Pelicans Coach Monty Williams
On the plan for the final possession
“My thinking during that time was ‘they’re all over Eric (Gordon). He can’t even get a decent look at the basket without getting blitzed.’ Darius (Miller) has the capability of knocking down a shot. In those situations, you’re hard pressed to get a decent shot. I thought he had a really good look, I thought it was down. I’m just thankful Darius shot it with confidence. He was trying to make up for a turnover he had in the backcourt. But I thought we got a good look at it and that’s all you can ask for.”
On how difficult it was to find a scoring option
“It was tough. It’s especially tough when there’s so much attention on Eric (Gordon) and A.D. (Anthony Davis). Other guys have to knock down shots. If you look at our numbers, they’re not that great from a few of our guys that we’re counting on. But again I think the guys took the shots with confidence, they just didn’t make them. Jason (Smith) had a great look at the top of the key, B. Rob (Brian Roberts) had a couple off the pick and roll, but they just didn’t go down. When Eric’s getting trapped like that, it should be easier for everybody and it just wasn’t. We just didn’t knock down shots.”
Pelicans guard Brian Roberts
On what the Rockets did defensively in the fourth quarter
“I don’t think they did anything in particular. We wanted to go with what was rolling for us and we kind of got away from that in the fourth quarter.”
On the final possession
“That was drawn up and we executed it well and got the shot that we wanted. It just didn’t go in.”
Pelicans guard Darius Miller
On if he was confident in taking the final shot
“Definitely. I think they were all confident I would make it too. It just didn’t happen to go in. It felt good to me.”
On his improvement this season compared to last season
“I’m a completely different player than last season. I think I really attribute that to the work I put in the summer with this coaching staff and with my trainer back home. Really I just try and come out and play with a lot of confidence and play aggressive, offensively and defensively. I have an opportunity right now so I’m trying to take full advantage of it.”
Pelicans guard Eric Gordon
On how the Rockets changed how they guarded him in the fourth quarter
“It was tough. Towards the end of the game we were just trying to figure out who could get the best shot off. Sometimes we used me as a decoy. They did do a lot of denying and whenever I touched the ball towards the end they started double teaming me. The fourth quarter, it was a mixture of trying to get the ball and sometimes using me as a decoy to throw them off.”
On his shooting performance tonight
“I feel if a team plays me straight up, I could do this almost every night. When teams play me like that I feel like I could be aggressive like this all the time. I’ve done it before and it’s all about setting it up that way.”