Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry:
On the finish and if the team just ran out of gas:
“I don’t know if we ran out of gas. We were playing against a really great basketball team tonight and you know they’ve got a rim protector in there and when they needed to close out the game, they gave the ball to Dwyane Wade. He’s done it for many years in this league. I was happy though with the effort that we played with. We’ve got to do a little bit better on turnovers in crucial situations, but I thought we fought back. We had a really tough time rebounding the basketball with (Hassan) Whiteside in there and then he did a good job, when we did take the ball in there, he’s an intimidating shot blocker, but overall, I thought we competed like crazy. I didn’t think we shot the ball as well as we could in the first half of the game. That’s where they got a little separation and, once again, when you make a run, you have such a big deficit to make up. Then it’s hard to make the run and then get over the hump, but you know we just got to keep playing. I know we’re shorthanded. We’ve just got to keep playing. I thought Luke Babbitt did a great job for us. I thought he played great. Jrue (Holiday) didn’t shot the ball particularly well and neither did Toney (Douglas.) Toney is a much better shooter than he shot it tonight. For us, we’ve just got to continue to just keep working and playing hard and competing. As long as we do that, we’ll just have to take what is ours.”
On a turning point when the Pelicans came within five points of the Miami Heat in the fourth quarter:
“We had a shot that really could have changed the game, right there. Luke (Babbitt) made a good drive to the basket and he (Whiteside) made a great block on one of them. For the most part, it was just kind of the way the game went. Seemed like every time that we had that chance to make a little bit of an extra run and we came up with a stop, (Hassan) Whiteside came up with an offensive rebound. You’ve got to give them credit. They’re a very good basketball team and they’ve got a lot of pieces. They’ve got depth on them. They’re pretty versatile, so it will be interesting to see what happens with them in the playoffs. I don’t think anybody is really interested in jumping out and playing them in the first round, I can tell you that.”
Pelicans forward Luke Babbitt:
On being aggressive and carrying the offense:
“With so many offensive players for our team missing, all of us that were out there had to be aggressive. The ball was moving on the floor and I was just trying to be aggressive because with so many of our guys out, there’s going to be more opportunities for other guys.”
On how to play a game in the stretch with so many guys out:
“Just play hard. Play hard, try to be aggressive, and try to get wins. We dug ourselves a hole tonight in the first half, and I think that was kind of the difference. We played hard in the second half, corrected some mistakes, but we just can’t dig ourselves a hole like that.”
Pelicans guard Tim Frazier:
On maintaining their stretch:
“Just getting stops and rebounds. We were able to get our transition to get easy buckets, or get to the line. That was helped us out in the long run by cutting into the lead. But like I said, Miami made tough shots tonight and was able to push away and get the win.”
On what keeps them going in the last few games of the season:
“We have pride. Everybody wants to win, nobody just wants to lay down. So we’re going to go out there and fight until the buzzer sounds. That’s the good thing about this team, we’re going to continue to fight and continue to rumble until time is up.”