Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry
On tonight’s win:
"Well that team, well any Doc (Rivers) team really, you know… like I told you at the start… that backcourt is going to be as good as a defensive backcourt that we’re going to see the whole year. From the standpoint of getting into you, trying to direct the ball, and trying to disrupt what you’re doing. They’re really, really good at it. I thought we started the game okay, and then I thought we got a little – we decided we were going make one pass and shoot it, or one pass and post up. We weren’t playing the way we were supposed to be playing, and I think that’s what got us in trouble. No ball movement. We’re not a 22-assist team. We’re a 26- or 28- or 30-assist team, but we’re not a 22-assist team. And I thought we got kind of caught up with the quick shooting. First of all, you know we want to push the basketball, and you know if the shot is there, fine. But to just run down there and take the quick three-point shots, that’s not who we are and that’s what we’ve got to get out of our game."
On what was stressed at the start of the third quarter that would help separate the game:
"We just talked about playing the way we’re supposed to play. And we can’t let our competition dictate how we play. You know those guys are really, really good, but you know I thought that for the first time this year our spacing wasn’t very good. Our post passing was not very good either, and you know we didn’t have the zip that we normally have. I didn’t think we pushed the basketball. I thought we played at about 75 percent from the standpoint of getting out, pushing it, running and trying to get easy baskets. We didn’t get a whole lot of easy baskets. Although we had a lot of points in the paint, we didn’t get a lot of easy baskets initially in our transition. And that’s because I don’t think we ran very hard and I don’t think our cuts were very hard."
Pelicans Forward Anthony Davis
On what the team learned from facing adversity for the first time this season:
“We battled. They went on a run. You know we countered that with our own run and got defensive stops and were able to make some big shots on the other end and get stops on the defensive end. So it was the first time we had to be in dog fight in the fourth quarter. I think for the first time, our guys handled it well.”
On the team’s response with the three-point shot not going down:
“Keep shooting. You know…just keep shooting with confidence. That’s all it was. We know that it’s not going to fall as much as we like every night, but at the end of the day you have to go and rely on defense. To be able to do that, and once we play defense and get stops and runs, (to) see that ball go through the rim, get to the line…we have to be better at the line first off… and when we get to the line and make free throws and see the ball go in, you just get in a rhythm, and now you’re even more confident shooting the three.”
Pelicans Guard Elfrid Payton
On the Clippers offense in the first half:
“Honestly, they got to the free throw line a lot. They were knocking down their free throws and it was messing up our pace offensively, but we were able to keep them off the line in the second half and that helped us a lot.”
On what he has learned about his teammates from tonight’s game:
“I wouldn’t say there is anything I did not know. I know we have a competitive group, but you still have to go out there and show it. It was great to see that tonight, but it is not always going to be like this. This is the first of many like this, so we need to build on it and be able to handle this situation when it is presented again.”
On how opposing teams prepare for the Pelicans:
“It speaks a lot for the talent on this team. It makes it hard to game plan against us when you have so many guys that can go
get twenty points on any given night. It speaks for the talent that we have here.”