Charles Lee discusses the Hornets' loss to Miami, examines turnover issues

Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee met with the media following Saturday's defeat.

Nell Redmond-Imagn Images

The Charlotte Hornets fell short to the Miami Heat in the home opener Saturday night by a 114-106 score. Following the game, head coach Charles Lee detailed what went wrong in the loss and offered an evaluation of rookie Tidjane Salaün and himself.

If the Heat’s physicality played a difference

“A little bit. I think that it takes a little bit of time sometimes to get your footing on the second night of a back-to-back. We just played the Hawks and they guard you one way, and now you’ve got to figure out the coverages versus a different team. I think it just takes a little bit of time to figure out what that defensive scheme looks like on the other side. Once we did, we found the right angles to be able to attack in terms of attacking some of their lesser defenders and putting them in situations that were a little more difficult and helped us get some drive and kick opportunities.”

Turnovers still an issue

“A little forced, a little unforced. We were just talking about transition. Can we execute a little bit better in terms of not being loose with the ball, careless with some of our passes. Obviously a couple of those turnovers are sideline out-of-bounds, five-second violations too. So there’s some valuing of possessions, valuing of the ball, executing a bit at a higher level that needs to happen going forward.”

Tidjane Salaün’s first NBA game

"His first stretch, he definitely looked like that was his first NBA action, Lee said. "But from an energy & effort standpoint, it was really high. We don't need him to be shy in any facet of the game, Lee added. "We need his fearlessness and his competitiveness."

Doing well on the glass

“It’s a huge emphasis of ours, offensive rebounding. We’ve talked about in the past just trying to win that shot margin, and the way to do that is to get extra possessions and to get more shots up. I think our guys have been relentless offensive rebounders. The nights you’re not shooting it great, it helps us stay in the game.”

Grading himself as a coach after three games

“Average. I think that I keep learning about myself every game. I tell the guys I’m not perfect either, so I have to continue to get better. I think I’m getting better in a lot of different ways My staff has been absolutely phenomenal in terms of communicating and helping me organize my thoughts or messaging to the players or to the team. So, average. But I’m going to get better, and check in with me at the end of the year.”

The Hornets will have the next couple of days off before returning to action on Wednesday night against the Toronto Raptors.

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