PELICANS HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY:
“We had an opportunity and we had a couple of late turnovers that hurt. I thought we played hard and competed at a real high level. It’s tough – tough loss because I thought the guys left everything they had out there.”
On the first half:
“I still think that you have to make some plays. Like I said, we turned the ball over a little bit too much. We didn’t make shots – you got to make shots and we didn’t quite make shots. We put ourselves in tough situations trying to make tough plays. When we were going good in the first half I think we were just making good solid plays, not anything outside the box.
“It’s just simple things. We don’t need any high risk plays – no high risk plays. We weren’t making high risk plays and we were still doing fine.”
PELICANS FORWARD/CENTER ANTHONY DAVIS:
“Well losing Buddy (Hield), of course is tough. But when he got tossed it just changed the whole outlook of the gaming – starting at the end of the second quarter. Everything just changed for us. We still were able to stay in the game throughout the course of the second half, but (the Kings) are a good team. They made some plays. We just have to get ready to go and play Phoenix tomorrow night.”
On floor spacing:
“Yeah, we moved the basketball. I mean, (Buddy’s) a shooter. He spaces the floor for us. Tim (Frazier) came in and did what he did – only missed that dunk. But he definitely helped our team in. Langston (Galloway) came in, did what he did – made shots and everything – but it’s a tough situation. When Buddy is not able to play anymore, he brings so much to our team offensively and we just have to still find a way to try to win that game. That was a game that we needed. We’re chasing them for the eighth seed. But we have to just go get ready for tomorrow night. I think we played hard. We played aggressive all night and we just have to try to figure it out.”
PELICANS GUARD JRUE HOLIDAY:
“It’s tough to say. Obviously if you want to beat certain teams then you have to shoot. Teams that make them shoot them well – shoot them at a high clip – but you’re going to have nights where you don’t shoot them well.”