Willie Green did not linger in the post-match press conference following Oklahoma Citu's second success last night. There wasn't much to say anyway, as the Thunder dominated their subject, at +13 after the first quarter then quickly more than 20 points ahead from the middle of the third quarter to sign a big success (124-92) at the finish.
“It’s a tough loss for us. They must be congratulated, they protected the home advantage. They dominated us, and we are going to come home and remobilize ourselves. But it’s clearly a difficult defeat,” first declared the Pelicans technician.
If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's teammates fully deserve their victory, Willie Green nevertheless regretted the intransigence of the referees, particularly on illegal screens.
“ To be honest, I saw a lot of flopping”, he even said, while New Orleans lost 8 of its 17 balls to offensive errors (screens, forceful passes, etc.). The Thunder will score 22 points on these loose balls, and most of the players were trapped, like Brandon Ingram and Larry Nance in the first quarter, or Jonas Valanciunas in the second.
“We must make a point of defending the ball above all, controlling it a little better. But they quickly got into our defense, they made 3-pointers quite quickly, and that disturbed us” continues Willie Green. “And then there are the lost balls. And many of them were on illegal screens that they whistled at us. I have never seen so many illegal screens being whistled. But there are no excuses from our side. Well done to them, they beat us. ».
