Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry
Q. On the atmosphere at home:“We knew coming home that we would have a great crowd. We had a great crowd the last two games. Obviously, when you are playing the world champion, and they come into your arena, you know, everybody that’s going to be in the stands is going to want to push you over the top. I thought the crowd was absolutely great from start to finish. This is just a really, really hard team to play against. Get a lead, they take it away. You get a lead, they take it away and the thing that we kept trying to say to our guys is that you just got to remain consistent in what you’re doing and you’ve got to stay within the game plan and we’ve got to be consistent with what we’re doing in the game plan and I thought we did a really good job of that. We didn’t panic when they make those runs because it’s scary. Steph (Stephen Curry) makes a three and Klay (Thompson) makes a three and Draymond (Green) makes a great play going to the basket, you’ve just got to some kind of way be able to withstand that and I thought we did a real good job of that."
Q. On the Pelicans’ bench production:“I thought Ian (Clark) played great. I thought Solomon (Hill) did a good job of coming in and just making shots. They’ve kind of not guarded him in this series and left him open and I thought he shot the ball with a lot of confidence.”
Q. On how meaningful winning tonight is given the loss in Game 3 of the playoff series against the Golden State Warriors three years ago:“Well obviously, it’s going to stick with you. I was on the Warrior bench then and I thought they played a great game and because I was on the Warrior bench, it made it so scary tonight. Obviously, I was there when Steph started making threes and all of a sudden Klay made threes and before you knew it, a 20-point lead was nine points, then seven points and then all of a sudden, Steph made a shot out of the corner which, by the way, I have a picture of that on my phone that I’ve kept all of these years and now I can erase it off. They’re just a scary team. You never feel comfortable. Even when he took his guys out, I was like, eh, let’s play two more minutes before we take the guys out because you’re just never comfortable with that team.”
Q. On Anthony Davis’s performance in the second half:“Well I felt real good during one time out when he (Anthony Davis) said, ‘we’re not losing this game. I don’t care what, we’re not losing this game.’ And then I thought he started to do some things to help dominate the game, really. I thought he did a good job of playing in space tonight. He wasn’t forcing the situation. I thought he did a good job of taking advantage of post-ups when he could, going quickly so they couldn’t double. I just thought, overall, it was a good team win.”
Q. On Nikola Mirotić playing with more confidence at home:“Definitely. I still haven’t looked at the stat sheet to know what people did. I just know when he’s in a good groove and when he’s playing well and he’s rebounding well and his defense has been really solid. When he does that, I think that it does nothing, but help us. Like I said, us adding him to the team…Dell (Demps) going out and getting him and adding him to the team really kind of changed our whole season. After DeMarcus (Cousins) went down, first thing he did is we’ve got to find somebody that can help this team. Dell went out and he added a piece. I doubt if we would be here today if he wasn’t a part of our team.”
Q. On Draymond Green and if his on-court behavior crosses the line:“I don’t think anything he does crosses the line because I don’t think…he’s the perfect guy because if he’s on your team you love him and he’s not on your team, you despise him and to me, those are the kind of players that I’d like to have on the team. All he does is win. Wherever he’s been, he’s won. What I think you have to do, is you have to play well enough to win the game and then that right there does all the talking. But he’s going to talk and I appreciate him. I saw him today and we spent 20 minutes together. I appreciate who he is and how he plays and what he’s all about because he’s all about winning and if you’re verbally weak, then he’s going to take advantage of you and I think our guys understand that and just want to play the game.”
Pelicans Forward Anthony Davis
Q. On Smoothie King Center atmosphere tonight:“The fans were great. It was loud in there. We came back home and did what we were supposed to do. It was, of course, a big game for us. We didn’t want to go down 0-3, but we got a big one tonight and (we’ll) try to get ready for Sunday.”
Q. On the team’s apparent increase in confidence to score tonight compared to the first two games of the series:“I think we already had confidence, but like I said we were back at home. I feel like you always shoot better at home. Guys made shots in shootaround this morning and that carried over to the game. When you’re back at home and the crowd is behind you, you play with a lot more confidence. We were able to make shots and open up the floor.”
Q. On his statement to the team during the game (“We’re not going to lose this game”):“That was the message. We can’t lose this game. It’s always tough to come back from 0-3. Our mindset is to go out there, play, and do what we’re supposed to do from all the game planning. Whatever results happen, happen. We followed the game plan to a T tonight. We were able to come out with the win. Guys made shots, so it’s a lot easier to play and try to win. When guys are making shots and we’re getting to the line, we’re able to dictate the pace. I think we did that tonight.”
Pelicans Guard Jrue Holiday
Q. On if the 2015 loss to Warriors motivated the team in tonight’s performance:“I don’t really think we thought about it, honestly. Our team was so completely different. We had a different focus this game, especially toward the end of this game. In this league, being up 20 doesn’t really mean much. I think we executed the game plan and did a good job of bringing the energy from start to finish. (And energy) from the crowd. They were awesome.”
Q. On if Rajon Rondo helped to control the pace tonight:“I think Rondo always does that. (It’s) the way he attacks the basket even though they’re backing off of him, the way he pushes the pace off of the rebound, and the way he’s fighting for rebounds. His fighting for rebounds and being able to push the pace is huge for us. It makes us want to run the floor and get to the corners. Knocking down shots is a lot easier when he does it, it’s always on time. Him being able to do that is huge for us, confidence wise. He just pushes the pace we want to play.”
Pelicans Forward Nikola Mirotić
Q. On shooting better at home:“I mean the crowd was huge tonight for us. They give us a lot of confidence and right from the beginning I think defensively set a tone. We played with much more physicality than the first two games and we knew what we need to do to beat them tonight so we executed great and we are happy about this game, but looking forward for the next one.”
Q. On how much of a boost it was when Solomon Hill hit three three-pointers:“Oh man. That was a big moment for us, you know. Those threes he made were really, really important and not just that, he was great defensively guarding KD (Kevin Durant), Draymond (Green). So he gave us a lot of energy from the bench, especially when he is making shots, it’s even better. So he knows how much he is important too and we know. We’re just expecting him to keep playing that way.”
Pelicans Guard Rajon Rondo
Q. On the pace he was playing when the lead was up to 18 with eight minutes to play in the second half:“Yeah, Coach (Alvin Gentry) was yelling at me a few possessions to keep pushing, but at that particular time, I was just trying to get a great shot and continue to stay on the same page with Coach."
Q. On if this win showed it’s more about what the Pelicans do as opposed to what the Warriors do:“It definitely is, but it starts with defense. We were able to get some stops, defensively. It’s hard to run and keep pace when you’re taking it by the net every time which we did in game one so we cleaned up a little bit better in game two and three and look forward to making adjustments for game four.”
Pelicans Guard Ian Clark
Q. On if it’s meaningful to have a great second half against his former team:“I think it was more of a team effort. I’m not looking at it as individuals, individual success. Obviously, it’s good to come out and make shots, but I wanted to do whatever was necessary for the team and we came out and kind of showed what we can do, especially on our own floor. And we know that we wanted to take care of today and then just try to do it again on Sunday."
Q. On the importance of hitting shots in the first quarter:“Defensively, I think that we kind of locked in on the shooters a lot more than we did in the first two games. They got a lot of clean, open looks, especially in Game 2 and I feel like they were comfortable. Tonight, I think we made sure that we were attached more, especially in transition other than a little lull in the second quarter, but for us to come out and hit shots is big. It kind of opens the floor up for Jrue (Holiday), (Rajon) Rondo, and AD (Anthony Davis) to kind of do what they do, especially with AD. We know they’re doubling, helping all the time so for Solo (Solomon Hill) to hit his shots, for bench guys to come out and hit shots, kind of opened the floor for him to do what he does.”