Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry:
On the game:
“I thought we played well. They’re (the Hawks) a real quality team. We started out the game the right way. We were really good defensively the first quarter. Because of that, we ended up with some easy shots. Usually in those situations -- you know, at some point -- they’re going to make a run at you. Our guys did a really good job – even when they made a run at us – of coming up with a key basket or a key stop in transition and coming up with another key basket. Obviously, it was a really good win for us. We beat a real quality team and a team that’s really good defensively.”
On Tim Frazier:
“He was playing against one of the really good young point guards in this league in (Dennis) Schrӧder. I thought that he (Frazier) was really aggressive. He did a good job defensively, but he also did a good job of getting us into transition. I thought Tim really dictated the pace of the game and did a really good job there.”
On his team’s performance in Anthony Davis’ absence:
“I thought our offense was great because we had good ball movement. We were executing well. At the end of the day, you still have to put the ball in the basket. I thought we jumped up and made some shots that we’re very capable of making but we’ve been struggling with that the first part of the year.”
Pelicans Forward Terrence Jones:
On the win:
“This was a group effort. Everybody coming in – tonight -- really applying focus on the defensive end of the court. That created easy offense for us, and helped guys get in good rhythm. To be able to fight without [Anthony Davis] out there with us, I think shows how much more everything is coming together for us. I think a lot of guys have gone through spurts where they’ve really helped us out on offense. We did it collectively on the defensive end.”
On playing well without Anthony Davis:
“That goes with the will to win and the will to believe in team defensive strategies. Guys were flying around, helping one another. We did that on a lot of possessions and it helped us get easy points on the offensive end.”
On the Pelicans quick start:
“We just wanted to come in here and get a win. Everybody came in here aggressive and fought hard. It just showed tonight.”
Pelicans Guard Tim Frazier:
On the team effort:
“We just came out hungry. We jumped on them from the start. We continued to fight the whole game and we have to credit everybody who stepped on the court. The coaches had us very prepared for the game, and it was a team win.”
On playing well in Anthony Davis’ absence:
“We had guys step up. When one guy goes down, we have to step up. That was a big piece that went down for us. I think we had a big enough lead and we had everybody rolling. We were able to hold the lead, and when he came back in the fourth quarter, he contributed.”
On notching 21 points and 14 assists:
“The shots fell for me, but all the credit goes to my teammates as far as the assists go. They knocked down shots. They were in the right positions. They did all the work. I just passed them the ball.”