After surviving the NBA play-in tournament at the start of the weekend, the New Orleans Pelicans fell short in Game 1 to Phoenix Suns, 110-99 despite the Pelicans cutting a 23-point deficit to eight by the end of the third quarter.
Pelicans Coach Willie Green was an assistant coach under Coach Monty Williams last season when the Suns made it to the NBA Finals. Now facing his former team in the playoffs, Green told reporters about the adjustments he thinks the Pelicans will have to make ahead of Game 2.
“Well, we have to play faster,” Green said. “When teams have their hands on us, you can’t play slow, and you gotta get the ball out of bounds or rebound the ball and get up the court quickly and get into your actions with force. I think we were a step slow.”
Green followed up by stating how great it was seeing his team cut the lead to six points while only shooting only 33 percent from the field.
“We just gotta take our time. We did a good job getting into the paint and rebounding the ball, but overall we just gotta take our time with the ball. Gathering ourselves and getting shot fakes with Ayton down there will allow us to score. The one thing that is encouraging is that we cut the lead to only six points shooting 33 percent from the field, so we got some work to do, and that’s a really good team, so we have to come back and be better.”
The Pelicans look to even the series in Game 2 in Phoenix Wednesday.
