Steve Clifford Post Game vs Hawks 10.26.23
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 How much of this one simply came down to possession game?
00:04 The turnovers kind of stopped a little bit, the offensive rebounding, but their part
00:08 kind of slowed down to simply just taking care of the ball and execution down the stretch?
00:12 Yeah, and a bunch of guys, a lot of guys make good plays, big plays in the fourth quarter
00:18 there.
00:19 But I mean, the biggest thing for me was that full-time position.
00:22 There's nothing more important.
00:24 9-11 we competed hard.
00:26 I thought the whole game was, you know, our effort was so good.
00:31 They kind of crushed us on the glass early in the first half.
00:35 It was better.
00:37 It lasted like four and a half minutes.
00:39 That's how we got back down to 5-1.
00:42 But the biggest thing, I just liked our attitude.
00:44 We fought hard, we hung in the game.
00:47 Down 11, kept playing.
00:49 And we did the same thing in the second half, which is, you know, nothing more important
00:54 than the hard work.
00:55 So to follow up on the rebounding a little bit, I think for the big layups, plus two
00:59 in the first half, and then plus nine in the third, and finish with plus nine.
01:03 So I guess when you look at it, how much did you put into the rebounding there, even with
01:08 the guys having a tough shooting night?
01:10 No question.
01:12 And I think that, you know, what happens without watching the film is the way we play now,
01:17 where everybody's going on the glass, everybody's got to rebound and make a succession.
01:21 And in the first half, one, Capella is, whatever, he's a top four or five offensive rebounder
01:28 of the week, right?
01:30 But we had more guys in there fighting.
01:32 You know, all those rebounds where there's two or three guys going up and the guy tips
01:37 it back, that's how you get a rebound.
01:39 Everybody's got to be in the fight.
01:41 On every rebound, we did that better than anyone.
01:44 You can talk about the three-game patching, 30 minutes with Dre, obviously, 419, five
01:50 rebounds, that's a big part of the game, obviously.
01:54 Dre was great.
01:56 He was great at both ends.
01:58 You know, he was striking the second quarter where he hit the two trees.
02:03 They kept us close, the defense was really good.
02:06 Yeah, I mean, you know, again, I thought he played really well all around game.
02:12 He also had a bunch of assists.
02:15 Six assists, five rebounds.
02:18 I think it was terrific.
02:20 Steve, I wonder if you can talk about the Brandon Miller's contributions tonight.
02:25 Real big for him.
02:27 Yeah, I mean, I think you can see tonight where he is, you know, not like most guys
02:35 his age, you know, like, so he gets in foul trouble in the first half.
02:40 It's kind of, you know, some guy wouldn't be able to come back.
02:44 Had a couple calls, could have gone his way and get the calls, and then he makes
02:48 huge, huge plays in the fourth quarter.
02:51 If you watch him, you know, he's got great self-confidence.
02:55 You know, he competes so naturally, and that's the way he's practiced every day also.
03:00 What particular play I just wonder kind of stood out tonight, maybe about him,
03:06 in Boston?
03:08 Was there one play?
03:09 Oh, the jumper.
03:10 The three right after PJ hit a three, and then he hit the other three, I think,
03:13 which made it, I think, put us back up two, either up two or up three.
03:19 He just needed to get it.
03:20 Yeah.
03:21 Yeah.
03:22 So that to me was, you know, because he got in foul trouble, so he didn't get many
03:27 shots.
03:29 I got nine.
03:31 Made three plays.
03:33 But I mean, to me, that was the biggest shot it was.
03:37 With the bell, he missed his first nine shots, but he still had 15 points and 10
03:42 assists and six rebounds, especially in the second half, the way he came out in the
03:45 third quarter.
03:46 What can you say about the way he kind of helped you guys?
03:48 I'm going to say again, like, the way he competed, his defense was really solid.
03:54 You know, like, I never thought, you know, because obviously you could play Brandon
04:00 there defensively.
04:01 Brandon is a very good defender.
04:03 There at the end of the game, no one was -- the defense was good.
04:06 And so that's why we finished with him on the floor in the defensive situations,
04:10 too.
04:11 He fought hard.
04:12 Listen, he did everything else that he could do.
04:15 He only got clear to start playing with the money, though, you know, right before
04:18 camp started.
04:20 So he's behind where he would be.
04:23 You can see the way we saw him, we tried to be careful, you know, six minutes here,
04:27 five minutes here, like that, which makes it harder for him to get into rhythm.
04:31 But he never complains, and he wants to be out there.
04:35 And, again, it was seven, and then he hit the two threes in a row to make it one.
04:40 You know, he had to play with the other group early in the fourth quarter where
04:47 they had got it back up to five, and he just went high-picking them all.
04:51 Like, three straight possessions, he just went three times.
04:53 But, again, he created all that.
04:55 He put so much pressure on the defense.
04:57 He's just not in rhythm.
04:59 And, again, it's nobody's fault.
05:01 I mean, you know, we have three half-points.
05:03 So he'll get there.
05:05 But, again, I love the way he did it.
05:07 He won the way.
05:08 Is that kind of scary that he can have a game like this?
05:11 Again, it wasn't his best.
05:13 It doesn't scare me.
05:14 He's an architect.
05:15 [Laughter]
05:17 Right, a few other guys, they just scare me.
05:19 But, yeah, I wouldn't use that phrase.
05:21 I was curious.
05:22 [Laughter]
05:25 Did any players stand out to you tonight, or did everybody stand out to you that night?
05:29 Oh, I mean, I think there were different parts of the game.
05:32 But I told them when I watched the film, I just like their attitude.
05:36 You know, again, you get down to 11, they were making it hard on us.
05:41 And, you know what, I thought we played harder and harder.
05:44 You know, the physicality in the second half was better than the first half.
05:48 And a bunch of guys did big plays in the fourth quarter.
05:54 In the first quarter, you subbed in Brandon from Mello.
05:57 Do you think that's something you'll continue to do,
05:59 or do you think you'll have guys that are constantly pressuring the room?
06:02 Yeah, I mean, because we're trying to be as interchangeable.
06:07 And the structures when we do it, we're really good.
06:10 And we have those kind of guys.
06:12 Terry, obviously, can play multiple spots.
06:15 Mello can play.
06:16 Jordan can.
06:17 Brandon can.
06:18 PJ played a lot of the three-turns because we got foul trouble,
06:22 which we hadn't even practiced, and we did a good job.
06:24 So I think that's what our league is now, the way we're playing.
06:28 We're much more conceptual.
06:30 It's a big advantage to have guys that can do that.
06:34 Kind of building off that question, you subbed Brandon out from Mello
06:38 about four minutes left after Brandon's three to pick guys up two.
06:42 Is that something that as he progresses and gains your trust,
06:45 you keep him in those clutch time moments?
06:48 Yeah.
06:49 I mean, it could be.
06:51 I mean, it just depends on how the game is going.
06:55 You know, there could be -- well, you know, like tonight after that,
06:59 we actually went back in and we played smaller.
07:02 But he had played -- I mean, there's two parts to that.
07:05 He was gassed.
07:06 I mean, he made that shot.
07:08 He had gone in at six of the third.
07:11 I mean, he had played right there 14 straight minutes.
07:15 So I was concerned about that, too, which also makes it even, you know,
07:22 what a big shot to make.
07:24 You know, to play 14 minutes and he plays hard with that effort,
07:29 he didn't have enough place to make that shot.
07:32 But, I mean, you know, you want to impress your students
07:35 and have them do it also.
07:38 Thank you.
07:40 Terrific.