LIVE: Pelicans vs. Thunder Pregame w/ James Borrego 11/17/2025
different seats >> Z and questionable >> both going through their routines and we’ll have a better sense probably you know in the next hour >> and then for First question I ask you last time was about the transition off. Is there anything that jumped out on film that that stood out that could be something? >> I thought we were playing fast. Then I watched the film and I look at the numbers. It was one of our highest paced games like that. We were up the court, the ball was moving. Um the pace was extremely high for us. So that’s the identity. We got to lean into this. There’s going to be some growing pains as we’re not as comfortable in that space yet. And it’s okay to be uncomfortable right now. We got to go do this. And I think through it there might be some turnovers. Those are some tough ones. You know, you turn them over and instead of converting, they turn us over. Those are the tough ones. So, I liked our pace. We did not convert their turnovers as much as I would have liked. They did a better job converting our turnovers. Basically, turnovers were even last night. They did a better better job converting than us. Same thing tonight. We have a very big challenge tonight. A team that turns you over. Obviously, we don’t want to turn them over, but we got to be aggressive ourselves. We have to turn them over. It’s going to be a possession game tonight. Ultimately, the board and turnovers. We talked on Saturday about how the first three games out of the gate were such unique scouts and we saw what happened last night with Steph. And now tonight, it’s a different animal with SGA because of how he loves to drive the ball. >> Well, if I had told you that, you know, Steph was going to have what, eight points? You know, I I When I watched the film, I think that’s as good a job as I’ve seen anybody do on him individually. I mean, Herb was fantastic last night. I couldn’t asked him to do more. And it wasn’t just him. It was everybody, you know, collectively doing it. And then Moody had to go in and throw in a Klay Thompson game, you know. So, um, you know, and and some of that was on us. The some of his shots were on us. The first two bothered me because they were off offensive rebounds. That’s what got him going. It was nothing. They ran for him. It wasn’t even a transition. They literally got the board two times. Kick it out. Wide open shot. Got him going. We got to nip that. That’s to me the possession game. We got to rebound better. Our our two centers or two of our three centers like even Carlo can’t have one defensive rebound each. And uh that’s what I’m challenging them on right now. We got to get more out of that position on the board. It’s not just them. Collectively, we got to go find a way to rebound on the defensive end. >> Bryce McGaw last night. What is it for him that you kind of >> I like his downhill aggression. I mean, he’s a downhill driver. I think every time he touched it, he was driving it with force. He can touch the paint. He makes good decisions. He can score the ball at the rim. You know, I think his shooting has improved. Um, you know, Peavey’s in that mix, too. PE is a part of that equation, you know, as of right now with the roster. And last night, I leaned a little bit more into his offensive game. Pee gives us a ton of defense. We trust him. I think you could see both of these guys tonight, you know, especially depending on Sadique. You could see both these guys. But I like Bryce’s downhill mentality, ability to put pressure on the rim. And >> uh you decided to give Derek his first start last night. What kind of went into the thinking behind that decision? And uh what do you really want to see with him when he’s with that starting group? uh just to try to get the most not out of him, but the other people around him as well. >> Yeah, I think we’re trying to figure this rotation out, you know, and we haven’t seen him with the starting unit, you know, and obviously if Z’s back, that’s we’re going to have to look at that lineup some. We’re trying to, you know, explore a little bit this roster and how how we could utilize DQ. Um, so I I liked his minutes even last night. I thought he he’s a big part of us rebounding the ball. Number one, he’s got to rebound. He and he he does that. His rebounding translates from college. I think he had seven defensive rebounds. He’s not, you know, people would say he’s probably not the fastest guy or he doesn’t play at this massive speed, but he has a great job to start our break. When he rebounded the ball last night, he started our break. We had a high points per possession. He he generated a lot of good shots for us when he rebounded the ball and brought it. So, um, we need more of that from him. I wanted to see him ignite our fast break game by rebounding the ball and pushing it and creating for us. So, um yeah, I thought I thought he had a a good start. I got to try to find a way to involve him probably a little bit more earlier in games, you know, uh because that first group’s out running and sometimes he could get lost there. I could probably do a little bit better job trying to get him especially in the half court stuff, you know, side out of bounds, after makes, after dead balls. Uh, utilizing his his playmaking a little bit more in the half court. >> Do you kind of have a philosophy as far as would you rather uh pick a start group and stick with it or are you more open to kind of shifting things from night to night kind of based on matchup or other factors? >> Ideally, someday I’d love to say we’re in place when we have our starting unit. I would love that. I think those are the best teams, right? But as a coach, especially right now with where we’re at, we’re we’re going to explore a little bit and see try some different things. If it was working, I wouldn’t, you know, I wouldn’t be here. So, you know, you got to you got to try some different things and see what works, you know. And I think we got to keep our guys on edge, too. You know, no, nobody is. And I’m certainly not just going to hand over starting job right now. I think you got to earn it and we got to see if it if it’s working or not. >> Good. Thanks.
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Oklahoma City Thunder live pregame interview with interim head coach James Borrego ahead of their game on Monday, November 17 at 7 p.m. CT during the 2025-26 NBA season.
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2 comments
Loved herb last night. Great to hear borrego acknowledge his game.
Something weird going on. Not playing Looney And Jordan with all their major experience means PELS are TRYING to lose right now for some reason. Also Missi and Hawkins are worthless and they get to play consistently. This team is a tax write off period. So sad