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Round 2 Game 4: Pelicans-Warriors Postgame Quotes 5-6-18

Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry

On tonight’s loss and the poor offensive performance:
"I think they (Golden State Warriors) had a lot to do with it tonight. We didn’t have the looks that we normally have. I think the way we started the game, we’ve had two really good starts, actually we’ve had three really good starts against them. We struggled at the start and then I thought we got away from the game plan discipline that we always talk about with this group. I thought they were really good, defensively. I thought KD (Kevin Durant) was really locked in, defensively. They can run you off the three-point line because they’re so long that they can give you a step, but they can also challenge shots. I thought they did a real good job with that. Then I thought we pressed a bit when we got behind. I tried to talk about and make them understand that it’s just such a long game. 14-4 in the first five minutes of the game means absolutely nothing in this league. As we know, we’ve seen teams with 25 point leads in the playoffs this year where teams have come back and won games. We just never got into any kind of groove. Part of it was us. Part of it was I thought they were locked in, really locked in and did a good job, defensively."

On the Warrior’s starting lineup and if it changed the dynamic of the Pelicans:
"I didn’t think it changed. You play against that lineup the majority of the game anyway. It’s not anything new that, I mean, at the end of the day, if you look at the numbers, over the course of the whole season, it’s going to be Klay (Thompson), Steph (Stephen Curry), Andre (Iguodola), Draymond (Green) and whoever the heck I’m leaving out…yea, that guy KD (Kevin Durant). But I mean they really are. You’re going to play against that particular lineup most of the night, whenever you play them. So it wasn’t a surprise and tell Nick (U’Ren, Special Assistant to Head Coach Steve Kerr), that he doesn’t get credit for sticking Andre in the lineup this time either."

On the biggest factor that lead to the shift from the Pelicans controlling Game 2 to the Warriors controlling Game 3:
“I told you right from the start, you’re not going to beat them if you’re not going to score 115 points. I don’t care how good your defense is. I don’t care what you do, you have to be able to score 110-115 points to have any chance to beat them. Our offense…I didn’t think we had any kind of push or the pace of the game wasn’t anywhere near where we need to have it to try to win the game. We didn’t shoot the ball well and like I said, some of that was us, some of that was them, but to score 92, you won’t have a chance to beat them. I mean I’m sure there’s been a few teams this year, I remember early on, Boston winning a game against them, but over the course of a series, you’re gonna have to score a lot more than 92 to beat them.”

On if appearing to be a half step slower than the Warriors today played a part in the outcome of the game:
“We were probably a half step slow, I’m not really sure. It’s just the decisions that we made. I didn’t think they were the same [decisions] we did the other night and so we broke some of the things we were supposed to do and as I said, when you do that against this team, they’re just going to make you play. You’ve got to be really solid in what you’re doing and everyone’s got to be connected at the hip because when A goes then B has to cover, then C has to cover and then D has to be back. So when you break that, they’re going to read the situation and make you pay.”

On his message to the team after being down 3-1:
“No, no. We’ve got to win one game at Oracle and that’s the one that we play next. That’s as far as we need to look. Obviously it’s a monumental task. It’s been done before. As I said to the guys, we just got to go and play and you’re not out until they win four games. Our message is we have won there and it’s going to be a hard, hard thing to do, but we’ve got to go there with the understanding that we’re going to play and give everything that we have. If it works out, we’ll play again. If not, then our season will be over.”

Pelicans Guard Jrue Holiday

On tonight’s poor shooting performance and what were the possible contributing factors:
“A little bit of rhythm. I know for myself that a couple of them that went in and out and at that point, you do start to think about it a little bit, but to be able to have short-term memory and just go up there and knock it in with confidence.”

On the mood of the group following today’s loss and going into Game 5:
“It’s another game. It’s another game where we get to play. I’m blessed to go out there and play again. Still in it. We’re a team that fights through everything. We’ve gone through so much this year. We’ve never given up and we don’t plan on it now.”

On what it will take to win Game 5:
“It’s going to have to be desperate. Closeout games are the hardest ones and to be able to do it at their place, it’s going to be a challenge, but we’re going to go out there and give it everything we have, play to the finish and that’s just how we’re going to have to be.”

On offensive ball movement tonight:
“Again, at the beginning of the game, maybe we were a little bit stagnant, but we got a rhythm, especially going into the half. Again, coming out, when they hit shots, they knocked them in and we didn’t. From there…again, we got a lot of good shots. Things at the rim. Again some three pointers as well that, like I said for myself, went in and out. Again, something that we can go back in film and watch and look at it so if it was movement or just knocking down shots or missing shots, then we can see that.”

Pelicans Forward Anthony Davis

On his thoughts on tonight’s game:
“We missed a lot of easy shots, a couple game plan discipline mistakes early on. They came out on fire and throughout the entire game, the shots they missed in Game 3, they made tonight. We had a lot of open looks that we missed and so I think we shot 16 percent or 17 percent from three, high 30’s for the game. We just cannot afford to shoot the ball that poorly.”

On what he thought was off for the team tonight:
“I don’t know, we just have to have a lot of confidence to step up and make shots when we are open. We did not do that tonight, which is amazing. It is tough to win like that when you are shooting that poorly from the field and they are making shots and we kind of slipped on defensive assignments. It is tough to win that game, but we have another one, they have to win four, not three. Anytime we have been punching them we have always responded very well and we will go up there and try and get that win.”

On if the Warriors different lineup threw the team off:
“No, I don’t think so. Like I said, we had great looks, KD (Kevin Durant) had some tough shots that he made, we lost Klay (Thompson) and Steph (Curry) a couple times, Draymond (Green) hit two threes in the beginning. It is stuff that is correctable, we will watch film tomorrow, go over it in practice and try to come prepared for Game 5.”

On what changed between the end of the second quarter and the start of the third:
“We came out with a couple shots, we had a turnover, KD (Kevin Durant) got the dunk. I think that the momentum kind of shifted and like I said, they made shots and we didn’t. We will be ready for Game 5.”

On if the Pelicans defensive communication was off tonight:
“No, it was our game plan disciplinary, we screwed up a couple of times on game plan discipline. They were able to take advantage of it, any time we screwed up, they found Steph (Curry) or Klay (Thompson) for a three or KD (Kevin Durant), Draymond (Green) even sometimes or (Kevon) Looney, (Andre) Iguodala, all of those guys at the rim.”