On the 30-9 run for the Milwaukee Bucks in the third quarter and their ability to take advantage of mistakes:
“Well they do and that’s exactly what we did. We made a couple of mistakes, we turned it over a couple of times, and all of a sudden a three-point lead, you’re down 10, and then you’re down 12 and then you’re down…but that’s who they are. You have to avoid those kinds of runs against them and the only way you can do it is you’ve got to be solid in what you’re doing. You’ve got to score the basketball and then you have to be in transition defense. At the end of the day, we told you that was going to be very important. They had 33 fast break points. I’m not real sure if you can survive that. And then if you mix in the three-point shooting that they had – and I know they didn’t shoot the ball well from three – but they were costly ones that they made. Actually, they were the ones that really kind of gave them the separation and then they’re also the ones that every time we made a run back, somebody made a timely one that just made us keep our distance.”
On the length of the Milwaukee Bucks and all of the Pelicans’ inside shots being contested:
“It is, but you know the whole key for that is you’ve got start inside, but we did a good job early on in the game of driving and kicking and finding open guys and having open shots. I think we made five threes the first quarter. Those are the kinds of things you have to do against this team because they’re great at rim protection and they’re great at rim protection because they play five guys in the paint. So it’s not that they’ve got great shot blockers, but they do a really good job of helping each other.”
GUARD LONZO BALL
On what makes the Bucks so good on defense:
“I mean they are a big team and they pack the paint. You know, it is hard to finish over them so a lot of shots you’ve got to kick out. You’ve got to make those shots. Tonight, we started off making them, but towards the end, you know, we started missing obviously.”
On what he saw in that third quarter stretch:
“They came out and they pushed it down our throat. The gameplan was to get back. I feel like we didn’t do that as well in the third quarter as well as the first half and that opened up, you know, layups for them, corner threes for them, and that kind of got the game out of hand for a little bit.”
FORWARD BRANDON INGRAM
On his focus getting his shots when Zion Williamson is on the court versus when he isn’t on the court:
“Well, it’s important for me to just continue to just take whatever the defense gives me. If it’s three-pointers, driving to the lane and getting to the basket, it’s driving to the bucket and hitting a guy for an open three, or whatever it is I think it’s important for me to be aggressive and for him to do the exact same thing. It’s playing in space, whenever another guy comes just find the open guy, and just making the game a little easier.”
On whether it feels like you have to play perfectly to beat a team like the Bucks:
“I think you just have to continue the defensive pressure. I think we played pretty well today. You know we had some open looks that we didn’t knock down and our execution in the fourth quarter can be a little better, but I think we are fine. Any team can be beat on any given day”
On if the Bucks were the toughest defense he has faced so far in the NBA:
“I’m not sure. They are definitely the tallest defense I’ve faced [in the NBA] for sure.”
On what it was like to go up against Giannis Antetokounmpo:
“He’s the former MVP, it’s like going up against any great player: you do as much as you can to slow him down.”
When was the last time he had a shooting night that was as frustrating as tonight:
“I’m not sure to be honest. It was one of those nights were I couldn’t get my second jump layup to fall. It was very frustrating, but my teammates were in my ear telling me to keep going.”
