able to find different options out of the offense. Wherever they saw a hole, they kind of attacked it, especially with CP3 (Chris Paul) at the head of everything. They played out a lot of actions that we ran, but they had a little bit better execution, and they made more shots than us tonight."

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Pelicans vs. Suns Postgame Quotes 1-4-2022

On the Pelicans’ bench performance in tonight’s game:

"Yes, most definitely. I thought our bench came in and gave us a huge lift. Great energy. They were fighting. They were
scrappy. It's what we needed our guys to do. We're still shuffling lineups right now with guys being out, but I thought, for the
most part, we competed. We played hard. We came up short because we're rusty and we’ve got to make shots against this
team."

On the tough opponents the team is facing this week:

"We have some good teams coming in. Our guys are well aware of it, and we've been in this situation before where we've
played against good teams…on the road, at home, and we just have to come out and play our style of basketball. I thought
tonight we were a little off our game. I spoke to the guys in the locker room about it. Everybody's navigating these
circumstances in the NBA right now. We’ve got to continue to grind through it, and we will.”

On the team being rusty and out of rhythm tonight:

“It’s tough. I think it comes with the territory for this season, so it is what it is. We’ve got to keep pushing, get in the gym as
much as we can, and keep it moving. So, it’s a tough one, but the beautiful thing about the league is we’ve got another one
tomorrow.”

On how to help Brandon Ingram’s impact coming back from injury:

“Just getting him in positions that are going to make him successful. Getting him going downhill, or getting him going faster, not
slowing down the pace, not having to go into a one-on-one, where he’s at the top of the key or something like that. So, we’re
getting back, and obviously, he’s kind of getting back after missing a couple of games, so we’re not worried about it. He’s a
heck of a player, so I know tomorrow is going to be better, and the next game is going to be better, so on and so on.”

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Pelicans vs. Jazz Postgame Quotes 1-3-2022

On the way that Herbert Jones is playing the game:

“He was great. All over the place tonight. Offensively, his cutting, his ability to rebound, offensive rebound. Defensively, he was a monster. That’s a good team, and we can’t forget that those guys are coming off of a Finals win, so they played with swagger and confidence. Herb, his instincts…they’re incredible, and we need him on the floor.”

On the progress he has seen from his team in the last few games:

“Well, what I see is that we’re growing, and early in the season, we were giving ourselves an opportunity, but we were falling short. Now we still have a ton of games left ahead of us, but I like what we’re doing. We’re starting to find our rhythm, starting to find what environments that we can play in down the stretch of games. Tonight was tough. That zone threw us off, but we were just scrambling trying to put different line-ups in. The important part for us was our execution down the stretch. I think that’s continued to get better for us.”

On his conversation with Willie Green and his comfort with the current offense:

“I’m very comfortable, always. We play pretty easy. (We) get open shots, drive, kick, make the right plays. Yeah, he just had a talk with me the other day just about being aggressive, looking for my shot more. Obviously, I was struggling. The ball wasn’t going in, so I was playing a little frustrated. I told him I was a little frustrated, but that was just personal stuff. He told me to keep letting it fly, so that’s what I’m doing.”

On not having a player on the team to play off the drive and kick:

“No, not necessarily. I mean, we’ve got guys that do it. Herb (Jones) does a great job. Obviously, BI (Brandon Ingram) draws a whole bunch of attention. Josh Hart came downhill. We’ve got guys that can get downhill. It’s just my job to find those open windows and give them an outlet. When they drive, I just try to put myself in that position.”

On the impact of Devonte’ Graham’s shot-making tonight:

“It put us over the hump. At the end of the game, he hot them out of the zone, we got him some open looks on the wing, he stepped into it with confidence and knocked them down. On the free throw line, he knocked them down, too. He saved me. It was good to see that from him.”

On what he feels this team could become looking at recent game success:

“It’s growth, from last game to this game. Playing a better team, even though some of their guys were out, they’ve been in situations where they’ve been in the playoffs and they’ve been able to overcome some big games. So for our guys to go out and execute time after time after time on the offensive and defensive end, it’s encouraging. We want to keep it going.”

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Pelicans vs. Bucks Postgame Quotes 12-17-2021

On shots being hard to come by and what the Mavericks did well in tonight’s game:

"A lot of credit goes out to them. They just played with force. After the game they had against Cleveland, we knew that it was a strong possibility that they were going to come in and just play at a high level, which they did, and we helped them by just not consistently executing. I thought our guys went out and tried, but this is one of those situations where you come off the road after an emotional win, and we’ve just got to take more pride in protecting our home court."

On how the team can respond to tonight’s loss when they play Dallas again on this Friday:

"Well a lot better than we did tonight. I spoke to the guys in the locker room about it. That's the beauty of being in the NBA. It's a quick turnaround. We get to go Dallas and play these guys again. Look, we don't like what happened tonight on our home floor, and we’ve got to do something about it."

On having the chance to play the Mavericks again in two days:

"Yeah, quick turnaround. We get to go play them again. So, we know what we've got to do. We've got to be more physical."

On what the team has to do better to limit Luka Dončić next time around:

"You’ve just got to try to make it tougher on him, be more physical, show more of a crowd. We were letting him just be one-onone and get to his spots and where he wanted to go. So, you know, making shots like that, for anybody, it's going to be a long night."

On what they have to do differently to stop Luka Dončić:

"Just bring the defensive intensity, try to continue to wear him down picking him up full court. I think we have to have guys on the backline just talking and being in the right spots, and try to figure out a way to funnel him into the paint of whatever it is and game plan for it."

On how the team can be more efficient when they can't get out in transition:

"I think the first thing we've got to do is make them feel a little uncomfortable. They just felt good. It felt like one of those shootarounds where you're just catching the ball and you're in rhythm and you're knocking down shots. Especially, I felt that way for Tim Hardaway. He's a good shooter, but he had some looks where he wasn't touched. We just have to do a better job of — I know I had a couple second-chance rebounds where I let (Dorian) Finney-Smith get in the interior and rebound the basketball and have some kick outs, and they had some second chance points. So we’ve just got to eliminate some of those things and get some of those guys off the three-point line."

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Pelicans vs. Mavericks Postgame Quotes 12-1-2021

On the key takeaways from tonight’s game:

“We took care of the basketball and made quick decisions. I thought Brandon (Ingram) was great. Anytime he had scoring opportunities, he took advantage of them with pace and force. Once again, quick decisions from him were really good for us.”

On the faster pace of play being a point of emphasis going forward: “We have to get stops, and I thought tonight that was the biggest key for us. Our defense triggered the offense. Anytime we can get stops, force those guys to take tough shots and we rebound the ball, we are at our best. We did that tonight with 10 turnovers. It allows the offense to breath and allows us to get quality shots.”

On his confidence in tonight’s starting lineup:

“I feel good. I think we’ve all started before. Herb (Jones) has started, and Josh (Hart). Just trying to find a good group, have some scoring coming off the bench with Nickeil (Alexander-Walker), and keep him aggressive. Like I said, everyone played and did their part tonight. It was aggressive, and we kept our energy the whole game and tried not to be a first half team, like how we lose those leads.”

On Brandon Ingram emerging from a recent offensive slump:

“It’s great, and the thing with him is, he has learned and is continuing to learn how to get to his spots in time, especially with (Zion Williamson) being out, teams are going to load up against him or trap his ball screens and those kinds of things. So one, we’ve got to help him, in terms of going out there and making shots, being aggressive and keeping the defense honest. Two, just playing fast, and I think we saw that today. Not as much isolation, not as much catching and holding, just quick plays, whether it’s the quick drive, quick shot, whatever it was. To have him score a very efficient 26 was definitely good for us, and when he’s doing that, we’re at our best.”

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Pelicans vs. Wizards Postgame Quotes 11-24-2021

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Willie Green Postgame Interview | Pelicans vs Thunder 11-10-21

On the team’s technical fouls in tonight’s game:

"Our guys thought they got fouled, and we didn't get the call. However, we're not going to get those calls. We haven't earned them, so what are we complaining about? Until we earn it, we're not going to get that. That's the deal. I talked to our guys about it. We have to keep our composure. Our margin for error is too small to do what we did tonight."

"It's this game. It's not the losing streak. It's not one quarter. It (was) our approach to this game. There were moments in the game where we had guys on the floor that just didn't compete hard enough for me (and) hard enough for our team, and that's a non-negotiable one for me. That's the deal. That's where we are. As the leader of this team, I can't have that. I can't have guys on the floor if they're not going to give 110%."

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Nickeil Alexander-Walker Postgame Interview | Pelicans vs Thunder 11-10-21

On what clicked for him in tonight’s game:

"Free throws. One of the main things was a clear mind. The past few games, (I was) just trying to get back to myself. I've been watching a lot of sermons and just (trying) to get back to my faith (and) my roots. So, just being able to play with faith and let go.”

On if getting to the rim was a focus for him tonight:

"Early, coach got on me about my shot selection in the first half and then that just kind of (stayed) in my mind. He likes to say&nbsp;‘calling you up, not out,’ and it's just about how you respond. I took it as like an accountability check and I did what he asked."

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Jonas Valančiūnas Postgame Interview | Pelicans vs Thunder 11-10-21

On what slowed him down after his quick start scoring:

"They were aggressive in the second half. They were all over the place, double-teaming, poking, bringing someone to initiate defense, so we’ve all got to be better. I know that sounds like a broken record, but we're not going to give up."

On what he sees from this team to turn around this losing streak:

"I see one thing, that we're not going to give up. We're not going to stay home. We're going to come back (and) fight again. Win or lose, we're going to fight again until this thing’s going to turn over. We're going to keep believing it, we're going to keep fighting and we're going to keep doing what we do. This thing has to come around. Yeah, we are going through a tough one. Nobody expected that, nobody wants that, but what should we do, stay home? No, we're not going to do that. We're going to come back, we're going to practice tomorrow, we're going to come back and play again, and we're going to stick together.&nbsp;That's what we can do."

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Pelicans vs. Thunder Postgame Quotes 11-10-2021

New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green and Pelicans players recap the team's road game against the Phoenix Suns on November 2, 2021. The Pelicans fell 102-99 to the Suns in the first game of their four-game road swing.

On tonight’s game
"Credit to the Suns. They did what they needed to in the fourth quarter; 18 to 36. That’s the game for us. Once again, we fought. The guys are giving everything and we’re coming up a little short."

On the first half
"We took care of the basketball offensively. First, we got stops, we rebounded, we just ran. We played together, shared the basketball and then towards the end of the game we got a bit stagnant. A lot of it was playing against a really good team.”

“We were getting stops. And then rebounding and using our speed to get easy baskets. I thought in the fourth quarter, they made more shots and we made some mistakes down the stretch and now we are playing against their half court defense which is hard for us to do consistently throughout the course of the game."

On tonight’s game
"I think we didn’t get stops, we didn’t run, we didn’t play fast. We didn’t get easy baskets. If you look at our first half, what they were shooting from the field and from three wasn’t great and we were able to get out and run and do those things and that’s when we were building our lead. And even when they came back, we took that punch and we answered with a run of our own. We got that through transition and stops and we didn’t do that in the second half. They started getting easier shots. We made a lot of mistakes which turned into baskets for them and on the offensive side, we just got slowed down and we didn’t have much movement."

On turnovers
"Obviously you’ve got to make shots to win in this league. You’ve got to play a full 48 minutes. In the first half we were rolling. We got stops and getting out in transition and playing well defensively. They made their adjustments when we were blitzing CP and trying to get the ball out of the pocket early and make plays and have different guys cutting and stuff like that. Obviously they did a good job adjusting offensively to what we were doing."

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Pelicans at Suns Postgame Quotes 11-2-21 | 2021-22 NBA Season

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Pelicans‑Suns Postgame Quotes