Steve Clifford Rockets Postgame 1/26
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00:00 >> Yeah, no, I mean, it's just and then,
00:04 like what I talked to the guys about is, obviously in this league,
00:08 you've gotta have the right intensity, the right concentration for 48 minutes.
00:14 It's actually one of the things we've been good at.
00:17 You have to be able to play well when the game's not going well for
00:20 your team or for you.
00:21 And that's one of the things we've been good at.
00:25 I mean, if you look at the number of times this year that we've been down,
00:30 at 15, 16, 17, sometime in the third and come back, whether we won or not.
00:35 We've been resilient that way and we weren't tonight.
00:38 We came out in the third quarter and they went 12-2.
00:43 And I believe in the first seven possessions,
00:45 we gave up three backdoor layups, which the way we play, you should never,
00:49 like ever, the whole year give up a backdoor layup.
00:52 We gave up three and we fouled on two of them, which were big fouls.
00:58 So again, we don't have a lot of room for error.
01:02 And that entails a couple of things.
01:04 We're gonna need our better guys and it's not fair really, but
01:08 they're gonna have to play really well every night for us to win.
01:11 But we all have to do the team things, which we stopped doing.
01:14 First half, listen, you gotta give it to those guys.
01:17 We played great in the first half to have it at that score.
01:20 Without Brandon and Mello being able to play much, those guys did a great job.
01:24 But we flipped the script there when we started the third,
01:27 we became just opposite of what we had done in the first half.
01:31 >> Coach, Mello and Brandon picked up their fourth pretty early in that third
01:35 quarter, can you just talk about how that impacted the game as well?
01:37 >> Yeah, but we had the wrong, you're right, but we had the wrong attitude though.
01:44 Again, smart and hard for the winners in the NBA.
01:48 Playing well at possession after possession, not making mistakes, okay?
01:53 And again, we came right out.
01:54 And then I thought when it got to 12, which we've been good at,
01:59 we just got all haphazard offensively, just quick shots, threes.
02:04 And we can't play that way.
02:06 The ball's gonna get to the second side, we gotta hit the paint.
02:09 Those are our better possessions.
02:11 And we have to be able to stay with that whether we're up or down.
02:14 >> I mentioned some of the guys who were here at the [INAUDIBLE] with Terry Garn.
02:21 I'm guessing Miles is one of those guys.
02:23 Just what do you see for him, how much?
02:25 >> Well, Miles is, I mean, Miles is like 20.6 at night.
02:32 He's super consistent.
02:33 He plays every night, he plays huge minutes.
02:37 He guards primary scores.
02:39 I mean, I'm not sure we can expect him to do a lot more than he's doing.
02:43 I think really what we need from him is what he's been doing.
02:46 There's not many guys that can be doing what he's doing right now.
02:50 As an all around game, plus he plays every possession.
02:53 His energy level and just natural competitive spirit is through the roof.
02:58 I mean, I don't think you can take, you have to be realistic too.
03:03 I mean, look, we need those guys,
03:05 those four guys are gonna have to play pretty well every night.
03:09 And then we have other guys who are capable of having enough so that we can win.
03:14 But we have to play smart and well with the right intensity and
03:18 the right concentration.
03:19 >> Coach, this was the first night of back to back, you played the Utah Jazz tomorrow.
03:23 What are you looking forward, or
03:25 what do you wanna maybe fix going into the game tomorrow?
03:28 >> Well, I just think our mindset.
03:30 Like one other game this year that I talked to them during the game about
03:35 body language, which in the NBA season, to be honest with you,
03:39 even you have really good teams, that's a pretty, I wouldn't say normal.
03:44 But this is a discussion that's had even with veteran teams at that time,
03:47 where you play 82 games, it's hard for 82 games, right?
03:50 And tonight was one of the first times in the third quarter,
03:54 like we didn't wanna, it was the ref's fault, it was my teammates' fault.
03:58 And we haven't been like that at all, no one can really afford to.
04:01 So what we have to do, we've had good spirit all year,
04:06 good togetherness, good resiliency, that's who our team has been.
04:11 We need to get that, that's where it'll start,
04:13 you're gonna have the right attitude.
04:15 Cuz we're not gonna win any games when we're not near our best, okay?
04:20 So whether that's fair or not, doesn't matter, that's where we're at, okay?
04:25 And we've proven, listen, we've beaten a lot of good teams.
04:29 And that's not what the NBA, somebody asked me today, well,
04:33 how can you win at Minnesota and lose at Detroit?
04:36 That question, you don't know anything about the NBA.
04:40 That's the whole challenge of the NBA, is can you win some place Monday, Wednesday?
04:45 There's no bad teams.
04:47 This isn't at Duke Wednesday and then some team you're paying 150,000 to beat by 30
04:52 Friday, it doesn't work that way.
04:55 No, I'm just saying, that's the reality of the NBA.
04:58 For our team, we're gonna have to be able to play really well any night to win
05:03 any game, and yet we'll be good enough to beat any team if we play well.
05:07 But we've gotta have the right attitude, the right intensity,
05:10 the right concentration, that's where it always starts.
05:12 >> Coach, curious, I've heard you want to know when you play tomorrow,
05:17 pulse of the locker room, how ready are they to-
05:20 >> Well, listen, I'll just say this.
05:22 My first year on the bench in the NBA, I was with a veteran team working for
05:26 Jeff Van Gundy, and we had good like, you know,
05:30 Sprewell, Houston, Mark Jackson, Kambi, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
05:34 And I remember back then we used to play five and seven.
05:37 And it was five and seven, and we lost the game on the first night.
05:40 And they asked Jeff that after, and
05:42 Jeff said, you either have the right people on your team or you don't.
05:47 Listen, again, the motivational speeches are not what this league is all about, okay?
05:54 It's about practicing the right way, trying to impact your team.
05:58 As a coach, I'm talking about where they understand the importance of playing hard
06:03 or building habits in practice or shooting rounds so that you do the right thing.
06:08 But the one thing I feel comfortable with,
06:10 I do think we have the right people, the right type of people.
06:14 One of the things I don't like is,
06:18 cuz I've been asked this a couple times about effort.
06:21 Look, when you're undermanned, sometimes it looks like they're not playing hard.
06:26 That's not what's happened very often.
06:28 Even tonight, that wasn't effort, that was young,
06:34 frustration, whatever, da, da, da, da.
06:38 Again, not the right intensity.
06:40 We've played not just okay hard, really hard all year.
06:43 And that part I'm not as worried about.
06:47 What we have to do, it's the same thing, right?
06:49 Everybody wants to talk about all these things, right?
06:53 You have to play well.
06:54 When you're open, you have to make the shot.
06:56 When it's one on one, you gotta be able to guard your guy.
06:59 When there's a coverage, you have to be able to execute it.
07:02 That's this league.
07:03 And that does take a lot of work.
07:05 It takes a lot of mental effort.
07:07 And it's harder for young players, and we have to get to that.
07:11 Good?
07:12 Thank you.