Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry:
On Will Barton averaging 24 ½ points against the Pelicans prior to the matchup and the overall defensive effort:
“We spent a lot of time talking about that. That’s why I’m laughing. We spent a lot of time talking about him today in (the) coach’s meeting because he had played really well against us, but I thought we did a great job on him. He didn’t have a field goal and I thought we kept him in check. On his drives, we seemed to cut him off so we did a really good job. I thought we did a really good job defensively, overall, really. We let Darrell Arthur get loose, I don’t know what he ended up shooting, so he shot the ball extremely well. Other than that, I thought we did a great job.”
On role the Pelicans’ 15-6 run in the fourth quarter played in the victory:
“Well, really key. I keep saying to the guys we need to stay even so that when we do get our run that it creates separation and not to the point where now we’re just being able to catch up. I’m just really proud of these guys. They play hard, they play together, they try to do everything they can, they don’t read anything in the papers about us not being good enough or anything like that. They just give all the effort that they can possibly give and it’s fun to coach them.”
Pelicans guard Toney Douglas:
On if the offense was how he thought it would be at the beginning of the season:
“Most definitely, especially on Coach Gentry’s system. I know for sure, no matter who is out there on the floor, we’ll get assists and easy buckets. A lot of times people may think that we don’t have the players, but if you do the system right it’ll still work.”
On if it has been fun having the new younger guys on the team:
“Yeah, it’s fun. Our goal is to make sure we get to the playoffs and beyond that, but at the end of the day it’s a new system. Coach wants to make sure that from everyone playing, this is the way we want to play by the end of the year so when we come in training camp next year everyone will be familiar with it. So even though we aren’t in the playoffs, we’re still having fun, still competing. Now we’re playing for pride, no matter what our record is we’re still trying to win games.”
Pelicans forward Luke Babbitt:
On how impressive the new guys are:
“It’s been really impressive. Tim’s (Frazier) done a good job, and the two new guys Jordan (Hamilton) and James (Ennis) have done a great job just playing hard, and just knocking down shots, and defending. We’re going to keep playing hard, keep doing a good job, keep getting better, and it’s not always going to be pretty, but we’re going to fight and that means a lot in the NBA.”