On tonight’s loss against the Clippers:
“We had a rough start. They shot the ball extremely well. Really in the first five, ten minutes of the game is where they got their separation. They made a bunch of threes. With that being said, I still think the game came down to (the fact that) we have to start managing our turnovers. It’s been our Achilles heel the last few games. We cannot have 31 points given up on our turnovers, and that’s the thing that’s been hurting us the most. We’ve got to find a way to correct that, and then we have to do a better job of getting into the ball (defensively). They did make some threes, some challenged threes, but we have to have more of a defensive presence from a physicality standpoint. I did think the last group that went in there, they did a really good job of moving the basketball [and] playing good solid defense. I don’t worry about the score, I worry about what we’re doing, and I thought that group did a good job of playing the way we needed to play; and so what we have to do is get the first group playing that way also.”
On the Pelicans’ effort tonight:
“It wasn’t the effort that we played with, it was the decision making. I thought we played hard, and we competed. There’s going to be some nights where teams shoot the ball extremely well. If a team lines up like they did and they make 25 threes out of 47 chances, you’re probably going to have a tough time beating them. Like I said, my biggest concern – I thought we played with effort, but we have to start making better decisions and we have to start eliminating the turnovers. We can’t have 20 turnovers and then 18 turnovers. We have to stay in that 11-12 range. I understand that we’re going to have some turnovers because of the pace we play with and what we do, but we can’t continue to have almost 20 turnovers a game. That’s just going to get us in trouble.”
On what the Pelicans have to do to in their matchup with Memphis on Monday:
“Just compose ourselves, get back into the swing of things. I think today we were rushed and made some bad decisions, didn’t stick to our plan and our schemes. Especially for a team that packs the paint, you kind of have to stay wide and stay outside of the three-point line because we have three-point shooters, we have guys that can knock it in. I feel like we scrambled today.”
On why the team felt rushed tonight:
“Again, I think just trying to make something happen. We know that they switch everything and they pack the paint. Us trying to do that and get into the paint, try to make plays, try to make plays for each other or yourself…sometimes it just happens like that.”
On if he feels like effort was an issue after the Clippers’ initial run:
“No. I don’t feel like it was effort. I feel like I never really questioned our effort. I think a lot of it was just feeling scrambled mentally and trying to figure out what works against this defense, what works against their offense. Again, just something (where) we’ve got to go back to the drawing board.”
On the Pelicans’ decision making in tonight’s game:
“Again, they were physical with us…more physical with us than we were with them. We passed up a few open looks, and I think that happens when you don’t see the ball moving like we’re used to. You’ve got some careless turnovers in that, and the Clippers made us pay off of those turnovers.”
On the Pelicans’ outlook on making the playoffs:
“We’re still together, we’re still with each other. We know everything counts. That’s what we’re here for. We wouldn’t have came to the bubble if we weren’t trying to get in the playoffs. We’re staying together, coming into practice and having a sense of urgency and playing hard as if we were going against someone else, and then we just try to take it from there and live with the results.”
