Google News Hornets coach Steve Clifford calls out his players: Only care about offense
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Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford was straight honest with the media following his team's latest loss as he admitted that his guys don't seem to be interested in playing any defense. On Wednesday night, the Detroit Pistons handed the Hornets a 141-134 overtime loss.
Three days earlier, the Philadelphia 76ers demolished the Hornets 131-113. Overall, the Hornets have lost their last six games and they have sustained over 120 points in each of their last four games. "You don't have to ask questions.
Until we care about something besides how many points we score we're not gonna win much. Can't play like that. Our offense was good -- that's five of the last seven games we've been pretty good on offense. We are playing no defense.
Not one guy. There's not a bright spot. We don't run back on defense, we don't guard the ball, our pick-and-roll stuff -- all stuff that was good, I think we were as high as 12th or 13th in defense about 10 games ago. We're right back to where we started ground zero, where all we want to be is let's try to outscore the other team," Clifford explained, per CBS Sports.
Clifford: Only scoring doesn't win you games in the NBA
Clifford acknowledged the team's offense has been playing well but underlined that only playing offense doesn't win you games in the NBA. With a 7-21 record, the Hornets are the worst team in the NBA.
If they don't change their attitude, coach Clifford suggests there will be many more losses. "Watch team after team. There's always a team every year that they get there and what happens? They get drilled because they don't have the right kind of game.
You can't just outscore people in the NBA. You can't. And you can't decide that you're not gonna do the things that take effort like rebounding, or getting loose balls, or putting your body in front of the ball. You can't. It just doesn't work that way, and that's what we're trying to do right now," Clifford added. On Friday night, the Hornets are hosting the Atlanta Hawks.