Pelicans Head Coach Monty Williams
On a nice win tonight:
“Yes, it was a really good win for us. Obviously, any win is something to value but to be able to play off a back-to-back and to win against a playoff team says a lot about our guys. Our defense was really good tonight to hold them to 91 points. We had 26 assists with 13 turnovers, I think we had 10 at halftime, so we really cut them down in the second half. If you look at the number of contributions we had tonight, it was good to see some guys hit some shots, we had a number of guys play well.”
On shooting starting to click tonight:
“Yes, Ryan (Anderson) got it going a little bit. I thought Austin’s (Rivers) juice off the bench was really good for us tonight. When we can make 19 for 19 free throws, that is big for us. We got 11 offensive rebounds against a pretty good rebounding team. We held them to six offensive rebounds. Overall, it is a good win for us. Obviously, it is early in the season and we have a lot to work on but I saw some carry over from the film session we had this morning and some of the things we have been teaching at practice.”
Pelicans Guard Austin Rivers:
On coming off a back-to-back:
“I was just happy with the way we able to come out with energy. We came in off a back-to-back with just as much energy as we did last night. We had a very physical game last night against the Grizzlies, coming in versus another physical playoff team tonight with Charlotte and I thought we played really well. I thought our defense led to our offense. We got a lot of stops, and because of that we were able to push and play together, and it was good for us.”
On being the Pelicans’ offensive strategy:
“I just try to be aggressive. More than that, I told somebody before I played Memphis that ‘From now on I’m leaving no food on the table; I’m trying to eat everything.’ I’m just going out there and making plays, and again our defense helped that. We got stops so we were able to have numbers. Our bigs were running and that frees up everything. AD [Anthony Davis] frees up so much for us. Then we have to attack the rim, because it gets the defense to come in and then we kick out to shooters like Ryan (Anderson) and guys like that. Again, our defense led to our offense tonight.”
Pelicans Forward Ryan Anderson:
On the team effort in the win:
“It was just good to get a win. I think we played great as a group, and the defense was really good tonight. That led to open shots, and that’s the way we can play. I keep saying that I feel that’s the way we can play, that up-tempo pace. It was fun basketball tonight.”
On the play of Tyreke Evans:
“I need to get a little bit of his [Tyreke Evans] mojo going right now. I don’t have that confidence like he’s shooting it. He’s shooting the ball great and he’s playing great right now.”
On the play of Jrue Holiday:
“He played great. He made the right plays, found the right guys, and just got everyone involved. He’s kind of the heartbeat of this team, so when he’s rolling, everybody else is.”