Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry
On what the key was for the Pelicans tonight: “I thought we played exactly how we needed to from the stand point of playing with pace, obviously the strength of our team is our big guys, and I thought we did a really good job of getting the ball inside. Then, I thought our big guys were really patient waiting for the double teams to come and then making the right decisions. I really liked the pace of the game that we had, there was one little five-minute stretch, where I thought we started to walk it up and didn’t have very much movement, but I thought we got it back when the fourth quarter started.”
On the team’s defensive play:I think anytime you can hold James Harden to under 20 points in a game, then I think you’ve done a great job and the same thing with CP (Chris Paul). They are just so explosive in everything they do, and I thought we played them about as well as you could play them. From the standpoint of limiting their field goal attempts and limiting their drives to the basket, I thought AD (Anthony Davis), Julius (Randle), and Niko (Nikola Mirotic), did a really good job of being able to play in the screen and roll offense. It was a good win for us, but to be honest guys, we feel like if we play to the level we’re supposed to, we’re not surprised they are a great team, don’t get me wrong, they’re going to be a huge, huge factor anytime against anybody they play, but I thought we played them (Houston Rockets) exactly how I thought we needed to play to beat that team.”
Pelicans Forward/Center Anthony Davis
On the win tonight:“We moved the basketball. We made shots, but we did a good job defending and making them feel a little uncomfortable in making them take tough shots that we would probably want to live with. To come out with a win against a team like this, coming off a season they (Houston Rockets) had we wanted to come out and set the tempo for ourselves.”
On his performance:“I was just trying to take what the defense gave me. If I had two feet in the paint, I probably wasn’t going to pass it out, but they (Houston Rockets) were doing a good job of double teaming, and I was just trying to find the right guy.”
On what the team can improve upon:“From what I can see, we gave a lot of transition buckets up, and I think we can guard the ball better one on one, but we did a great job of rebounding on the offensive end. We’ll go back and look at film, but we are happy with the win.”
Pelicans Forward Nikola Mirotic
On the win:“We did an amazing job. I think especially defensively, we knew that if we played some good defense, we were going to have a chance to win, especially against Houston (Rockets), you have to play good defense and that’s what we did. Jrue (Holiday) did a good job guarding (James) Harden and everybody was trying to be there to show for help and support. We played an amazing game, unselfish and sharing the ball. AD (Anthony Davis) was really great in the first half. We just played fast, played with the pace, and played with each other. It was a great beginning of the year.”
On his 3-point shooting:“I felt really confident. I’ve been working a lot on my shot during the summer and now in the preseason, but it’s about my teammates and the way we played today, they’ve been sharing the ball. It was just amazing. Today, I felt very confident in shooting it up and without any hesitation, when I’m wide open, I shoot the ball, but I’m more happy about the defense, about the rebounding, and I think that’s one of the areas that I have to work hard to be solid and consistent. Today was a great day, and at the end of the day was the win.”