HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY:
(On game):
“I thought we defended number one, we had a couple of lapses in the transition defense. Overall, I thought we did a good job defensively. I thought we did a great job moving the basketball, 31 assists. I think any time that you get to the 30 assists mark, I think we had 44 baskets, 31 assists. That’s a really good number. I thought we followed the game plan and did a really good job with that. We wanted to take away Reggie (Bullock’s) 3-point shot, because he’s the leading 3-point shooter in the league. We tried to do that, and then we knew that we’d have to try to do everything we could to rebound with these guys and that was the key. I thought we did a good job in that area other than (Andre) Drummond ended with eight offensive rebounds, but I think he gets eight offensive rebounds against most people.”
EMEKA OKAFOR:
(On starting):
“It was awesome. It feels good just to be back in whatever capacity. Me being able to start tonight was awesome. I’m able to contribute to the win and it felt good.”
(On fitting in with the Pelicans):
“Just paying attention, just paying attention like no other. It was a very interesting position being in the 10-day (contract) and everybody’s been very accommodating. Coach will say, ‘Hey man if you need to know the plays just let me know.’ The video guys have been giving me the play book or the video plays and the players have been talking me through whatever needs to be talked through so it’s been a pretty strong collective effort just helping me get comfortable.”
ANTHONY DAVIS:
(On if the matchups tonight favored him against a smaller Detroit Pistons team):
“I don’t think they were smaller. They’ve got Stanley (Johnson) who’s a big guard, Blake (Griffin) and Andre (Drummond) who are two big guys around the rim. They didn’t favor us, we just went out there and just played. It was a tough game last night against Atlanta and they just wanted to come out and play with a lot of energy.”
(On C Emeka Okafor and the job that he came in and did):
“He did a good job. He was able to rebound the basketball, set screens for us and block some shots. He was tough on the defense down there, banging with Andre. He did a good job for us. We like what he did, and we’ll see what happens next game.”