Pelicans Coach Monty Williams
On missing Jrue Holiday tonight
“Yeah but that to me was part of it, but not the reason. We just had some lack luster plays. They hit a number of threes tonight off of our mistakes, fifty-fifty balls we couldn’t come up with. Sometimes we had the ball in our hands and couldn’t keep the possession. Fourteen threes that is a lot of threes. A couple of them were tough shots, but I can recall a number of them that just happened because of the mistakes that we made. Obviously we missed Jrue, but you can’t do anything about that. He is out.”
On what you are most displeased about
“Any time you lose a game you are disappointed. I can point to a number of things with the mistakes on defense tonight. They shot the ball well obviously, 52 (field goal percentage) and 50 (three point percentage), but a lot of it was just things we taught and guys understand but didn’t execute tonight.”
On Alexis Ajinca
“He just doesn’t, right now, understand all the stuff we are trying to do. We just keep plugging away at it and try and teach him.”
Pelicans guard Tyreke Evans
On what is most disappointing about tonight’s game“The Mavericks were aggressive tonight. Our energy was down, but we have another match at their place so hopefully we can beat them next time. We’ll bring more energy next time.”
Pelicans guard Austin Rivers
On what made the game difficult
“We have to be a little more aggressive, especially on the defensive end. We have to be able to trust each of us will do what we need to do. There needs to be a physical improvement also.”
On his teammates’ injuries
“A lot of guys are going down. A lot of guys are getting hurt so we need to step up. It’s not going to be easy, but we can do it. It’s times like these when you’re really tested as a professional athlete. Trust is going to fix this team’s defense.”