Hornets vs Raptors | Coach Charles Lee Postgame Availability | 11/29/2025

Hornets vs Raptors | Coach Charles Lee Postgame Availability | 11/29/2025

It’s obviously quite a comeback there at the end of the fourth quarter. I think you were down 12 with about six minutes left. Was there anything notable that really stood out to you? Obviously, you guys were hitting shots and getting stops, but what did you what do you think was kind of the X factor there in that last six minutes that carried over into into overtime? Yeah, I think it’s a belief in each other, a belief in what we could do. Um, I thought the fight uh the guys just brought it, they competed, um, and they banded together, executed really well down the stretch there. Um, you know, I’ve just told them I thought we got great contributions up and down the roster. Um, I thought Seon, his ability to guard Ingram, um, to give him different looks, uh, to go under, to go over, um, his physicality, um, was just really good. And I thought the shift activity around it was great, too, to try to bother him and make everything difficult, um, because he’s a heck of a player. Um, and they have a good rhythm going right now. Um, his offensive rebound obviously was huge to be able to tie the game up. Liam came in and got a steal and a left-hand finish on the break. So, I can go down the whole roster. Colin I thought gave us some really good minutes, too. So, um I just think the fight of the team, the fight, the belief in one another. Um understanding how prepared they are for the moment, and it was good to see us just execute and be able to come away after we’ve played a ton of really close games. Uh you start to see the group, you know, start to gain some confidence, um in those moments. Um, if possible, could you walk us through the the play when you guys are down three on the uh the con left corner three and just your your impressions of how he was able to hit such a uh tightly contested shot there. Yeah, sure. Try not to give you the whole scouting report on it. So, you can be big. Nah. Uh, number one, Seion did a really good job of understanding the timing and and uh his his options as we go through it. Um, but him Khan coming to the corner, I thought Miles set a really good screen. Um he was open. Uh he hesitated for a second I think just to freeze the defender to see what he was going to do and uh the rest is history. Um I thought that that was a big time moment for him especially you know maybe didn’t play as well as he wanted to throughout the whole game. Um but in the biggest moments I know that he has uh no fear which was great. You guys go down 152 early you call a timeout and can you just talk about kind of what was said in that huddle there that allowed you guys to come out and fight back and then have the fight that you talked about later on? Yeah, I think it’s less about what I said and I think it’s, you know, credit to the players um understanding coming off of a backtoback. I think just maybe just trying to shake off some of the cobwebs or the fog or something like that and then they got themselves back into motion into motion. Um I thought that our our our guys that come off the bench did a great job of kind of giving us a boost um energy-wise and spirit-wise, changing the coverages. I think helped a ton too cuz I thought, you know, the starters were just a little sluggish to start, but um they ended up finding their way and contributing uh throughout the game as well. You talked pregame about minutes for Melo and Brandon Miller. I mean, the fourth quarter, overtime. I’m sure a part of you wanted to put them in the game. What about that? How do you again make sure that you manage those minutes the right way for those guys even a game like this when you want to probably put them in to try to win the game? Yeah, you just have to I think keep the process, the long-term vision in mind. um even when you’re in these moments, uh we want to win this game obviously. Um every game we want to win really badly. Um and I think that those two guys obviously help you do it, but we do have really good depth and so you lean on that depth in moments like this and the maturity of those two guys to understand that there is a bigger picture and trying to maximize their availability. Um I thought they did a good job of staying engaged even if they had to sit out for longer stretches than they’re used to and then when they come in the game they had an impact. Um, you know, I I thought that that was huge for them and I I I look at this box score and I’m glad that they’re where they at and we’ll see how they recover after their first back toback in a while. So, really happy with the process and uh also their approach and maturity uh to dealing with it. Toronto came into this game one of the better teams in the league at scoring in transition, getting out and running. You guys held them to 13 fast break points in this game. What did you like about your specific defensive playing on that end of the floor? Yeah, were those three were those 13 points at the beginning of the game when we were down 15 to2 um because it felt like they were running by us to start the game and I just think again the guys um did a really good job of just adjusting to what that pace was going to feel like. Um you know even when I look at a box score and see that we only had nine turnovers that also just helps you stay out of some of those transition um opportunities. And I thought that our shot selection also tried to help with that as well. You know you take some wild shots the floor is not spaced or balanced the way it should. It puts you in a tough position, but um I think they did a really good job of adjusting. We watched some transition clips at halftime and you know taking care of the basket was going to be really important even after a make not relaxing. Um even the one where we I think we scored and Miles has got to sprint back and Mamush Kalesi tries to drive it at him and he fouls him. So I just just their awareness their next play mentality just got better and better as the game went on and I thought that they had less opportunities. 72 hours ago, you sat in this chair and your players came up here and there was an air of frustration in the room. What does it say about your group and the coaching staff as a whole about how you guys have responded after losing that game to the Knicks? Yeah, that that’s the character of this group and like I said, even on that day or the next day, um I think we have an elite process. I think that everyone comes in this building with the mindset to get better every day. They approach the work that they need to with the right intensity, um the right togetherness. And so it was a little surprising to me that uh on game night uh we weren’t seeing that same uh type of competitiveness and focus and togetherness and I think that they just rebounded. Uh and I believe that that’s who this group is and who each each one of them wants to be and uh we’ll see if we can just keep it going and be a man of our word and and keep backing it up with our actions. Charles, just to clarify, 22 for LaMelo. I mean, is that a product of the backtoback because we’ve seen him go longer? Yes. Yes. uh coming into a backto-back today, we just want to be mindful of where his minutes are uh you know heading on to this road trip and the next level of his return to play. And when you’re, you know, having to manage that with he and Brandon, I mean, what does it take from everybody else and and the entire staff to to do that and also try and coach your way through through the end of a game like that? Yeah, that’s that’s the game. That’s life. You got to juggle some of those things, but I think that the group um obviously didn’t have them for a little bit while they’re injured and so they’re used to playing extended minutes. they’re used to having to fill in there. And uh I think that we all are able to adjust and be flexible and we talk a ton. Um we have to be open-minded. Um we have to be open-minded with all the different coverages we’re going to have, the different matchups. Uh you’re playing different opponents and so that’s just part of the game uh and part of what I think builds that mental toughness that you need from a team. Awesome. Thanks everyone.

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