Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry
On tonight’s win:
“I just think that’s a really good basketball team down there. They’ve got great length, they’ve got shooting, tough guys, good guard play so we knew they were going to be a tough, tough battle. I just thought we continued to play, continued to play. I thought our defense picked up, really about the last nine minutes of the game. I thought we defended them about as best as we could and then we got some bad bounces. A lot of times we had deflections or things where we could have come up with a steal or even a rebound, just had a lot of bad bounces. I kept saying to the guys we’ve just got to keep playing.”
On defending Giannis Antetokounmpo:
“thought we did a much better job of pulling in and taking away driving lanes. He likes to drive the ball and spin and we took that away from him. I thought AD (Anthony Davis) did a great job against him, getting into him, getting a little more physical with him, making him jump shoot a little. We kept him out of the lane, so I thought that was big also.”
Pelicans Forward Darius Miller
On the challenges of Giannis Antetokounmpo:
“There is a lot of them. He’s really athletic. His energy is great. The sky is the limit for him."
On the defense in last five or six minutes compared to the rest of game:
“I think our intensity picked up a little bit. Guys played with more of a sense of urgency and it definitely showed."
Pelicans Center DeMarcus Cousins
On why the offense is playing so well:
“Ball movement. Always looking for the best shot. I think we are clicking well offensively. We know every possession counts, so we always look for the best shot each possession."
On the strong defense in last few minutes:
“I think that’s what it comes down to. Where the NBA is now, it’s about high scoring games. I think teams are kind of shying away from the defensive aspect of the game, just trying to outscore one another. If you can score at a decent rate and also get stops – if you are at a decent rate, you don’t even have to be that great, just have a decent rate – you’ll most likely win the game.”
On the open looks from the perimeter:
“Just moving the ball. Bigs are diving. We attract so much attention when we dive to the rim. Everybody is doing a great job of relocating on the outside. That’s the easy part is just shooting.”