NBA PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT: PELICANS vs CLIPPERS

April 15, 2022

Reggie Jackson

Postgame Press Conference

Pelicans 105, Clippers 101

Q. Reggie, obviously not the way you wanted the season to end. What can you say about the locker room, the roller coaster of a year you've had, proven a lot of people wrong over the year?

REGGIE JACKSON: This one is tough, tough loss to take. Had a chance. Two cracks at it. Didn't get in unfortunately.

Locker room is pretty good. Like I said, it sucks. It's quiet in there right now. It's a difficult one to swallow. Really proud of what we accomplished. It's been an up-and-down season. We came out, played hard all year. Fortunate enough to have another season above .500. Didn't get where we wanted to. Tough pill to swallow.

Q. Where do you go from here heading into next year?

REGGIE JACKSON: Just got to get rest. Go back, get rest. Hopefully everybody can get healthy, get your mind right, take care of your body. You can come back. Hopefully, like I said, we are all healthy, start next year. Hopefully we stay as healthy as possible throughout the whole year next year.

Biggest thing is going to be guys, making sure they're feeling good, taking care of themselves, doing all they can to come into camp healthy, ready, then let's hit the ground running.

Q. How have you wrapped your head around the last 24 hours, learning about P.G. then have shootaround...

REGGIE JACKSON: It was a season. That's honestly been the season. Everybody has gone through it. Some guys in and out. We dealt with it with our guys. Safety protocols. Guys in and out for injuries and all.

I don't think it was anything new for us. We wish we could have had everybody for today. We approached it. We had the utmost respect for our opponent. I think we did everything we could to study them, to put in plans that coach wanted to implement. We tried to execute them. They were the better team tonight.

I think it was more of a roller coaster for the media and the rest of the world with what happened with Paul being out than us. It sucked to get the news, but it's something we've had to do all year. We were prepared to play no matter who suited up tonight.

Q. You mentioned being excited for everything this year, be around this team. You brought a different kind of energy. How do you retain that going into this kind of an off-season?

REGGIE JACKSON: It's not what we wanted. Still can have some pride in the season, we came out and competed, everything we battled through, the adversity, ups and downs. Like I said, I think we could have had a better season. I know all the guys in there feel the same way.

Nothing to hang your head about. Things we can build off of. Things we did well this year. Things that beat us up, kind of like our Achilles heel, offensive rebounding for the other team. There's things we can go in and we can fix and we can work on.

I don't look at it as a failed season. More so of a season to learn from. I think as long as we approach it like that, hopefully God willing we can get everybody healthy, it will be another fun season next year.

I'd like to see how the guys mesh, how we all mesh. Like I said, I'm hoping everybody takes time, gets their mind right, gets ready for the season, reflects on it, looks at things that we enjoyed about it, look at things we can all be better at as a team, guys can be better at individually. That's how I'm going to approach it.

You go into the season doing all you can to get better individually when you do your workouts in the summertime. When we come together collectively, we can hit the ground running, be the best team we can be once camp starts next year.

Like I said, nothing to hang our head about. Something we're going to have to reflect on, take it in, use it to propel you going forward, propel us going forward next year.

Q. Having seen what this team did this season without Paul and Kawhi, what you add them back to this team, what is this team capable of doing?

REGGIE JACKSON: We'll see. Shoot, we felt like we were on a good flow last year. Of course missing some pieces from that team last year. Got some new guys this year. We'll see what happens in summer.

Whenever you have a Kawhi Leonard and Paul George like team, you feel confident in that. We hope we can get our guys back, get everybody fully healthy.

Yeah, I think the sky's the limit when you get those two. It's going to be about hopefully getting them healthy, meshing, and everybody, like I said, improving individually, then us coming together as a collective to figure out how we can be better as a team, hit the ground running next year.

Q. You identified as the underdog the whole year. How do you feel you will do adjusting next season with Kawhi and Paul back being the hunted?

REGGIE JACKSON: It's going to be fun. I think it's a different perspective. I think we played at it a little bit last year being the hunted. Have to switch the mindset there a little bit.

I think the most important thing is just enjoy the game. Go have fun with it to the utmost of your ability. Hopefully everybody does. Like I said, we're going to put in the work. We understand we'll still be hunted. But the biggest thing is coming out and competing every night, have as much fun as we can, play for the name on the front of the jersey, play for the name on the back of the jersey as well, represent the team, your family, your community. Go out here and just compete.

It sucks the season ended the way it did this year. I can't help but smile already thinking about next year, just ways to get better. I'm looking forward to the off-season, trying to find a way to get better individually, then come together collectively. I'm excited to start getting in the workouts, getting calls, checking in on guys throughout the summer.

It sucks. I wish we could continue to keep playing to the next game, the first round. We wish we were the team playing Memphis or Phoenix. Had two good chances to win. Didn't come up with either of them.

Like I said, we're going to hang our heads high. We're going to reflect on the season, find ways to get better, come back a better team next year.

Q. Do you feel less crushed knowing you left everything on the floor?

REGGIE JACKSON: It always sucks. It's always difficult. I think there's always solace. That's the one thing I can say, there's solace every time you go and leave it on the court. If you lose, you lose. That's how life works.

It's not about the result. It kind of is, never is. At the same time I always want to be a champion. That's our aspirations. I believe everybody here wants to be champions as well. It's all about the process. As long as you give everything you have to the process, I think you can be good. You can have solace in the end result.

I'm going to be okay going home. Sucks that we lost. I know I left everything I could on the floor today. I had a blast playing. I had a blast competing. I just wish we got a win. I wish I could have did more to help my team get a win, but I'll be all right.