Mark Daigneault | Pelicans | Dec. 15, 2021
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00:00Nick Gallo, KCThunder.com.
00:02Mark, can you just speak to the last six seconds or so
00:07and just the unpredictable nature of an NBA game?
00:11And this probably will go down
00:12as one of the most exciting finishes
00:13in a game all season long.
00:15Yeah, I mean, two great shots, crazy shots.
00:20I thought, in terms of us,
00:21I thought we did what we could do in terms of execution
00:27down the stretch of the game.
00:28I thought the key down there was we did a great job.
00:32They had the lead side out of bounds, up one.
00:34We forced them into a timeout on their first play,
00:37and that's why they didn't have a timeout
00:38and they had to shoot a 75-foot shot to beat us.
00:42And so all those little execution things
00:44situationally add up.
00:46I thought we put ourselves in a really good position,
00:48all things considered,
00:49but when you lose a game that tight that stings
00:52and the locker room's stung,
00:55you know, we just got to channel that
00:57back into lessons we can learn.
00:59Obviously, if we execute one or two more things tonight,
01:02we could have been on the other side of that,
01:04but I thought we competed well.
01:05I thought we executed well.
01:06We did a lot of good things to put ourselves in position.
01:09Just obviously, they were one play better than us.
01:13Sorry, just one more thing.
01:15Ken Rich now up to almost, I think, 43% shooting from three.
01:20Huge night from there.
01:21Just your thoughts on his consistency
01:24and then his ability to kind of pop
01:25and have these nights, too.
01:28He attacks the program.
01:29You know, he's really consistent
01:30and he's put a lot of work into not only his shot,
01:33but his game.
01:35And then the other thing I'll say about him
01:36is he takes very predictable shots, you know,
01:38and I think that's how you get confidence as a shooter is,
01:42especially for a guy that's not like a lights out,
01:44knocked down, you know, that's what he is his whole life.
01:48When you take efficient shots and you take open shots
01:50and you take them predictably,
01:52then I think that breeds confidence.
01:54And so I think he's a good example of that.
01:57You know, he's a really, really efficient three-point shooter
01:59and it's because you know the ones he's going to shoot,
02:01you know the ones he's not.
02:03And that's, you know, as we develop the rest of our team,
02:06that's something that certainly we have our eye on
02:08when it comes to shooting.
02:12Paris Lawson, okcthunder.com.
02:14Kind of along the same lines as Ken Rich,
02:16but really the second unit tonight, 52 points.
02:18And it seemed like when they stepped in,
02:19they maintained or even elevated the energy
02:22on the floor tonight.
02:23Is that something that you noticed as well?
02:25Yeah, especially in the first half,
02:26they built us a really nice lead in the first half.
02:28I think they handed the game off up like 12
02:32and they started kind of poorly.
02:33They turned it over a couple of times
02:35and, you know, they surrendered a lead.
02:36I think we were up seven when they went in there
02:39or up five or something.
02:40And then New Orleans took a lead on a couple of turnovers
02:44and then they really kicked it in the gear
02:45of the ball really moved.
02:46They really helped each other
02:48and we extended their run because of it.
02:50And they bridged to the starters really well
02:53in that second quarter
02:54and then helped us get back in the game in the second half
02:56because obviously we surrendered a lead there.
02:58So, you know, testament to those guys' readiness.
03:01I thought they played really well, played together.
03:04And one more for me, just Aaron Wiggin
03:05stepping into the starting lineup tonight.
03:07It seemed like he brought, you know,
03:08some energy and punch tonight.
03:09What did you think of him stepping into the lineup?
03:11Yeah, I mean, he's, you know,
03:13got a lot that you can work on.
03:14He's a developmental player.
03:15This is his first year.
03:17It's probably only his, you know,
03:18seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th game, I would guess.
03:22And so, you know, it's early on for him,
03:24but he's had an impressive professionalism.
03:27You know, he's a pro.
03:28He's had an impressive approach to the program.
03:32He's really serious.
03:33He treats it like a craft.
03:34He's got a great awareness of that as a young player.
03:37And he's really impressed us with his readiness
03:38because we've obviously shuttled him back and forth
03:40and put him, you know, in the starting lineup
03:43right out of, you know, blue games a couple of times.
03:46And, you know, no matter what we throw at him,
03:47he continues to show a level of readiness
03:49and that's a really good sign for a young player.
03:52And so certainly he can improve
03:54and there's things he could have improved on tonight,
03:56but, you know, he's tracking well right now, very early on.
04:02Joe Masato, the Oklahoman.
04:03Mark, just to zero in on Shay's shot there,
04:07like during the timeout,
04:08knowing that they're fouling up three,
04:10is that something you talk about,
04:11just avoid a foul at all costs?
04:13And he basically sidestepped there to hit that shot.
04:17Yeah, I mean, they fouled us on the last one.
04:19So it was pretty predictable
04:20that they were going to try to do that.
04:23You know, in that situation,
04:24we have a play that we ran
04:26that's designed to try to get like a catch and shoot
04:29so that you're like in motion.
04:30And the last option on the play
04:32is to throw the ball to him in space
04:34and just try to like skate away from the guy.
04:36And he did a really good job of getting the shot off.
04:39I looked at the replay a couple of times, Matt showed me,
04:42and they might've hit him.
04:44I thought they were a little handsy
04:46because they were trying to give it.
04:47And I wonder if they gave one in the act of shooting.
04:49I didn't see every angle, but that was well executed.
04:53I thought the last two minutes of the game,
04:54you know, we cover situations all the time
04:57and you can have, you know,
04:59all these little investments at the end of the game
05:01in terms of time management and execution
05:03that puts you in position
05:06to give yourself a chance to win a game like that.
05:08And I thought we did all those things tonight
05:09and we gave ourselves the best chance to win.
05:11Obviously we forced overtime until the last play.
05:14And can you talk us through the Trey Mann situation,
05:18the challenge that they switched to him
05:20that eventually fouled him out?
05:22Yeah, I looked at, I knew they could go get that foul,
05:25any foul that's a part of a play, you know,
05:27so they can switch it.
05:28It's actually happened before.
05:29They've switched one of our fouls previously.
05:32It was, I don't know how much time was left in the game,
05:34six minutes, seven minutes.
05:35So it was an impactful play.
05:37It was a close game.
05:38I thought anything to try to take free throws
05:40off the board there.
05:41I knew Shea didn't get him.
05:43I saw that replay and then I keyed in on Trey
05:45and the replay angles that I saw, it looked pretty marginal.
05:49I knew there was contact, but,
05:50and I told Josh Tiven that, I said, you know,
05:53Shea didn't get him and the man contact was marginal.
05:58That's really what I was challenging.
06:00I understand I fouled him out of the game with that,
06:02but I was prioritizing the points
06:03and I thought it was a play we might be able to get.
06:05Well, when that happens,
06:06like you got to make that decision so fast.
06:09I know you're looking at the bench for help as well.
06:11Like, do you realize he has five fouls at that point?
06:14Like, are you able to walk through all those scenarios
06:16in that short amount of time?
06:18Yeah. I mean, I knew he had five fouls early.
06:20He had five fouls for much of the game, you know,
06:23and at that time, you know,
06:24I'm just trying to get the play, you know.
06:27I don't know if we would have closed the game
06:28with him anyways.
06:29You know, he came off the bench tonight.
06:31And so at that point in the game, I was just,
06:34I thought it was a play we might be able to get.
06:35It meant points.
06:38And so that's why I went and got it.
06:39But I was aware of the foul.
06:40I was aware of all the implications and, you know,
06:42I made a call and, you know, it worked out, you know,
06:45not great.
06:46I would have liked to get it overturned, obviously.
06:48And then one more on Trey,
06:49just the highlight plays he made tonight that Dunkey had,
06:53and then slipping by Siderinsky,
06:55he like energizes the crowd so much.
06:58Just what does he sort of do as a guy off the bench
07:00who can lift the offense in that way?
07:03I mean, that's the vision for him is, you know,
07:05a guy that can create offense, you know, on his own.
07:08And that's, you know,
07:10obviously we want to create offense as a team, but, you know,
07:12if you look at some of the better players offensively in the
07:15league, if you look at some of the better,
07:17like bench scorers,
07:18which is a role he's in for us right now.
07:21And if you look at the biggest games shot creation is,
07:24is the real deal and you need guys that can do that.
07:27And he's got a pretty unique ability to create space and
07:31create a shot.
07:32The thing that has been impressive about him is despite
07:36doing that, he's still playing inside the team.
07:38So he's not just a hired gun out there where, you know,
07:41you have to just pump it to him and let him do his deal.
07:44I mean, he's still inside of what we're doing,
07:46which is impressive for like a young scorer.
07:49And then the other thing he's doing is he's competing
07:51defensively, like he fouled out of the game tonight.
07:53And I told him when he got his fifth,
07:56that he was going to go back in and I'd rather him foul out
07:58of the game than not play physical.
08:00And I thought there was a physicality to him tonight.
08:02His fouls were hard.
08:03He gave a foul in the first half that took away a layup
08:09to contrast that with the Dallas game the other night,
08:12he was on a play with Moses underneath the basket where he
08:15could have gone after the ball or could have fouled him hard
08:17and he didn't.
08:18And it's like, those are the types of plays that, you know,
08:20we want him to make.
08:21And I thought he did that tonight.
08:22He had a great mentality in the game and the offensive stuff.
08:24We know he has, you know what I mean?
08:26Now it's about what we can layer on top of that to make him
08:28a sustainable player.
08:30Okay, two questions on the Zoom.
08:32We'll go first to go to Andrew Schmuck.
08:34Go ahead, question Andrew.
08:37I was curious about your thoughts on Josh Giddey's night.
08:41He had a career high in field goal attempts and, you know,
08:44was a very successful night,
08:46but I'm just curious from your vantage point,
08:48what you thought of it.
08:51I thought he was just lost in the game competitively.
08:54It's the first time I've played him a full quarter,
08:56I think this season.
08:58He played the whole first and the whole third,
09:00which is something that I've done with Shea quite a bit,
09:02but it's hard, you know, that's hard to do at a high level.
09:05And his ability to kind of chew that up and spit it out
09:08and not really have it affect him is impressive.
09:12You know, his durability to be able to kind of sustain
09:15that level through those minutes.
09:18The, you know, exploration offensively,
09:20like he just continues.
09:22The thing that impresses me about him there is like,
09:23he's not afraid of the play, you know?
09:25So like he's succeeded a lot of times this year.
09:28He's failed a lot of times this year
09:29and he just steps right into shots.
09:30He steps right into plays
09:32and he plays with no fear of consequence.
09:35He just, he just plays.
09:37And again, for a young player, really impressive.
09:40And then tonight I thought one thing that was encouraging,
09:43we explored every minute he played was with Shea,
09:46which is, we haven't done that much.
09:48We've staggered him some.
09:50One of the things that we're trying to explore
09:53with the team is, you know,
09:54those guys kind of in their own units with some staggering
09:57and also those guys on the court together.
10:00And, you know, I thought tonight was a good night
10:02to do that.
10:03The second unit was really good.
10:04Those five guys, obviously we've already talked about that.
10:07And I thought those guys played off each other very well,
10:09which is a good sign of progress
10:11because it's going to be critical that they're both better
10:14because they're playing with the other one.
10:16Yeah. And I wanted to ask about Poku too.
10:19Just, he didn't, he played for the blue this afternoon.
10:23Did that have an effect on you playing him tonight?
10:26Was he somebody that you consider playing?
10:29Yeah, no, it was totally related to that.
10:31When those guys, we want to get them like a real share
10:34of minutes when they're there, they're all live.
10:36By the way, Maladon, you know,
10:39I get your question about Poku, they're all live,
10:42but usually if they're going to play 25, 30 minutes
10:45with the blue, we're not going to have them planned
10:47in the rotation, but I liked the idea of them being live.
10:50Maladon goes in against the Lakers to that point,
10:53goes in against the Lakers, five minutes to go.
10:55We're down by 20 and plays with like gas
10:58and plays with great force, was ready to play
11:01despite not knowing if he would.
11:03Then Dort goes out against Dallas at halftime,
11:07starts the second half, makes probably the play of the game,
11:09chasing down Finney Smith and causing a missed layup.
11:12And then he gets the ball back,
11:13dumps it down to favors for a foul, ready to play again,
11:16not knowing he's going to play.
11:17Tonight, Trey Mann's got five, 32 seconds left
11:21in the third quarter.
11:22We put him in there, he helps us get a stop
11:25or he's in the right spot for a stop.
11:26And then on the offensive end, causes an offensive rebound.
11:30And then we hit a three at the end of the quarter.
11:32And so, you know, those guys will not be generally
11:36in the rotation on the same day of a blue game,
11:38but they are live.
11:39And when they are live, we want them to handle it
11:42like Tao Maladon did tonight.
11:43And he's done that now consistently.
11:45And for a guy that's like trying to fight his way back,
11:47it's been really impressive readiness and professionalism.