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2020 NBA Preseason Game 1: Pelicans at Heat Postgame Quotes 12-14-20

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HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY

On the team playing hard:
“I thought our effort by and large was very good, especially for the first preseason game. The effort will have to get even better as you head into the regular season. A big component of that is we have to get in better shape. But we’re no different than anyone else in the league. We tried to push our minutes out a bit today. We played a few guys for 33 minutes. You could see it out there at times. We’re just doing it day-by-day. The best way to get in shape to play basketball is to play basketball.”

On the defense:
“We did make some good plays on the ball. There’s no question about that. You hope that will continue to improve. We were still, to be quite honest, late on some helps and rotations. Overall, the effort was good and something to build on. We’ll get an off-day tomorrow from practice. We’ll come back in on Wednesday and try to build and get better.”

On Brandon Ingram:
“He took the game over on the offensive end. In the second half, especially after his second rotation, he was very active with his hands in creating some turnovers. He should be able to do some things like that with his length. He should be active and he can cause problems for a lot of people.”

On balancing minutes between Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram:
“I think I would like to as much as possible have one of them on the floor at all times. We’ll see how that goes to be quite honest. The problem with that, it’s obviously an advantage to have one of them on the floor. But that means they get less minutes on the floor together. Because they have to get rest at some time.”

On Zion Williamson:
“Zion, what we’ve said all along, when we can get him attacking the basket and in motion going to the basket, it’s really hard for anyone to stop him without fouling. The two most impressive things about his night to me were his defensive rebounding. He hasn’t really been doing much of that in practice, and it wasn’t his strength last year. For him to be able to rebound the ball the way he did on the defensive end was good. Obviously, his free throw shooting was outstanding. He’s going to be at the line a lot. His ability to make free throws will be huge for us.”

On the rebounding:
“We battled hard tonight which was good. That’s a great sign. We were a really good offensive rebounding team last year and not a very good defensive rebounding team. To do that tonight, I thought, was really good to have that edge. The best thing of the whole night for our team was to only have five turnovers in the last three quarters of the game. We had six early and we looked sloppy. We know that’s been a problem that we’ve toned down. We played much more solid basketball the rest of the way.”

On being back on the court coaching:
“It was good. A little rusty to be honest. A little slow on a couple of play-calls and things. Definitely noticed a little rust, but it was fun to be back out there. It was weird to me. I’m somebody who likes to turn and talk to the players on the bench a lot. They were a long way away. Now you’ve got to walk all the way down the sideline. That was weird for me. I like to point things out to the people on the bench so we’re learning as we go. It was good to coach a game again.”

On Nickeil Alexander-Walker:
“I thought he did some really good things. Obviously, some things that as a young player you’ll continue to work on. He can really shoot the ball. I think we still have to get his shot, pass and attack decisions down. Sometimes he passes up a good shot to take a tougher shot. I think he’s very skilled. He’s extremely hard-working. He really wants to be good. That’s a great starting point. I thought his first time in off the bench, he gave us a great lift.”

FORWARD ZION WILLIAMSON

On playing extended minutes in tonight’s game:
“I felt great to be out there for extended stretches. I haven’t played that many minutes in two-and-a-half years. It was a great feeling to experience that again. It was a different feeling. I think I was only able to finish a game, maybe three, four games last year. It was a great feeling. When the clock struck zero, I was like ‘it’s been a while’. Then when I heard I played 33 minutes, that’s why I play basketball to play a lot of minutes and help my team win.”

On his two areas of emphasis coming into this season:
“Obviously the defensive boards so I can push the break faster and get my teammates involved, and the free-throws because I feel like I’m going to get fouled a lot. Free-throws are free money. I’ve got to make that count.”

On his shooting work with Coach Vincent:
“Me and Coach Vincent have been putting in a lot of work every day in practice. Just working on everything with my shot. It’s been very helpful to this point.”

On playing with Steven Adams:
“I think it’s great that we have Steven this year. It’s only one game. I don’t want to say something. It’s the NBA. There’s a lot of smart teams out there. They may make adjustments. Tonight, for the first game, it was great having Steven out there. He does draw a lot of attention and hopefully it can stay like that the whole season.”

On his first game with Coach Van Gundy:
“We have a lot of room to improve. With Coach Van Gundy as our coach, we have the proper guidance. It was great. He coached us through everything. He’s a great guy and I feel like he’s a great coach as well. I feel like we’re going to learn a lot from him this year.”

On Brandon Ingram:
“Brandon played really great on the defensive end, and of course on the offensive end. Brandon just has really long arms. So even if you feel he is a step behind when you’re making a pass, he’s able to use his length and get a deflection. He’s really gotten great at using his body. I feel like tonight we did okay. I think him and I have a lot of room for improvement playing off each other and learning each other’s game. That was the first time in months that we’ve played together in a game situation, so I think we have a lot of room for improvement.”

On Nickeil Alexander-Walker:
“With Nickeil, his biggest change from last year to this year is confidence. He doesn’t get down on himself as much. As teammates this year, we’re a lot better at telling him that we support his shot. The biggest thing with him was confidence. I think he’s going to be just fine this year.”

FORWARD BRANDON INGRAM

On the team’s defensive performance tonight:
“It was a good start for us. We see how we match up with another team. Of course it was our first game, but we can do better. I think it starts with me also. At the beginning, in the first quarter, getting to the basketball, positioning, everything. It starts with me getting to the basketball, setting the tone on the defensive end. We get better from that. We let teams get comfortable by not getting to the ball and I definitely started off in the first quarter because as the game went on, we got better.”

On how he performed on defense:
“I had a lot of mistakes. First quarter, second quarter or whatever, I would have to go back and look at it. About 15 mistakes on positioning being the low man or whatever it is. We all can get better and it starts with holding yourself accountable.”

On if he feels comfortable taking the next step becoming a play-maker this year:
“Absolutely. A part of the game that I’m most excited about is being a play-maker on the floor and getting everybody else involved. I think that is a way to play basketball that is fun for everybody. You feel confident and comfortable and basketball is fun to get everybody playing to their best strengths. I will be a playmaker this year though. The next game will be fun for us.

On if he tried to assert his leadership a bit more in tonight’s game:
“Well Jaxson was actually fussing me out. I missed him twice on the lob and got him the third time. But yeah, it’s all been getting comfortable with this. I think I’ve been doing this for a year and pretty much got all of the same guys. So everybody is talking, everybody is communicating. Communication makes things more simple.”

GUARD NICKEIL ALEXANDER-WALKER

On his performance in tonight’s game:
“It felt good. I was a little anxious to start since it was the first game. It’s a new season, a new team. I have to find my new flow and potentially new spotlight. Mainly off-ball. Maybe some on-ball. I think it went well. I kind of let the game come to me. I found my spots early. BI and Zion did a good job finding me. I just played off them and played off the defense and kind of let it come to me.”

On his recent success playing the Miami HEAT:
“I guess it’s just understanding their defense. Some guys just play better against certain teams. It helps me the way they play defense and picking my spots well. Both times I was able to find a good rhythm.”

On the team’s performance in tonight’s game:
“We’ll just take any kind of win. I think we did well understanding our schemes and understanding where guys are supposed to be. Relative to their offense, I think we did a good job. We had a few mistakes here and there, but it’s going to come. It’s our first actual game against somebody else. Overall, I think we did a really good job. I think we did well for the most part. Again, it’s new. It’s our first actual game against somebody else, so we did make mistakes. But overall, to hold a team under 100 points shows that we’re on that right path.”

On Brandon Ingram:
“He’s just playing hard. He’s really smart. He was able to read their defense and anticipate plays before they happened. That put him in position to get a steal or get a block. It’s the little things that he does on a day-in-day-out basis that allowed him to do that today.”

On his first game with Stan Van Gundy as head coach:
“He was engaged into every play. Everyone knew what we were doing. There’s just a different feel from last year to this year. I think it was fun and I enjoyed it. I think it’s just knowing our calls and knowing our roles. We played with a little bit more purpose.”

Sourced from Pelicans

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