Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry:
On tonight’s defensive effort:
“I thought we were really good, defensively. The two guards make their team go, and they shot 12-for-30. You hold those guys to 12-for-30 and you don’t turn the ball over, you’re going to be in pretty good shape.”
On the reason for the defensive success:
“Well I think it starts individually. I thought Solomon (Hill) did a great job on CJ (McCollum) and obviously Jrue (Holiday) did a good job on Damian (Lillard). He had that little spurt there where he got going, but for the most part, we felt like we had him under control and then after that, when you get broken down, the backside of your defense has to be good and I thought we did a really good job of – even when those guys got beat, of being able to step up and take away some of the easy stuff that they usually get.”
On tonight’s offense:
“I thought we did a good job. I still think we missed some easy shots, but for the most part, we got the ball where we wanted to and right at the basket. As I said, if we can get to 100, 105 points, we give ourselves an opportunity to win because I think that we’ve been really, really good defensively. The ball movement was good. We didn’t shoot it exceptionally well from three, but I thought overall we shot it well and I thought DeMarcus (Cousins) and AD (Anthony Davis) did a good job of getting the ball and taking advantage when they tried to go small and making them pay. So for us, it’s a good win against a team that’s been scoring 120 a game in the last five games, so that’s the way we have to try to play and that’s the way we have to continue to try to play.”
Pelicans Forward Solomon Hill:
On putting everything together:
“Yeah. Like I said, the defense has always kind of been there for us. I think it was just to put up 100 points as well. We’ve been playing some good basketball in the last two games, and we just took what the team gave us. We wanted to have the same aggressiveness throughout the game and Wayne (Selden) started, I thought he did a really good job just being out there and knowing the plays. Everybody is really getting caught up and it’s what we want to do defensively. Offense is like. . .[Jordan Crawford] is going to score the ball, getting him on the same page with what we want to do defensively is just going to make him that much better.”
On how he locks in on perimeter players:
“Just taking it personal. I respect whoever is on the other end of the court, but it’s almost like that can change the game. CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard can average together 65 points easily. We take one of the heads of the snake away and it changed the game. Damian can go out there and get as many as he wants, but if you quiet CJ just a little bit, they’re a different team, and just knowing that affects the game. Ultimately it makes me go harder out there.”
Pelicans Forward Anthony Davis:
On how his ankle feels:
“It’s alright. Just have to see how it feels. We’ll see tomorrow.”
On if this was one of the best defensive performances of the season:
“I think this was the lowest we ever held somebody this season. We just tried to lock in and contain Damian and CJ, they’re their two “go-to” players, and they try to get everybody involved. Even though Damian kind of made some shots, we wanted to make sure that everybody else didn’t affect the game, and we did that tonight.”