Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry:
On tonight’s win:
“I thought we did a great job defensively. I really did. I thought we started the game out, even when we were struggling a little bit offensively, I thought we were doing a really good job defensively and we were switching everything, but we got into (Kristaps) Porzingis, took away some of the things that he’s really, really good at. I just thought, overall, we did a really good job. Obviously, we shot the ball well from three and when we shoot it well from three, we usually end up with good results.”
On the 4-1 record for this home stand and what it means for the team:
“We’ve still got a long, long way to go. Basically, what we talked about is that this has to be the start of a stepping stone to get us where we want to get to and it’s going to be important how we handle these games at home. I thought we did a good job in all of the games that we played, even the Oklahoma City game. We just ran into Russell Westbrook and he’s a one-man wrecking crew, but I just thought overall we played well and we have to continue to do it. Now we go on the road and it’s the same thing. We’ve still got to play good basketball. We’ve still got a long way to go to get our head above water. We did a good job and we’re starting to get there. As I said, when you go one and eight to start, you’ve got seven games to make up to get to 500 so we’ve still got a ladder that we have to climb to get there.”
Pelicans Forward Solomon Hill:
On if the defense and offense have been meshing:
“Yeah you always want to have that on defense, day in and day out. We already know, we’ve seen it from AD, that you’re not always going to make shots, but if you can do it on the defensive end you allow yourself more possessions and more opportunities to get the basketball in the rim. Day in and day out we have to rely on our defense.”
On if there is a renewed sense of energy after winning four out of five home games:
“We’re not too out of the playoffs and we see it, but we just need to go ahead and grasp it. You can say it’s a renewed sense of energy but we understand what we want to do here as a ball club, we want to compete and play at the highest level and we want to play in the playoffs so we only have one goal at this moment and that’s to get there.”
Pelicans Center Anthony Davis:
On if playing with a small lineup has been beneficial to the team:
“Yeah I mean there’s still stuff that we’re trying to work on, but I think that’s what we like right now. It’s been good for us the past couple of games so we’re going to stick with it and keep testing it out and keep learning from our mistakes when we’ve got that small lineup and try to fix it. This is how we want to play, we want to be a team that can get up and run and we’re able to do that with that small lineup.”
On the team’s fast break points and what contributes to that:
“We have five guys on the floor who can get the rebound and push it themselves, and start the breaks, so it’s been fun for us. Guys are making shots, guys are making the right passes, and making the right plays coming down the court and in the transition.”