Quotes after 103-94 loss at New Orleans

Avery Johnson
About the game: “We’re in a transition period. They made some great passes. Some of the times guys weren’t getting to the ball. We just don’t have a lot of time, but at the same time we will use every practice and every game for everybody to get on the same page for everybody to get used to playing with (Jason) Kidd. We had some breakdowns defensively that we don’t normally have. That’s because we got some guys who are starting to figure out how to play with one another. We had some pick and roll situations with our terminology. We had on crash course practice yesterday to get this figured out.”

On the Hornets shooting: “We had some breakdown on our pick and rolls defensively covering the post and because of that they made us pay and shot the ball really well. All of our mistakes are correctable, but at the same time you’re looking at a great player like Chris Paul who’s playing at the top of his game on everyone. We did a little bit of everything to try to stop him. Sometimes we went under the pick and rolls and sometimes we went over and sometimes we tried something different. We tried to trap him, we couldn’t do that. He beat the trap and made some nice passes. He got steals on us tonight, nine steals, that’s a lot of steals. He was an outstanding player tonight. He played really well.”

Jason Kidd
On his first game: “I caused a couple of breakdowns. We had one practice (together). We can build on this. I have some bad habits. I just have to make some adjustments and look at the game and try and improve and keep getting the feel of everybody and have a good practice tomorrow.”

On if this game was any different than other games: “They’re all different. I have been in this situation before. I was just trying to get guys the ball instead of just being aggressive. It’s a lesson learned. Dirk (Nowitzki) had a great game. You look at the other side (the Hornets), they made some threes. Chris Paul had a great game. He ran the show for them. They’re tough to beat. That’s why they’re the number one team in the West right now.”

Josh Howard
On the game: “One game, one practice with Jason is not going to mesh overnight. You need to turn the page and get ready for the next game. They had a great shooting game tonight (the Hornets).”

On how he is feeling: “I’m still sore. I wasn’t expecting to be as sore as I was.”

On playing with Jason Kidd: “I haven’t had anybody throw me a lob in a long time and I just went up and got it.”