What Steve Clifford Said Following the Loss to the Pistons

Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford discussed tonight's game with the media.

On the difference in the game tonight…

“I’d say readiness to start, but obviously the two biggest things we need to fix are the turnovers and the rebounding. If you’re looking at it just on paper, the MVP of the game was (Jalen) Duren – he had 17 rebounds and I think our two centers combined for seven. Then the other part was their bench play. (Alec) Burks, (Jaden) Ivey, (Marvin) Bagley were all terrific, so those would be the two biggest factors.”

On his team’s effort…

“It’s not like we didn’t try. This the NBA. They made shots. We got a bunch of good shots in the first quarter, didn’t (make them). It’s not like we weren’t trying. Readiness entails a lot of things. It’s not, ‘You’re not trying.’ We had intensity early. You’ve got to be locked in on the right things. It had to be, for sure, rebounding, which is all we talked about this morning, and the same in pregame. …(Duren) set the tone individually for the whole thing. …He set the tone for the whole game all by himself. …You’ve just got to be more ready. If that’s your matchup and that’s his biggest strength, you’ve got to keep him off the glass. It’s pretty simple. That’s the way this league works. It’d be like giving a great shooter a wide-open shot. That’s it.”

On Brandon Miller…

“He can score in a lot of different ways. He also competes hard and plays well at both ends of the floor. 33 minutes – he’s going to play big minutes. I don’t look at him when he’s out there as inexperienced or anything like that. He’s really good and we’re lucky to have him. He’s going to be on the floor.” 

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