What They Said!! Grizzlies vs Hornets 12-11-15

GRIZZLIES HEAD COACH DAVE JOERGER

On tonight’s game:

“Certainly the second and third quarter were pretty bad for us. Of course we didn’t guard except for the first five or six minutes of the night. It’s a total team loss and a total team win for them. They beat us with effort. They beat us with execution. They beat us at just about every single matchup up and down the line. There’s not much to say. We were not good. They were good.”

 

On what to do moving forward:

“Certainly we want to play better. They’re a better team, it didn’t happen by accident. If they beat you by 30, it’s not like it just wasn’t our night, they’re just better. I don’t want to sit and point fingers so we can all be better. We all have to get better and it just is what it is.”

 

On the defensive performance:

“The biggest problem is defensively we can’t defend the basketball. People are just going by us over and over and over and over. Then you have to get help and we’re giving them—with three minutes left to go—the difference in three point shooting was 48-12 in points off of three-point shots. They had a 100 I think and scored 30 or 28 points in the paint. It comes down to making plays and making shots. They’ve got those guys and we’re not shooting it up real well. I think we made three of our last three three-pointers.”

 

GRIZZLIES CENTER MARC GASOL (17 points, 5 assists, 9 rebounds)

On losing:

“I wish I could explain it to you. I wish I could. We are getting big on the first action and then we are chasing our tail all over the place. We have to position, probably six seconds into every defensive possession. It’s not like they are tricking us. It’s a simple offense that they are running. It’s like I said, it’s read and react. We just keep giving up things that offensively that are not pretty crowded.”

 

On the pick-and-roll:

“We have to stop the pick-and-roll. They are pulling up the point of attack, we have to be better. Communicating, showing, making nice turns recovering, being back in front of the ball, the whole nine and pulling from the weak side could be better. And team defense, we didn’t do that right. We have to find solutions. That is the next step. We obviously haven’t done it right often. We have to figure out ways to do it.”

 

On beating Detroit:

“Detroit was not an exciting win. Detroit was exciting because Matt (Barnes) hit a great shot. The game had many flaws. I thought we had better energy throughout the game. It was by no means a perfect game. At least we were more consistent with effort and everybody was involved in the game. We need everybody to play. We always hear the same thing. The way we play defense, we cannot have three guys make up for the other two. Or one guy not being engaged or not putting in or things like that. Teams are going to find ways to attack you. With so many shooters around the three-point-arc, with so many lanes and the guards are fast so they are going attack the point of the screen. You have really got to work. You have to work and you have to do it consistently. If they find a crack, they are going to milk it. They are going to attack it like we saw tonight. It’s kind of the same play Oklahoma ran just in different spots. It’s sort of the same little play.”

 

On believing:

“Of course there is belief. At the same time it is frustrating because it is the same issue over and over again. It’s frustrating, honestly. We have to figure out ways and know that when you are struggling there are no excuses. Nobody is going to help you. You have to pull yourself out of the hole. And we have to do it. Everybody has to be accountable and strong enough to the point that we have to own our own stuff. If we don’t do the right thing, the next man is up and hopefully he will do the right thing. And everybody can be held accountable. This is professional basketball, it’s nothing personal, it’s nothing like that. We just have to work for the benefit of the team.”

 

HORNETS HEAD COACH STEVE CLIFFORD:

On success of Charlotte’s bench :

“I thought the bench at the first half and the starters, when they came back in the third quarter were terrific. It’s been like that to me; different nights, different groups. I thought that obviously, Kemba (Walker) and Nic (Batum) in the third quarter really got us going on offense, but I thought P.J.’s (Hairston), Cody’s (Zeller), and Marvin’s (Williams) defense in the third quarter was terrific.”

 

On having multiple options to extend leads:

“In flow, like the end of offense when we don’t get a play out of our initial set, we’re playing most of the time with not only a lot of range shooting, but sometimes three pick-and-roll plays, which can get the defense moving around a lot.”

 

On the Grizzlies’ sticking with lineup:

“When we got the lead, they downsized. I think that when you have a team like they have that has played in so many games like that, 20 points with 16 minutes left is not insurmountable. They have a way that they play. And before the end of the third quarter, they did go and play smaller. So, it makes total sense to me. You have to have a way to play and you have to be able to play that way. And for them, you’re going to have Conley (Mike), Gasol (Marc), and Randolph (Zach) out there. I wouldn’t say there was anything out of the ordinary about that.”

 

On Charlotte nearing franchise-record from the perimeter:

“We’re really playing conventionally; we just have a lot of shooting out there.”

 

HORNETS CENTER FRANK KAMINSKY (15 POINTS, 6 REBOUNDS)

On starting the game 11-0:

“We looked at each other on the bench and said, ‘We have to bring some energy.’  Kemba (Walker) got us started a little bit out there with the starters.  We just tried to go in and bring energy and bring something to our team.”

 

On the bench:

“We were falling a lot in that first quarter.  They were getting to the rim, getting a lot of points in the paint and getting a lot of free throw attempts.  We just went out there and tried to get after them.  Stop falling, get some stops and try to go at them on the offensive end.  It worked out well for us.  We were able to get to the line and slow the game down.  Really take control of the game, and everything started going well from there.”

 

On the team’s high field goal percentage:

“Some nights the shots are going in and sometimes they’re not.  Tonight was one of those special nights I guess, where everyone was hitting their shots.  Kemba (Walker) played unbelievably.  He really set the tone for us tonight.  You look at a guy like Kemba, he’s a floor leader, and when he’s playing with that much energy it really extends to everyone else.  You saw how that went.”

 

HORNETS GUARD JEREMY LIN (16 POINTS, 4 REBOUNDS)

On playing with new guys:

“I knew that we had depth on this team, but I feel like we’ve been able to click and we’ve been able to be a spark for our team at times.  I still think we have a high ceiling, because we just started playing with each other.  So you look at guys like Frank (Kaminsky) who’s learning so many different things.  Me and J-Lamb (Jeremy Lamb) just learned to get on the same page.  I think Spencer (Hawes) has been a big key in terms of us being able to quickly adjust to each other.

“I think that’s why they brought a lot of these different guys in, is to try to make a difference, to try to make an impact.  Right now we seem to be figuring stuff out, and being able to allow each player kind of do what they do best.  I think for us it’s just a matter of staying hungry, staying humble and understanding things can go well quickly overnight, and they can go poorly quickly overnight as well.  We just have to stay on this path.”