Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry:
On tonight’s offensive struggles, down the stretch and throughout the night:
“Well, it wasn’t down the stretch. It was all together, really. If you look at it, you can’t expect to win a game scoring eighty-seven points. Like I said in pregame, you’ve got to get the ball in the basket and we didn’t get the ball in the basket. You know, you give up ninety-four points at home, you’ve got to win the game. You’ve got to find a way to get ninety-five. Our defense was really good, but we can’t score the basketball. We can’t score the basketball and that’s been our struggle. You think about the games – we gave up eighty-eight points a few games ago, eighty-nine points or whatever, gave up ninety-one and we can’t win the game because we can’t get the ball in the basket. So we’ve got to keep working and find a way to generate where we get to one hundred. If we get to one hundred, with the way we’re playing defensively, I think we’ll be fine. But we haven’t been able to get to one hundred even.”
On if the absence of Anthony Davis in the second half contributed to tonight’s loss:
“I think so, that’s some of it, but we’ve got to get better ball movement. We’ve got to get spacing. Bottom line is, when we’re open we’ve got to be able to shoot the ball in the basket.”
On the injury status of Anthony Davis:
“X-rays are negative. It will be day-to-day. Probably will know more tomorrow, but the fact that the X-rays came back negative is probably a good thing.”
Pelicans Forward/Center DeMarcus Cousins:
On Anthony Davis’s fall:
“I didn’t see the fall, and I don’t know the results either. It definitely hurt us tonight, and with that being said, we have to find a way to pick up the pieces. It’s unfortunate.”
On if things get tougher when Anthony Davis is out of the game:
“It does. That’s kind of the advantage that Anthony and I have when we’re in the game together: bigs just can’t lock on one of us. Bigs and guards have the tendency to just stand to our bodies at all times, so it kind off opens it up for the next guy. So with AD being out, that wasn’t necessarily the case.”
Pelicans Guard Jordan Crawford:
On what his mindset is going into the game:
“I definitely just want to be aggressive and play the game and not think too much, and just pick the spots. That’s kind of how I go about it.”
On how playing has been since he hasn’t practiced with the team at all:
“Well they’re making it easy on me, keeping the package small. Whenever there is a play, they put me in the right spot and tell me where to go. They’re making it easy on me, just taking it one day at a time.”