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NBA PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE: JAZZ vs CLIPPERS

April 18, 2017

Quin Snyder

Los Angeles, California: Game Two

Clippers - 99, Jazz - 91

Q. Quin, I think it's fair to say you had trouble in the pick-and-roll tonight. How do you think you did defending that, especially early, and what would you have liked to have seen more of?
QUIN SNYDER: Defending the pick-and-roll?

Q. Yes.
QUIN SNYDER: I'll have to look at the film, but I didn't think that we had a series of really bad breakdowns. I thought -- you're talking about probably the best pick-and-roll player in the league, so there's going to be situations where he's able to exploit you. You know, and then you might have the best roller in the league. That's a tall order, and I thought we kept at it, but you know, obviously you feel like you always want to do better, but as far as just tactically breaking down what we did or didn't do, you know, I'd be just kind of -- I wouldn't be guessing, I have some ideas, but I'd prefer to kind of get a better handle on it. I just know that they were very good in that and that the ball got in the paint a lot, and we talked about that at halftime, and that was -- they got in there a lot of ways. We just weren't able to contain the ball.

Q. You could have gone up 2-0 but now it's 1-1. How significant a difference is that, or do you walk out of here feeling pretty good about things?
QUIN SNYDER: I think no generalizations on either front. I don't know that we feel good. It's hard to feel good after the game. If you step back and we'd have lost the first game and won tonight, we'd probably feel good. It's 1-1, just kind of is what it is. They raised their level tonight. I didn't think we -- we didn't necessarily back down or not play, but I thought they played with an intensity and a level from the very beginning of the game that was -- it was impressive, and that's who they are, and that's what we expected, and we've got to raise our level now.

Q. How much was it just Rudy's absence tonight versus when you look at the points in the paint difference?
QUIN SNYDER: Yeah, that was where the game -- that was where we struggled defensively, whether it was the pick-and-roll or penetration or Blake Griffin. We've just got to find other ways to protect the paint. That's the challenge. It is what it is, and any time you don't have a guy that is a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, everybody else has to step up. There's no sense lamenting his absence. We've just got to figure out how to be better, and we played a little better the first game. I thought they were really aggressive attacking the rim, and they did a good job, and we've got to -- like I said, we've got to raise our level a little bit and continue to compete.

Q. How much tougher is it to contain DeAndre when you don't have Gobert to throw at him? What are the challenges?
QUIN SNYDER: Yeah, I mean, every time we talk about Rudy not being here, there's kind of an implication that we're saying if we had him, then, and I don't think that's the way that -- we can't approach the series that way. We know that because it's happened to us a few times this year.

If we'd have approached last game like that, we wouldn't have won last game.

There's some other things that we're going to have to do to combat that. We may have to shoot -- have a hot shooting night. We can't give up defensive rebounds. Collectively that was something at certain times I thought that really hurt us. We can't turn the ball over. In a lot of ways, because we don't have that anchor, there's a process of us subtly adjusting to Rudy not being there and figuring out how we can be effective defensively without him. But I don't think we were awful on defense. I didn't feel that. I thought they were very good, and there were some things we didn't do well. We got hurt in the paint, and obviously pick-and-roll and post-up, those things, but we did some good things, too. We just weren't good enough to win.

Q. Speaking of some good things defensively, the Clippers' shooting guards Jamal and J.J., they've missed 13 out of 14 threes in this series. How have you been able to emphasize the perimeter defense, and do you think that's sustainable with the struggles of the interior defense?
QUIN SNYDER: As far as it being sustainable, probably not, because those guys are such good players. That doesn't mean we can't aspire to that. You know, you're giving something up, and the pressure that they put on the rim was significant tonight. We weren't not helping off those guys, it's just there's a physical advantage around the rim. However we combat, we'll look at that. Obviously that's for us to figure out. You obviously have some ideas as the game is going on, and that's why it's the Playoffs and a series, and you make a series of adjustments. We're adjusting all the time, as are they, and hopefully we can continue to have the success we've had.

I think some of it's them. I hate to -- like we're doing a great job on Redick and Crawford. All you'd have to do is go back a couple games and look what they've done to us. I think there's an awareness that our guys have. But they're both really good players, and hopefully we can -- I won't say get lucky, but hopefully we can kind of continue to make it hard on them, but realistically both of them are going to break out at some point.

Q. Both Gordon Hayward and Joe Johnson struggled to get anything going from the field. What did the Clippers do differently this game that forced them to struggle?
QUIN SNYDER: I liked the fact that they competed, and I think the Clippers are a good defensive team. They were physical with us. We knew that's the nature of the game. That's the Playoffs. It was a good, clean physicality.

I think when you get -- you have to become comfortable with that in some way, and then I thought we had some looks that we missed. You know, I thought Gordon had some open looks and so did Joe, and we've just got to keep taking those. It may be a similar game where all of a sudden some of those go in and it feels better. But more than anything, it made us work, and we were willing to work. I think just it doesn't always go exactly the way you script it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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