Steve Clifford Lakers Postgame 2.5
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00:00 It's very good and we scored, we scored 60.
00:04 So I mean, yeah, both those guys are terrific.
00:08 >> We just talked about Brandon's game.
00:12 It feels like each game is very more comfortable.
00:14 It's like calling sets for him late in the game.
00:16 Obviously, he's still a rookie, but
00:17 what have you seen from him going from day one to now?
00:19 >> Well, I think the other one, he's playing great.
00:22 And the other one tonight, remember now,
00:24 the last time he got in foul trouble in the first half,
00:26 he really struggled to get his body going in the second half.
00:29 But tonight he was great.
00:30 You can tell he learns, and that's not somebody talking to him or
00:35 what did you say to him, it's not that.
00:37 He's just how he is.
00:39 He figures stuff out like they're double team now, and all the pick and rolls now.
00:45 So he's playing with a lot more activity off the ball to get space off the ball.
00:49 And he just does things that you don't teach.
00:52 But as much as anything, he's got size.
00:57 And I think he's starting to show also people don't realize he's gonna have
01:01 a real playmaking aspect to his game too as he gets older.
01:05 He can really pass.
01:06 Right now we need him to score, and that's what he's doing.
01:10 >> In the final five minutes, your young stars, Brandon and
01:14 Miles, are trading shots in moments with two future Hall of Famers on the other side.
01:19 And the building had juice.
01:21 Did that kind of conjure up memories of what it could be like?
01:26 >> Well, for sure, I mean, look, I remember the last time the playoff games we had,
01:31 here were the heat, where this building was alive.
01:35 And I think, like I've always said, if we could get to be a playoff team
01:40 consistently, this would be one of the toughest buildings to play in.
01:44 Yeah, I mean, for sure, I mean, I still go back to, I don't think about
01:53 game six that much cuz it was one of the worst nights of my life.
01:56 But games three and four here where people still talk about the energy and
02:02 the building, the intensity of the fans.
02:04 I was also my first year in the NBA.
02:08 These guys swept, I was in the old building, they swept Miami.
02:13 And I was with the Knicks then, the fans were great then.
02:16 So the fans here are great.
02:19 We just gotta be able to, again,
02:21 we have to build a team that can get there consistently.
02:24 And obviously, the first two guys played great tonight.
02:28 Our defense was better.
02:30 Again, we just have, like the biggest problem in the last minutes where we had
02:37 no timeouts.
02:38 And the reason we didn't have timeouts in the second quarter,
02:41 the same thing is we take a couple bad shots, we don't run back on defense.
02:47 And again, I've been trying not to use them, but then you're down 28.
02:51 And I'm not using them, and they're good, and they gather themselves.
02:55 But in the end, that's the biggest part of the game.
02:57 Cuz if we had our normal timeouts right there,
02:59 it's a totally, totally different situation.
03:02 >> Coach, yesterday you talked about how you don't really see a reason to throw in
03:07 young players in meaningless games.
03:09 But in games like this, with the competitiveness and the atmosphere-
03:12 >> It's a great learning experience, 100%.
03:15 I mean, this game tonight was totally different than the game that we
03:19 played last night, to me.
03:21 I mean, just different.
03:21 And I mean, Indiana's a terrific team, too, but
03:27 they didn't play Halliburton the whole fourth quarter.
03:29 It was totally different.
03:30 So that's what I'm talking about is, but this is a game that,
03:36 we're gonna back to back, we'll take tomorrow off.
03:38 But before we do anything with Toronto Wednesday, this is film and
03:43 they can learn from, so that's why it's important that you continue to try to win.
03:49 To me, this is my opinion, and I would try, find me a team.
03:57 People love to say the rebuilds, right?
03:59 Go back through the years and see how many times it's really worked.
04:02 And it takes a long time and you gotta get lucky and all that.
04:06 But I know one part that doesn't work is if you take winning out of the equation,
04:12 cuz once you lose that, it's over.
04:14 It's the biggest part of this.
04:15 Guys, they have to learn how to play and win.
04:18 >> You mentioned before how you think the team has good effort,
04:21 you have the right guys in the building.
04:23 Can you just talk about that, especially in games like this where everyone's trying
04:26 to win and make the right plays down the stretch and get that?
04:28 >> Well, tonight we scored better, but our defense was better.
04:31 We just, I won't tell you, but one of the veteran guys,
04:35 one of the more veteran guys was in the office today.
04:38 And we had a great talk in the gaming company, but he just said,
04:40 you always talk about the details and you can't give away possessions, and
04:45 that's our biggest problem.
04:47 Yeah, it is.
04:49 And nothing for nothing, there's no other level of basketball.
04:52 I mean, I'm talking about younger.
04:55 If you look at the stats that matter in our league to win,
04:58 it's a league of execution.
04:59 College basketball, one of the biggest things most years is offensive rebounding
05:04 points, steals.
05:06 Well, those things are not usually even a big deal in our league.
05:09 They're becoming more so now.
05:11 But for the most part, it's what you can do in the half court,
05:15 with the game on the line.
05:16 Different now because we're playing more by the numbers, right,
05:19 the first eight seconds.
05:20 But it's still, not because of the coaches at all, because of the age and
05:25 the IQ of the players, because they're older, you can't mess things up.
05:30 So, I mean, I would just say this, do you know how many guys there are in our league
05:35 that can average 15 or 16, and they're no good?
05:39 Their team never wins when they're out there.
05:42 And because they score 15 or 16, they stick around for five or six years, and
05:46 then people say, wow.
05:47 Look, you must screw everything up,
05:50 because everywhere it goes when he's on the floor, they lose.
05:52 It happens all the time.
05:54 And that's why them learning at a young age that the coverage is the coverage.
06:00 The set is the set.
06:02 The after timeout play is the after timeout play.
06:05 Knowing what a great shot is, is everything in the sleeve.
06:08 Being able to play with both intensity and
06:11 technique for 48 minutes is everything.
06:15 And that is what I want this group to get out of this.
06:17 I wanna win some games too.
06:19 I mean, it sucks to us, okay?
06:21 It sucks for them too.
06:23 But we're gonna work, okay?
06:25 We're gonna prepare to win every night.
06:28 And my expectations of them, and they know this, is that we're in every game,
06:33 because we're good enough to do that.
06:34 And then if we do that, and we get better, and we stop, or
06:38 we get better with the details, like tonight again,
06:42 when we got down 21, it's all mistakes, it's mistakes.
06:45 And they were gonna score anyway, those two guys, but
06:48 you can't give them layups after baskets.
06:51 And you can't give them cuts when the ball's in the post.
06:54 Those are all mistakes.
06:55 >> Thanks, everyone.