HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY
On tonight’s team win and capturing 500th career win:“It was. I mean it’s one of the most complete games we’ve played, really. I thought we started the game great. We just went through a little period in there where we were a little loose with the ball, but for the most part I thought we executed. I thought we were really really good defensively. You know (Ja) Morant is a heck of a player. I thought Jrue (Holiday) did about as good a job as you can do on him…trying to keep him out of the paint and doing some things. And then we did a great job on (Dillon) Brooks, and Brooks is a guy that really hurt us last time. But I thought we got in the open floor, and I thought we started the game the right way. I thought Brandon (Ingram) was really good also. I thought Zion (Williamson)… this was his best game. Forget about the four threes, but as far as a complete game and him playing and starting to get more aggressive and attack the basket, I thought this was his most complete game.” On if this is what was envisioned during preseason with a complete roster:“Well obviously if we would have been healthy throughout, this would have been a situation where we could have come to this point a lot quicker than we are. But we talked today that the thing we’ve got to do is that we’ve just got to continue to play and drive hard. And whatever happens from there, happens from there. But we’re not going to look at standings, we’re not going to do anything like that. We’re just going to try to make sure we’re a better team everyday. You know one of the things we did today is we played just a little clip from one of Kobe’s speeches that says… about working hard and never being second best to anybody. Just trying to accomplish common goals and team situations as far as being successful. I thought it was a great message to our guys as far as coming out and competing. But doing it within the confines of what we’re trying to do as a team, I thought we did a good job with that.”
GUARD JRUE HOLIDAY
On the win tonight:“I think a little bit of it was not turning the ball over. We did that a lot in the first half, but coming out in the second half I think we were a little more controlled during that part of the game. From there, I think that we grew. I think sometimes when we play teams that play this hard for 48 minutes, we have to match the intensity.” On Alvin Gentry winning his 500th game:“We should probably get rewarded for that, right? He’s a great coach and we love having him as a coach. Just the relationships that I’ve built over the years and that he’s built with other guys really means a lot to us that we can go out there and fight for him and get this 500th win. Congratulations to him. I’m really happy for him. It’s a good day.”
FORWARD ZION WILLIAMSON
On exchanging jerseys with Ja Morant:“You can’t even imagine moments like that man. Like I said, we were two role players. I think one tournament – AAU tournament – me and him both averaged 30 or something when our main player wasn’t there, but we never saw each other being the number one and two pick, playing against each other and swapping jerseys. You can’t imagine stuff like that so it was a great moment. I’m real close with him. You just can’t create stuff like that.” On how excited he was to hear Brandon Ingram was named an All-Star:“I mean, like I said, he was a definite All-Star. There was no surprise for me. But we were very excited. For him to go through that whole trade process between LA and the Pelicans, and for him to be an All-Star, it shows his work ethic. Like he’s always in the gym, honing his craft so he really deserves it.”