1718-quotes

Pelicans.com

Q. Can you comment on keeping Rondo on the bench during the second half?HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY: Well, he had a groin. His groin was not in great shape and we knew that right from the start. His movement wasn't as it had been, and I just didn't think that it was worth risking something that could be serious.So we just -- we just didn't play him the rest of the game.He wanted to play, and he tried to play right from the start, and that's why I love the guy, you know, he is as big a competitor as I've been around, and he would do anything to help our team. I just thought that it didn't make sense to put him out there, because his movement wasn't great, and I didn't want to see him hurt.Q. What's it like facing them, and is it both happy and frustrating?HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY: I think a little bit of both. I have the utmost respect for Steve. Steve and I go way, way back. I've known him since he was 17 years old. I think he's done a phenomenal job with this team. You know, I think Bob has done an unbelievable job of putting a team together, that the pieces fit perfect.We have to game plan for so many things, that, you know, you have to pick your poison, and if your poison is, you know, letting Durant be the scorer, that just tells you the potency of this team I think.The one thing I'll say is that I was really proud because we could have easily stopped playing. That's not in our DNA, none of the guys, and so we were going to compete until the final buzzer went off. We came very close to, you know, really getting back in the game with four minutes to go, but you know, they made a couple of plays because that's kind of who they are.Q. Through the first couple games of the series, your team did a nice job of stopping the big runs. What happened tonight in the third quarter that let them jump on you guys?HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY: Yeah, we had some bad possessions, and then we missed some easy shots, and so all of a sudden, it's 10-0, and you know how that goes. I mean, I didn't have so many time-outs that I could use, and then all of a sudden, you know, it ends up 24-5 or whatever it was, 25-4 or something like that.But you've just got to be solid and I thought we missed some easy shots that deflated us a little bit. We also gambled a little bit on offensive rebounds that put us in a pretty compromising position.But I think guys were just doing it -- everything that was done, was done because they were trying to help our team, and I couldn't be prouder of a bunch of guys, the way they come together, the way they competed, the way they pulled for each other.I mean, we're playing against a great team and I think that's where you've got to understand that this team has been NBA Champs two out of the last three years, and as I said, you know, could have possibly been NBA Champs the last three years. I think they are hitting their stride and are in a good groove right now.You know, Steph is starting to I think get his wind back and his legs back and they are just going to become better. I think it will be a great challenge playing Houston, but they have been there before, and you know, it will be a great series.Q. What was your reaction to Draymond coming over in the huddle in the first quarter?HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY: I don't have a reaction. That's Draymond.You saying, should that have surprised me? No, it didn't surprise me. But you know, it's just -- I mean, I didn't see any reason to get upset about it or anything. I mean, we're talking and we're going to do what we're going to do, and you know, that's Draymond.Q. What did you tell your players after the game, and in the aftermath of this game, do you consider this season a success?HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY: I just told them that, you know, we've been a team that has suffered a lot of adversity, and we've always seemed to find a way to play ourselves out of it.We've had to reinvent ourselves twice. Obviously adding DeMarcus, we changed the way we played. We thought we were beginning to get it. Our biggest win of the year up until that point was the one where he got hurt in, and that was the Houston game and we felt like, you know, we were able to play against the elite teams in the league and we felt great about it and then he got hurt and we struggled for four or five games. Actually, I think we lost four in a row.We just reinvented ourselves. We said, OK, we're going to have to play differently, and this is how we're going to play, and our guys did that.Yeah, I look at the season as a success. You know, we're disappointed. We didn't come here just to play and say, oh, boy, it's great being in San Francisco. You know, we came here to try to win the game and felt like we could play with them. To me, what you -- more so than anything, what you want to try to find out is where you are right now as a franchise when you're playing against NBA Champs.We feel like we can play against them. There's things that we have to do from the standpoint of managing turnovers. You know, execution offensively and defensively. But we feel like we're headed in the right direction as a franchise. We got one of the three or four best players in the league, which is great to build on.I think Jrue Holiday had a great year. Rondo has been a terrific addition to our team from the standpoint of leadership and what he's done. It's a positive in that we think we're headed in the right direction.We're disappointed. Even losing to the champs, you've got to be disappointed and that's one of the things I like about our team is that we came in here with the expectation of winning. If you're not going to do it, I don't know how you advance. So I think we'll be okay in the future, and you know, we're looking forward to it.Q. With the talent on both teams, how do you see the Warriors, Rockets matching up?HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY: Are you serious? Those two guys are two of my best friends. I'm not commenting either way. I think it's going to be a great series. I think it will be very entertaining. I think the people will have a great time watching that series, because you know, you have great players out there. Obviously when you take CP and James Harden, it's a great backcourt.When you take the Warriors and, you know, they have been there so many times and been through so many situations where it's big game after big game that, you know, I think they will be solid, too.I'm looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a great series.Q. You're going into the off-season not knowing if Rondo and cousins will definitely be back, but on your team, what do you have as far as -- that gives you the confidence that you talked about and that all the strides that you made can continue into next year?HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY: Well, I think the big thing is that, you know, you have to be on the same page as the GM and I think Dell and I have a great relationship. I think we talk a lot and discuss things a lot. I think we feel the same way as to where our team is right now and what we need to add.I'm confident that we have a great cornerstone in Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday. Those two guys I think are going to be a great anchor for our franchise. We just have to look and figure out what we can add that's going to make us better than we are this year.Q. Would you like to see DeMarcus re-sign and come back next season?HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY: He was on our team and he was great. You know, that's something that we'll discuss. Obviously the guy is averaging 26 points and 12 rebounds, you'd like to have on your team. I think that goes without saying (chuckling).Q. Anthony Davis's first time in the second round. What do you think he learned from this experience?HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY: I think he learned that for every step you take, it gets a lot harder, and that's the one thing that I said, "Steve, congratulations, good luck."He said, "Well, it gets really hard. It gets even harder." He's right. You're playing elite, elite teams now. So from the first round to the second round to the next round to the Finals, you're going to play against a really elite team. I think he understands that. I still think he's truly one of the great players in this league, but he's probably a better person than he is a player. And I think when you have that kind of player and person to build around, that you're headed in the right direction.Thanks, guys.

Q. Would you guys call this season a success?ANTHONY DAVIS: Any time you don't win a championship, I don't see how it could be successful. We can take a lot of positive things from the season. Of course one of our main guys went out and everybody doubted us. Everybody counted us out and we were able to keep fighting, keep pushing as a unit and able to come this far. There's no moral victories but it's a lot that we can take from the season. Any time you don't win the Championship, not sure how much success you really had.

Q. Anthony, you mentioned and referenced DeMarcus. Will you go to management this summer and say, hey, you know, I'd really like to see him back going into next season and beyond?ANTHONY DAVIS: I'm still trying to get over this, so that's something I'll be talking about later on.

Right now, just trying to get over this, this series loss, and that's really it, honestly. When the time come up, we'll discuss it then.

Q. You didn't have Rondo in the second half and fall down by 26. A lot of teams are going, one, two, three, Cancun. Why were you able to make it a game?JRUE HOLIDAY: Just think it's a characteristic of our team honestly. When one guy falls, somebody else steps up. I think we did a good job of that tonight.

Also, we never give up. I think I said that last, last game. No matter what the score is, no matter the time, whatever it is, we play desperate and I felt like we did that tonight.

Q. What do you take away in terms of how you've grown as a team and the identity you've formed?JRUE HOLIDAY: I think a lot of it is chemistry, to be able to go through adversity and come out of it strong. We never let anything keep us down. Every time that something hit us, we hit them right back.

As a unit, just, again, our character is resilient, and we've honestly showed that all season.

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Round 2 Game 5: Pelicans-Warriors Postgame Quotes 5-8-18

On tonight’s loss and the poor offensive performance:
"I think they (Golden State Warriors) had a lot to do with it tonight. We didn’t have the looks that we normally have. I think the way we started the game, we’ve had two really good starts, actually we’ve had three really good starts against them. We struggled at the start and then I thought we got away from the game plan discipline that we always talk about with this group. I thought they were really good, defensively. I thought KD (Kevin Durant) was really locked in, defensively. They can run you off the three-point line because they’re so long that they can give you a step, but they can also challenge shots. I thought they did a real good job with that. Then I thought we pressed a bit when we got behind. I tried to talk about and make them understand that it’s just such a long game. 14-4 in the first five minutes of the game means absolutely nothing in this league. As we know, we’ve seen teams with 25 point leads in the playoffs this year where teams have come back and won games. We just never got into any kind of groove. Part of it was us. Part of it was I thought they were locked in, really locked in and did a good job, defensively."

On the Warrior’s starting lineup and if it changed the dynamic of the Pelicans:
"I didn’t think it changed. You play against that lineup the majority of the game anyway. It’s not anything new that, I mean, at the end of the day, if you look at the numbers, over the course of the whole season, it’s going to be Klay (Thompson), Steph (Stephen Curry), Andre (Iguodola), Draymond (Green) and whoever the heck I’m leaving out…yea, that guy KD (Kevin Durant). But I mean they really are. You’re going to play against that particular lineup most of the night, whenever you play them. So it wasn’t a surprise and tell Nick (U’Ren, Special Assistant to Head Coach Steve Kerr), that he doesn’t get credit for sticking Andre in the lineup this time either."

On the biggest factor that lead to the shift from the Pelicans controlling Game 2 to the Warriors controlling Game 3:
“I told you right from the start, you’re not going to beat them if you’re not going to score 115 points. I don’t care how good your defense is. I don’t care what you do, you have to be able to score 110-115 points to have any chance to beat them. Our offense…I didn’t think we had any kind of push or the pace of the game wasn’t anywhere near where we need to have it to try to win the game. We didn’t shoot the ball well and like I said, some of that was us, some of that was them, but to score 92, you won’t have a chance to beat them. I mean I’m sure there’s been a few teams this year, I remember early on, Boston winning a game against them, but over the course of a series, you’re gonna have to score a lot more than 92 to beat them.”

On if appearing to be a half step slower than the Warriors today played a part in the outcome of the game:
“We were probably a half step slow, I’m not really sure. It’s just the decisions that we made. I didn’t think they were the same [decisions] we did the other night and so we broke some of the things we were supposed to do and as I said, when you do that against this team, they’re just going to make you play. You’ve got to be really solid in what you’re doing and everyone’s got to be connected at the hip because when A goes then B has to cover, then C has to cover and then D has to be back. So when you break that, they’re going to read the situation and make you pay.”

On his message to the team after being down 3-1: 
“No, no. We’ve got to win one game at Oracle and that’s the one that we play next. That’s as far as we need to look. Obviously it’s a monumental task. It’s been done before. As I said to the guys, we just got to go and play and you’re not out until they win four games. Our message is we have won there and it’s going to be a hard, hard thing to do, but we’ve got to go there with the understanding that we’re going to play and give everything that we have. If it works out, we’ll play again. If not, then our season will be over.”

On tonight’s poor shooting performance and what were the possible contributing factors:
“A little bit of rhythm. I know for myself that a couple of them that went in and out and at that point, you do start to think about it a little bit, but to be able to have short-term memory and just go up there and knock it in with confidence.”

On the mood of the group following today’s loss and going into Game 5:
“It’s another game. It’s another game where we get to play. I’m blessed to go out there and play again. Still in it. We’re a team that fights through everything. We’ve gone through so much this year. We’ve never given up and we don’t plan on it now.”

On what it will take to win Game 5:
“It’s going to have to be desperate. Closeout games are the hardest ones and to be able to do it at their place, it’s going to be a challenge, but we’re going to go out there and give it everything we have, play to the finish and that’s just how we’re going to have to be.”

On offensive ball movement tonight:
“Again, at the beginning of the game, maybe we were a little bit stagnant, but we got a rhythm, especially going into the half. Again, coming out, when they hit shots, they knocked them in and we didn’t. From there…again, we got a lot of good shots. Things at the rim. Again some three pointers as well that, like I said for myself, went in and out. Again, something that we can go back in film and watch and look at it so if it was movement or just knocking down shots or missing shots, then we can see that.”

On his thoughts on tonight’s game:
“We missed a lot of easy shots, a couple game plan discipline mistakes early on. They came out on fire and throughout the entire game, the shots they missed in Game 3, they made tonight. We had a lot of open looks that we missed and so I think we shot 16 percent or 17 percent from three, high 30’s for the game. We just cannot afford to shoot the ball that poorly.”

On what he thought was off for the team tonight:
“I don’t know, we just have to have a lot of confidence to step up and make shots when we are open. We did not do that tonight, which is amazing. It is tough to win like that when you are shooting that poorly from the field and they are making shots and we kind of slipped on defensive assignments. It is tough to win that game, but we have another one, they have to win four, not three. Anytime we have been punching them we have always responded very well and we will go up there and try and get that win.”

On if the Warriors different lineup threw the team off:
“No, I don’t think so. Like I said, we had great looks, KD (Kevin Durant) had some tough shots that he made, we lost Klay (Thompson) and Steph (Curry) a couple times, Draymond (Green) hit two threes in the beginning. It is stuff that is correctable, we will watch film tomorrow, go over it in practice and try to come prepared for Game 5.”

On what changed between the end of the second quarter and the start of the third:
“We came out with a couple shots, we had a turnover, KD (Kevin Durant) got the dunk. I think that the momentum kind of shifted and like I said, they made shots and we didn’t. We will be ready for Game 5.”

On if the Pelicans defensive communication was off tonight:
“No, it was our game plan disciplinary, we screwed up a couple of times on game plan discipline. They were able to take advantage of it, any time we screwed up, they found Steph (Curry) or Klay (Thompson) for a three or KD (Kevin Durant), Draymond (Green) even sometimes or (Kevon) Looney, (Andre) Iguodala, all of those guys at the rim.”

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Round 2 Game 4: Pelicans-Warriors Postgame Quotes 5-6-18

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Q. On the atmosphere at home:“We knew coming home that we would have a great crowd. We had a great crowd the last two games. Obviously, when you are playing the world champion, and they come into your arena, you know, everybody that’s going to be in the stands is going to want to push you over the top. I thought the crowd was absolutely great from start to finish. This is just a really, really hard team to play against. Get a lead, they take it away. You get a lead, they take it away and the thing that we kept trying to say to our guys is that you just got to remain consistent in what you’re doing and you’ve got to stay within the game plan and we’ve got to be consistent with what we’re doing in the game plan and I thought we did a really good job of that.  We didn’t panic when they make those runs because it’s scary. Steph (Stephen Curry) makes a three and Klay (Thompson) makes a three and Draymond (Green) makes a great play going to the basket, you’ve just got to some kind of way be able to withstand that and I thought we did a real good job of that." 

Q. On the Pelicans’ bench production:“I thought Ian (Clark) played great. I thought Solomon (Hill) did a good job of coming in and just making shots. They’ve kind of not guarded him in this series and left him open and I thought he shot the ball with a lot of confidence.”

Q. On how meaningful winning tonight is given the loss in Game 3 of the playoff series against the Golden State Warriors three years ago:“Well obviously, it’s going to stick with you. I was on the Warrior bench then and I thought they played a great game and because I was on the Warrior bench, it made it so scary tonight. Obviously, I was there when Steph started making threes and all of a sudden Klay made threes and before you knew it, a 20-point lead was nine points, then seven points and then all of a sudden, Steph made a shot out of the corner which, by the way, I have a picture of that on my phone that I’ve kept all of these years and now I can erase it off. They’re just a scary team. You never feel comfortable. Even when he took his guys out, I was like, eh, let’s play two more minutes before we take the guys out because you’re just never comfortable with that team.”

Q. On Anthony Davis’s performance in the second half:“Well I felt real good during one time out when he (Anthony Davis) said, ‘we’re not losing this game. I don’t care what, we’re not losing this game.’ And then I thought he started to do some things to help dominate the game, really. I thought he did a good job of playing in space tonight. He wasn’t forcing the situation. I thought he did a good job of taking advantage of post-ups when he could, going quickly so they couldn’t double. I just thought, overall, it was a good team win.”

Q. On Nikola Mirotić playing with more confidence at home:“Definitely. I still haven’t looked at the stat sheet to know what people did. I just know when he’s in a good groove and when he’s playing well and he’s rebounding well and his defense has been really solid. When he does that, I think that it does nothing, but help us. Like I said, us adding him to the team…Dell (Demps) going out and getting him and adding him to the team really kind of changed our whole season. After DeMarcus (Cousins) went down, first thing he did is we’ve got to find somebody that can help this team. Dell went out and he added a piece. I doubt if we would be here today if he wasn’t a part of our team.”

Q. On Draymond Green and if his on-court behavior crosses the line:“I don’t think anything he does crosses the line because I don’t think…he’s the perfect guy because if he’s on your team you love him and he’s not on your team, you despise him and to me, those are the kind of players that I’d like to have on the team. All he does is win. Wherever he’s been, he’s won. What I think you have to do, is you have to play well enough to win the game and then that right there does all the talking. But he’s going to talk and I appreciate him. I saw him today and we spent 20 minutes together. I appreciate who he is and how he plays and what he’s all about because he’s all about winning and if you’re verbally weak, then he’s going to take advantage of you and I think our guys understand that and just want to play the game.”

Q. On Smoothie King Center atmosphere tonight:“The fans were great. It was loud in there. We came back home and did what we were supposed to do. It was, of course, a big game for us. We didn’t want to go down 0-3, but we got a big one tonight and (we’ll) try to get ready for Sunday.”

Q. On the team’s apparent increase in confidence to score tonight compared to the first two games of the series:“I think we already had confidence, but like I said we were back at home. I feel like you always shoot better at home. Guys made shots in shootaround this morning and that carried over to the game. When you’re back at home and the crowd is behind you, you play with a lot more confidence. We were able to make shots and open up the floor.”

Q. On his statement to the team during the game (“We’re not going to lose this game”):“That was the message. We can’t lose this game. It’s always tough to come back from 0-3. Our mindset is to go out there, play, and do what we’re supposed to do from all the game planning. Whatever results happen, happen. We followed the game plan to a T tonight. We were able to come out with the win. Guys made shots, so it’s a lot easier to play and try to win. When guys are making shots and we’re getting to the line, we’re able to dictate the pace. I think we did that tonight.”

Q. On if the 2015 loss to Warriors motivated the team in tonight’s performance:“I don’t really think we thought about it, honestly. Our team was so completely different. We had a different focus this game, especially toward the end of this game. In this league, being up 20 doesn’t really mean much. I think we executed the game plan and did a good job of bringing the energy from start to finish. (And energy) from the crowd. They were awesome.”

Q. On if Rajon Rondo helped to control the pace tonight:“I think Rondo always does that. (It’s) the way he attacks the basket even though they’re backing off of him, the way he pushes the pace off of the rebound, and the way he’s fighting for rebounds. His fighting for rebounds and being able to push the pace is huge for us. It makes us want to run the floor and get to the corners. Knocking down shots is a lot easier when he does it, it’s always on time. Him being able to do that is huge for us, confidence wise. He just pushes the pace we want to play.”

Q. On shooting better at home:“I mean the crowd was huge tonight for us. They give us a lot of confidence and right from the beginning I think defensively set a tone. We played with much more physicality than the first two games and we knew what we need to do to beat them tonight so we executed great and we are happy about this game, but looking forward for the next one.”

Q. On how much of a boost it was when Solomon Hill hit three three-pointers:“Oh man. That was a big moment for us, you know. Those threes he made were really, really important and not just that, he was great defensively guarding KD (Kevin Durant), Draymond (Green). So he gave us a lot of energy from the bench, especially when he is making shots, it’s even better. So he knows how much he is important too and we know. We’re just expecting him to keep playing that way.”

Q. On the pace he was playing when the lead was up to 18 with eight minutes to play in the second half:“Yeah, Coach (Alvin Gentry) was yelling at me a few possessions to keep pushing, but at that particular time, I was just trying to get a great shot and continue to stay on the same page with Coach." 

Q. On if this win showed it’s more about what the Pelicans do as opposed to what the Warriors do:“It definitely is, but it starts with defense. We were able to get some stops, defensively. It’s hard to run and keep pace when you’re taking it by the net every time which we did in game one so we cleaned up a little bit better in game two and three and look forward to making adjustments for game four.”

Q. On if it’s meaningful to have a great second half against his former team:“I think it was more of a team effort. I’m not looking at it as individuals, individual success. Obviously, it’s good to come out and make shots, but I wanted to do whatever was necessary for the team and we came out and kind of showed what we can do, especially on our own floor. And we know that we wanted to take care of today and then just try to do it again on Sunday." 

Q. On the importance of hitting shots in the first quarter:“Defensively, I think that we kind of locked in on the shooters a lot more than we did in the first two games. They got a lot of clean, open looks, especially in Game 2 and I feel like they were comfortable. Tonight, I think we made sure that we were attached more, especially in transition other than a little lull in the second quarter, but for us to come out and hit shots is big. It kind of opens the floor up for Jrue (Holiday), (Rajon) Rondo, and AD (Anthony Davis) to kind of do what they do, especially with AD. We know they’re doubling, helping all the time so for Solo (Solomon Hill) to hit his shots, for bench guys to come out and hit shots, kind of opened the floor for him to do what he does.”

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Round 2 Game 3: Pelicans-Warriors Postgame Quotes 5-4-18

Q. How does Draymond get under the skin of opponents and what effect did he have on the game tonight?I don't think he got under anyone's skin if that's what you mean. He's a good player. He gets under your skin because he almost has a triple-double. Other than that, you know, our guys know who he is and what he's about, so you just continue to play. You don't let any of that affect your play or what you're trying to do.Where he's effective, he ends up with whatever the heck he did, almost a triple-double. That's what you worry about. You don't worry about the things that he's saying.Q. Picking up on what you were talking about with Draymond, him and Rondo got into a bit of a tussle and seems Kerr, when we talked to him, he welcomed as long as he doesn't get a technical.It's basketball, guys. It's the playoffs. It's going to happen when you're playing a team at least four times. There's going to be those little incidents, whatever you want to call it. It's no big deal. It's basketball. Those guys got total respect for each other, and it just part of it. You won't get a story out of that one. You're going to have to have another angle, really (laughing).Q. On Saturday night, you could almost throw that one away saying, you know, we didn't play very well, they were hot. We lost by 20-something. Tonight you played well and still didn't win. Is that disappointing?No, you know, you want me to talk in coach's clichés? I will. The only thing they did is what they were supposed do. They won their two home games and now we get to go home to play.You know, obviously we played hard and there was a lot of things that we improved on and there's a lot of things we've got to continue to improve on but they have still got to win two more games. We'll have games at our place and then we'll find a way to get to the foul line. They shot 59 foul shots and we shot 20. So we have to find a way to get to the foul line. We did what we wanted to as far as staking the ball to the basket, we had 39 football points and that's all playing in our favor and there's just a few things that we've got it continue to get better at.Q. How difficult is it when you feel like you did such a good job against KD for most of the game and then he drops in tough shots in the fourth quarter the way he did?That's who he is. That's who he is. That's not anything new. You've just got to continue to try to make him make tough shots and that's exactly what he did.What you have to do is that you can't have the margin of separation to the point where when he does miss those shots and you go down and you convert, that that's not putting you right at the edge of being -- having the lead again. That's what you've got to do.Q. You mentioned the free throw disparity and you look at the stats sheet tonight, Holiday and Davis don't attempt a free throw. What has to happen? Do they have to play more aggressively?I think we played aggressive. Both of them did. Jrue took the ball to the basket. As I said, we had 54 shots in the paint. So I think that is being aggressive.Q. Steph played well in his first game back. How would you assess how you handled him and his effect on the game overall?The guy is a two-time MVP. He came in and made his first couple of shots. I felt for the most part we did a good job on him trying to chase him off screens and obviously he got seven free throws off us chasing him off screens and him attempting to shoot jumpshots but he's going to score.You know, get right about where he did -- where he's average is, a couple of points more, but he wasn't going to come back till he was ready to play, so there was no reason to think that he wasn't going to play well.Q. If you had to break it down into one area going into Friday, what do you think you have to improve upon the most to get your first win in the series?Well, we've got to eliminate the timely turnovers. You know, I thought we had a game, it was a one-point game, and we had a couple of bad possessions, a couple of bad turnovers.So as I said in the first game, this is not a team that you can turn the ball over against without paying a huge price. I thought we paid a huge price tonight in those particular turnovers right at the crucial time because they went down and they scored on them.Q. I know you touched a little bit earlier, was the game a little bit more physical than normally or is it something y'all are accustomed to?We played this team. It's not like we haven't played them. We've now played them six times, okay (chuckling) so there's not anything new that comes out of it, and we play in the West. So it's a physical -- it's a physical league. Forget about being in the West but it's a physical league, and obviously, playoff time, things gets a little more physical, as I said and a little more chippy because you're playing against a team, you know, four, five, six times, seven times maybe.It's just what it is. I saw nothing tonight that would go, oh, wow, this is really going to be interesting when we go back home to play. I mean, just, you know, you guys are going to have to pick another series or another situation to write about the chippiness and who is pissed off at who, because I don't see it out there.

ON WHAT THE DIFFERENCE WAS IN TONIGHT’S GAME:

“We played a game plan that we wanted to do, obviously they hit some shots down the stretch and that’s kind of what put them over the edge.”

ON LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE WARRIORS RESILIENCE:

“We learned about ourselves. If we played the way we could have been playing we could have been in the game and win the game, any game in the series. Obviously the second quarter in the first game kind of threw everybody off, but today we showed that we can play both halves with them, just comes down to little details.” 

ON HOW IMPRESSIVE IT IS TO BOUNCE BACK AND PLAY THAT KIND OF GAME TWO:

“It shows what kind of veteran leadership we have. That we came in, the last few days in practice and kind of bucked down on the defensive end, obviously on the offense to figure out what we need to do better. I think we showed that we can come out and do that.” 

“It is very important, obviously we wanted to steal one of these games, but like I said they won their home games and we have to go do the same.”

ON BUILDING CONFIDENCE GOING HOME SINCE IT WAS CLOSE GAME:

“Definitely, like I said, we know we can play with those guys. Going home having our home crowd, us feeling comfortable, I think we can win those games.”

Jrue Holiday, Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo

Q. How tough is it coming out of this game feeling like you played the way you want to play and they end up making more plays than you in the fourth quarter and get that win?ANTHONY DAVIS: It's tough. I thought they got off easy the first game, we took it away. We was in it the whole game. We were playing great defense. Two, three -- you know, had some separation but we got a lot of looks. We didn't get to the line as much as we wanted, but for the most part we did a good job.Q. What makes Draymond so difficult to keep off the boards? Why is he, at a smaller size, obviously, why is he so effective as a rebounder?ANTHONY DAVIS: He the only big on the team who plays. Somebody got to rebound.Q. Zero free throw attempts for Anthony and Jrue tonight. Do you feel like you need to the get to the line more? Is that you're getting fouled and they are not calling it or do you guys need to attack harder?ANTHONY DAVIS: We got to get to the line. I mean, we -- I don't think I shot that many jumpers tonight. I don't think Jrue shot that many. Both attacking the basket.RAJON RONDO: 48, both of those guys shot the ball, combined 48 times. I think we were attacking just as they were, a couple, a lot, however you want to put it, didn't two our way, but that's not an excuse, like I said, we got the shots we wanted. Our guys were aggressive, and, you know, things will turn, hopefully for the better, in Game 3.Q. For all three of you, Saturday night, you can almost maybe throw that one away, you didn't play very well; the Warriors did. Tonight, for three and a half quarters, maybe the whole game, for the most part you played well and you still lost. Is that more disappointing than Game 1?JRUE HOLIDAY: I don't think so. Like you said we played well the whole game but I think we got our rhythm back. We got our groove back. Maybe just a couple things here and there that we need to change but definitely a positive turnout from this game.Q. Seemed like you and Draymond were going at it during the game and especially right before halftime. What happened in your eyes in that moment?RAJON RONDO: Nothing. Just two guys playing with passion. That's about it. Nothing.Q. Going into Game 3, what do you feel like is the main thing you have to improve to get that win to get back into the series?ANTHONY DAVIS: We'll go home. Our crowd will be into it. I think we did a good job tonight on both ends of the floor. Of course still need to clean up a few things but like I said we're living with some of the shots they took; they made them. Making them shoot uncontested twos. KD made some tough shots over some of our best defenders. We'll live with that, but think we've just got to do better getting to the line, me and Jrue. That kind of give our team a chance to get the penalty, when we're getting fouls and getting to the line, so I think that's the biggest thing, just try to get to the free throw line.Q. The other night, you mentioned specifically about second quarter that it was an embarrassment. Overall for this Game 2, how would you describe this game?RAJON RONDO: We made a lot of improvements. We put the work in the last couple days as far as on our defensive schemes. We were able to execute those for the most part of the game. Like I said they made tough shots, shots that we were living with according to the scouting report, but for the most part if we can get to the line we can control pace.They were able to control the pace by getting to the line as many times as they did, being able to come back and set their defense ask that's should go we take pride in, we'll figure out better ways to get to the line. I don't know if we got to the penalty the second half. We've got to do a better job of trying to draw fouls.Q. You shot well today from three-point range but seems like it's been a strategy of theirs to leave you open. You've never been a big volume three-point shooter in your career. Do you think you're shooting it well and you need to take more or do you just focus on playing the same way you've played throughout your career?RAJON RONDO: I'm just going to continue to play the way I've played my entire career.

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Round 2 Game 2: Pelicans-Warriors Postgame Quotes 5-1-18

What do you think really went wrong on the offensive end in this second quarter?
"I thought they -- which we anticipated, they switched a lot of our actions and we overreacted a little bit I thought, and it wasn't so much -- you look at the turnovers and we did a good job. We had 12 turnovers but we probably in actuality with bad shots, we probably had 25 turnovers. And it's just not one of those things that we talked about. You can't do that with this team. They are so disciplined in what they do, that if you turn the ball over, they are going to make you pay, and they get out in the open court and that's what makes it tough."

How much of that was how good Golden State was versus mistakes that you all made to kind of open it up?
"You've got to give them credit because they are in a situation where they create mistakes. Defensively they do a lot of things and if you're not -- and then the on the offensive end, we talk to our guys about, you have to be very disciplined against this team. They are so good at executing and reading situations, that if you're not good at it, they are going to take advantage of what you did."

"But obviously, if you give up -- you've got to avoid the runs and they had the 24-2 run, and against this team, all it does is fuel them and put you in a really tough situation."

Following up on that, how much of Golden State's defensive flexibility is based on Draymond Green?
"Well, he's a tremendous player. He's a really smart player. But their whole team; you know, they have got great size. Everybody they stick out there is 6-7,6-8 or bigger, and they are very smart players."

"You know, obviously Draymond afforded them a situation where they can do a lot of different things and they can play him on a lot of different players. You know, the bottom line is that he almost had a triple-double before halftime, so that's not a good situation for us."

The Warriors didn't start a center and went small to matchup with you guys and still out-rebounded you. What was the issue for you on the boards?
"I don't think it was an issue. I think they got their hands on some balls and they tipped some back out. I didn't think we took advantage of -- if we're going to miss shots, I think we have to do a better job on the offensive boards."

"So that's kind of one of those things. But at the end of the night, I think each game is its own entity; I said that, and, hey, we'll go back, we'll watch this. We'll look at it. We'll figure out where we need to make improvements and you know, we'll have a practice and we'll line up and play again."

"It's not -- it's one game. At the end of the day, it's one game, and you know, we've been playing great basketball, and I'm not so sure if the week off helped us, really. I thought we lost a little bit of our rhythm. You know, we missed some shots that we've been making the last two weeks and then you know, we kind of got -- you know, they came at us hard and we didn't respond to it real well. But that's all things that can be corrected."

"You know, we're playing against a great team and if you play against a great team, you have to be disciplined in what you're doing and you can't make it up as you go along because they are too smart a team to do that and they are going to take advantage of it."

Just going on what you mentioned, did your team get a little bit shocked at all, despite the fact that you told them what might happen, and after it happened, in other words, did -- boom, it happened so quickly, that, wow, we're out of it?
"No. We played this team and we've had leads on them and they have done the same thing, so this is not anything new. It's not anything new to the league, really."

"You know, they have done it before, and that's why I say, you've got to be very disciplined in what you do with these guys, and from all aspects. Offensively, with them, if you make a mistake defensively, they are going to make you pay. When they are on the defensive side of the basketball, you've got to be able to play in space and spread the floor. They are very smart. They are very -- like I said, they are very similar size, so they switch a lot of things."

You just mentioned that each game is its own entity but your guys were so confident coming into the game that they --
"And we still are."

But does any of what happened change how you may game plan running up and down the floor?
"No. No. We're still going to play with a fast pace and we are going to do a better job of spacing the floor. We're going to be better defensively from the standpoint of not having breakdowns."

"We're not going to go back and change everything that we did. We're not going to all of a sudden walk the ball up the court now and try to play slow. You know, what we've got to do is we've got to get AD more involved in the game from the standpoint of even the double-teams, we've got to get him out on the floor and get space, and we've got to do a better job of shot selection. Then we've got to do a better job defensively."

"If you give up 123, even to this team, it's going to be very difficult to win."

What was the difference with Jrue Holiday versus what he was able to get done in Portland and what were they doing differently to him to lock him up?
"They play KD on him, and you're talking about, really, a seven-foot guy. I don't know what they list him as but he's a seven-foot guy, that's what he is. So the length obviously is not the same; so when you're taking it to the basket, KD has really improved his defense I think since he's gotten here and it's become a priority for him."

I know the way Jrue's been going, he took it upon himself to lock in and guard.

You saw your team play from out front in the first round. Are you eager to see how they play now from behind in the series?
"Yeah, I mean, I think we're going to be fine, I really do. Let's not forget, you know, they have got a banner hanging up there from last year, so they are the world champs, okay."

"It's not going to be easy, and we explained to our guys that we're playing a team that was the champions last year and they could have been the year before and they were the champions the year before that."

"They have been through these wars, and this is kind of the first time we're involved in this. But I don't see us as a team that is intimidated in the least. As a matter of fact, our guys still got confidence, and you'd better have confidence if you're going to play these guys, because not only do you need the confidence, but you've got to be able to execute, and I think we'll do a better job at that."

Losing a little bit of rhythm through the week, how much of the problems in defense were linked to, you where are so locked into the game plan against Portland and now you have to switch it up against this Golden State team? How much did that take away from what you guys are doing?
"You still have to be able to do it. You still have to be able to take a game plan and execute it. Obviously we spent a lot of time last week going over this. I was a little bit disappointed because I think we had some mental breakdowns defensively, which we didn't have."

"But they are also very good offensively and they create some of those breakdowns in their execution, also. So I just think for us, we've got to get back. I thought the pace of the game was great the first quarter. We liked the pace of the game. I thought we were moving the basketball, getting some easy baskets."

"Obviously the bottom fell out in the second quarter with the 24-2 run, but you know, like I said, the game on Tuesday will be a completely different game. You know, it's another game that you'll play but we'll have to try to make adjustments with some things that went wrong and then we have to get better at some of the things that we were supposed to do."

Pelicans Forward Anthony Davis and Guard Rajon Rondo

Coach commented that the week off resulted in you guys losing a little bit of rhythm and offense much how much do you think that factored into the performance tonight?
RAJON RONDO: "I agree with Coach, but for the most part, I think we hang our hats on defense and what happened in the second quarter is inexcusable. I can't blame it on a week off of rest. It's a lack of communication and not being disciplined. If we can clean that up, I think we'll be fine."

Were you thrown off that they picked up the pace after coming out of a slow pace with the Spurs?
RAJON RONDO: "No, we weren't surprised. They are the champs and they always play that way for the most part. They can slow it down or they can speed it up. They have the talent and they have the guys and they are well-coached."

AD, what changed in that second quarter? Did they change the way they defended you guys or was it just mistakes how do you diagnose that?
ANTHONY DAVIS: "Like Rondo said defensively they had a lot of dunks, easy dunks, nobody, you know, five, six feet. We missed a lot of shots."

"But like Do said, we hang our hats defensively and we were getting back cuts, they was cutting us on the split action and we can't allow ourselves to give them easy plays like that because that's how they get going. Turning the ball over on offense, not getting the shots, combine that with bad defensive possessions; that's not us."

Against Portland, you were able to do so many things defensively and be able to trap guys. This is such a different defensive challenge. What is the biggest key to turning that around and not allowing some of those breakdowns to occur?
ANTHONY DAVIS: "Being locked in. It's a mental game. They never stop moving, so you've got to make two, three, four efforts. Especially with guys like Klay and Kevin. You've got to make sure you stay attached and know the coverage."

"Once Klay comes off one screen, he's probably going to come off another one and another one until he gets the ball. This is a mental toughness game, and we've just got to be locked in like we were the first quarter. Had a couple but we were communicating, playing for each other. Then the second quarter we let them do basically whatever they wanted."

You came in, such a confident group. How easy do you think it will be to shake off what happened tonight and move forward into Game 2?
ANTHONY DAVIS: "We're very confident. It's one game. They win by 40, you win by one, 90, it's one game. It's still best-out-of-seven. Our job is to learn from what we messed up tonight and get prepared for Game 2. We know we're a much better team than what we showed tonight defensively. We showed that last time we played here, so we just got to come out with a different mindset to have pride in our defense and try to get out and run."

How much of the problem do you think in that second quarter was just a result of mental mistakes and what do you do to fix that going into Game 2?
RAJON RONDO: "Without looking at film just off the top of my head, I think us not making shots took over our defensive end, our defensive urgency. I think obviously if we make shots, I think we are a better defensive team but we can't allow our offense to dictate our defense. It has to be vice versa."

"Given that, stay mentally tough, clean up the boards a little bit in that second quarter and the first half, and I think the game will take care of itself."

For either one of you guys, the game is about adjustments and Steph is pending to come back Tuesday. How do you approach situations like that?
ANTHONY DAVIS: "Go out there and play. Of course he adds a different dynamic to their team but you know, we're going to do the same thing that we've been doing without the breakdowns. These are the same thing that Klay and KD do, throwing to the post, they come off screens. He can dribble down or just pull up."

"We're going to be more locked in defensively, especially with him, probably coming back. But for us, it's about pride. What they did in the second quarter was an embarrassment to us. We're not that type of team."

"But come out, like Do said, we came out and missed shots and we let that dictate our defense. So of course we've got to put the ball in the basket but at the same time we've got to play a little better on defense."

Do you feel like you played at the pace that you guys wanted to play and just things just fell apart in other ways or did they take you out of your game at all in that way, as well?
RAJON RONDO: "I don't think they took us out of our game. I think we were able to play with the pace, especially the first quarter. Like I said, in the second quarter, we had a couple breaks, fast breaks that we missed wide-open throw that is led to them capitalizing on those breaks as well. A couple turnovers, took a couple hero shots and that was the 24-2 run."

Because you guys like to play at that fast tempo; there a way to guard against playing into their hands because what they want you to do is speed up and miss shots and then they can run?
RAJON RONDO: "I mean, that's what we do all year. That's what we take pride in. We set the pace. We play with a certain pace throughout each game, and that's never dictated how we play defensively."

"I thought tonight, because we missed shots that we normally make; and like I said, given a week off, regardless of the outcome, we got some good looks. We didn't make them, but our defense was completely broken down over and over again. We can't allow four or five possessions in a row where they get three dunks and three wide open threes."

On lessons learned from tonight's game:
“They’re the champs. Defensively we need to do a better job collectively. That’s what we were talking about on the bench when they went on their run. Defensively I think we let them get out of hand. Klay (Thompson) got a lot of wide open three’s. They got a lot of wide open slip to the basket dunks. I think when we go back we’ll see a lot of that. I really think that we’re positive. They’re supposed to win games at home. Obviously we plan on going back to the drawing board. Making it tough on them and coming in here this next game and try to get a win.”

On having any sense of panic after the loss:
“No, not at all. I also think that we’re a little off rhythm. We were smoking lay ups. Shots that usually go in weren’t going in. Transition three’s, corner three’s that we weren’t making. Not using that as an excuse. We really have to come in next game, actually go over the game plan again coming to the game and execute.”

On the cause of their offensive struggles tonight:
“I think a lot of it was rhythm. Rhythm and timing. You can’t mimic that (Warriors defense) in practice. Especially on a week off and us coming off this high of the last series. Again I think we got a good feel. We know how it’s going to go, and that’s how we’ll prepare.”

On how Stephen Curry will change their game plan when he returns:
“He’ll change it a little bit because obviously he’s a scorer. He can score from anywhere. You have to key in on him as well as KD and Klay. He’s obviously another element of their team. I think it’s all the same. Continue to be aggressive defensively. Continue to be able to try to get them out of the paint on all the cuts and everything, defensive rebounding. Oh, and no turnovers. Which was not in our favor tonight.”

On the offensive struggles throughout the game:
“I don’t know about from the beginning. In the second quarter that was a huge margin and that was the difference in the game. When you get down on good teams it’s hard to come back. We just got to not let that happen.”

On the team possibly struggling because of the long layoff:
“Yeah, we didn’t play for a whole week so we’re just sitting around. Now that we got this one under our belt we’ll be ready for the second game.”

On making adjustments in Game 2:
“Yeah. We have to go back and study the film. See our mistakes and then try to come back up.”

On personal improvements he needs to make:
“I don’t know, not let them score 40 points in a quarter. They had 41 in the second quarter, so we have to tighten up on D.”

round-2-game-1-pelicans-warriors-postgame-quotes-4-28-18

Round 2 Game 1: Pelicans-Warriors Postgame Quotes 4-28-18

On tonight's win and the performance of Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis: "We knew that this game was going to be extremely hard. It doesn't really matter. You can play any kind of way you want to, but when you play a team in this league and when you play a team that has guys like Dame (Damian Lillard) and CJ (McCollum) and (Al-Farouq) Aminu, guys like that on the team, they still have pride and they're still going to go out and compete at the highest level and so we knew that it was going to have to be, you know, we were going to have to play probably our best game of this series in order to win. I thought Jrue (Holiday) and AD (Anthony Davis) stepped up big, but we also had other guys that had timely baskets and timely things for us. Those guys really kind of got loose tonight. They changed a couple of things that (were) very good and they made a couple of adjustments that (were) very good that kind of kept some of the double-teams off those guys, but I still thought, in the end, offensively, we were really, really good and we shot the ball extremely well. And I thought that when we had to make a couple of defensive plays, we did."

On Anthony Davis's performance and if it was his best:"In a close-out game and with the magnitude of the situation, this has probably been the best game he's played since I've been here. He just was not going to let us lose, so I thought that was really good."

On the Pelicans' response to the Trail Blazers' physical play:"I'm surprised that it took this long because if you look at all the other series, you look at Philly and Miami and Boston and Washington, it's just going to get chippy. When you play a team more than...you're going to play a team at least four times then things are going to get a little chippy. The thing that we talked about is that we have to keep our composure and our emphasis and our concentration should be on executing offensively and defensively and try to stay away from any of that."

On this season:"It really has been an interesting year. We had DeMarcus (Cousins). We finally think we have it figured out how we can play those two guys and do it effectively and you know, I think we won seven out of nine. We win a big game against Houston, a team that ended up winning 65 games this year, and then DeMarcus goes down and we really have to reboot and start all over again, really. I thought our guys struggled about three or four games, but then kind of realized that we still had enough talent, especially when we added Niko (Nikola Mirotić), that we had enough talent that we would reinvent ourselves and we would play a certain way and that was going to help us. That's basically what we did and then when it came down to the last game of the season, obviously, we were in a position where we had to win every game and so we talked to the guys about that being our playoff. We had to treat that like the playoffs and I thought they responded well. Then to win four straight games against this team, with the backcourt that they have and with (Jusuf) Nurkic. Nurkic is a load in there. And then Aminu...we were going to make him make shots and he did a good job. He responded and made shots, but I thought, overall, this was a really, really...they're a resilient group. They really are. I think AD is maturing and becoming a better leader and a better player every day. I think Jrue, like I said at the start of the season, I think he was going to have his best season ever and he's really done that. Just the chemistry and the way our team fit, you know they really believe in each other, they play hard. The last 50 games, we've been the fourth best defensive team in the league so we've taken care of that situation. We always felt, offensively, that some kind of way, we would be able to manufacture offense when you have the kind of talent, offensively, that we have on the floor."

On how far the team has come in three weeks:"First of all, we've been very confident, especially in those last five or six games in the regular season. We knew it was going to be just about us. I think those last five or six games of the regular season helped us to step up in the playoffs and be very confident in ourselves on both sides of the court. We came out with the mindset in Portland to at least get one game, but we knew we were very capable to get both. We just played our basketball – fun basketball. We're playing great defense and offensively, it is just really fun playing with those guys and sharing the ball, playing unselfish and playing for each other."

On how much resiliency the team showed:"We've been having the trust in each other. We've had some ups and downs, but for really important games, we were always there. We were always fighting – always giving our best. Playing at home here has been just amazing with this crowd. They (the fans) really deserve it. At the end of the day, we are not just happy because we're going to the second round, [it's] because we know we have a shot. We are very capable to beat whoever it's going to be. I don't who's it going to be – probably Golden State – but if we play our basketball, if we compete, it's going to be very difficult for them to stop AD and Jrue. Rajon (Rondo) has been playing phenomenal. Everybody is having an important role on this team. We just need to worry about ourselves and we're going to have an opportunity."

On the resiliency of the team:"I think the last 10 games kind of got us ready for playoffs. We knew what kind of level we had to play at to win games. Coach (Gentry) already said that our playoffs start now. We've been in fight mode and it helped us prepare for now."

On how much ground the team covered going from the outside looking in to sweeping:"We always have faith in each other. We just stuck together, like, 'Man. We can really go far.' We just kept staying together and coming to fight every day."

On how impressive it was to watch Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday:"Man, that was special. Both of them hit 40 points in a close-out game. That was tough. Not everyone can do that. They're very special guys."

On playing with Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday:"I've played with a lot of great players and when I see these two guys every night and everything they do, I want to go back and watch film. It's amazing what they do. I'm a big believer in the entire team watching film because you're able to appreciate what your teammates do, what they do best, and you'll be able to play to their strengths. Before each game I go to these two and tell them to be great. They are and this game spoke for itself tonight. They're great teammates and they're great people off the court. They make the game easy for me."

On how he would rank this playoff performance compared to others he's been a part of in his career:"Given the situation, like you guys said, when they came back and cut the lead within two or three you can put the ball in (Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday) hands and they can deliver for us. I've got to put that effort in the top four or five that I've seen with the pressure situation...Couldn't ask for a better duo right now, especially in the times we haven't been able to get the ball in at all. You put the ball in Jrue's hands and he made the right decisions."

On how far he believes this Pelicans team can go:"Like I said, I came here to win a championship. I didn't come here to beat a team in the first round or the second round. My expectations were high coming in, knowing the talent I was playing with. I think day one, when we all got together at Kentucky, I knew it was real as far as the talent we were playing with. The characteristics of the guys off the court kind of all mesh. It took a while, but at the end of the day nothing comes together so quickly. We were able to come together as a team that plays for one another. We believe in each other. Like I said, this is just one check mark of the bigger goal that we have in mind. We are going to try to get a couple of days of rest and come back locked in and ready to go."Pelicans Forward Anthony Davis

On the second half and what they did to respond to Portland closing the gap:"Even when they closed the gap, we just tried to stay poised and keep our composure. We were still winning, and at home. We just wanted make sure to get three stops in a row, and execute on the offensive end. 'Do (Rajon Rondo) leads us on the floor, talks to us defensively. There were times when I'm on a certain guy, he tells me to go or tells me when to help, stuff like that. When they closed the gap, I think Jrue's job and 'Do's job against those two guards was tremendous. We were able to get some rebounds and close it out."

On he and Jrue Holiday scoring 27 of the last 28 points, and how much he missed the playoff stage to show the world what he can do:"I'll tell you, it was fun. Not too many people get the opportunity to be in a situation like this, and have a guy like Jrue do the stuff that he does, so it is an unbelievable feeling. I know what this team can do under these circumstances, but a lot of people counted us out after the injury to DeMarcus, so this is amazing. But we have to get ready for the second round. The way that I played, the way Jrue played, the entire team for the entire series...we played great defensively and stayed in rhythm offensively. This is a great feeling for me."

On if he pictured this when he resigned with New Orleans this past Summer:"This was definitely part of the plan. I guess I wouldn't say sweeping the three seed was a detail, but knowing we would have DeMarcus (Cousins), and we had always talked about Rondo coming in, yeah, that was part of the plan to make the playoffs. To be here now it is a good feeling. Especially with these two right here, and the rest of the team, it is truly a blessing. Everything we have been through this season...injuries, trades...to be here now it feels pretty good."

On if he feels the city of New Orleans's embrace more now than he did in his first 4-5 years:"For sure. I feel like the fans needed results, and that is what we got. I feel like we come out and play hard every night for them and to try to win games, and like Anthony said, it is just part of all of our legacies here, to build something and continue to build it."

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Round 1 Game 4: Pelicans-Trail Blazers Postgame Quotes 4-21-18

On tonight’s win:
“I liked the energy that we started the game with and I loved the pace that we started the game with. One of the things that we talked about is that the more pace we play with, then the more chances we’ll have to get AD (Anthony Davis) or Niko (Nikola Mirotić) into space. They did a good job on AD early on, but I thought that also, when you’re helping that much, that also freed up Niko and I thought Niko really got us off to a good start. Once again, I thought our guys – and it was a total team effort – our guys did a great job on their two guards. They made some really tough, difficult shots, which they’re very capable of doing, but I thought that, for the most part, we did a great job of trying to keep them under control. If we can have them shoot well, but have 12 turnovers between them then, I think we’ve done a great job on them.”

On the Smoothie King Center crowd tonight:
“It was great, but I witnessed this before when I was at Golden State and we played here in the first round of the (2015) playoffs. It was very similar, but I just thought tonight that there was so much energy in the crowd and they were so much into the game and I don’t think they understand how much that helps. We want to have it that way every single game here, but it really, really helps when your crowd is into the game like that and that kind of energy is in the building. Hopefully we’ll have the same thing on Saturday.”

On Nikola Mirotić’s hot streak:
“It’s Gillette…Gillette. Gillette should take all the credit. And I’m giving them a plug so Niko (Nikola Mirotić) maybe got a sponsorship out of this. No, but I just think that he’s just been locked in. He’s done a good job. Our guys really have a lot of confidence in him. I think he’s in a good place now. I think he really is well aware of where he fits in with this team and what he’s capable of doing. It’s not just him shooting the ball. I think he’s made a lot of really good plays, lot of nice cuts and he’s been very good, defensively. He’s part of the reason that we’ve been able to slow (Damian) Lillard and CJ (McCollum) down.”

On the team’s level of focus:
“I think a lot of it is (Rajon) Rondo and I think a lot of it is AD (Anthony Davis). They talk a lot about it all the time that we still haven’t accomplished anything. Once again tonight, they said we hadn’t accomplished anything. We still got a game that we have to win, some kind of way, and we understand that. There were a couple times where we may have lost a little bit of focus, but I thought I took a timeout and before I said it on the bench, they said it, ‘Hey. We got to get refocused. Let’s go.’ I think when you have that kind of leadership that it’s going to be great.”

On the defensive effort on Damian Lillard:
“Well, in defense of him, we sent a lot of guys at him because you know he’s very capable of taking a game over. We try every way that we can not to let that happen because we’ve seen it before. Our guys have done a good job, but it’s been a total team effort. It hasn’t been one guy or an individual performance. It really has been a team effort where we’ve tried to do as much as we can not to let him get started. You can even see tonight, he’s still really capable of making some really tough shots, but we still have to try to do everything we can to keep him in a box and not let him get outside of that box because once he gets going, you can’t turn him off.”

On the team’s defense:
“We knew they were going to come in and play desperate. We just tried to match that desperation, honestly, and play more desperate. They came out early and made some shots but we were able to counter, then start playing a little bit of defense. We were able to separate and we just didn’t look back. We wanted to make sure that we came out with a mindset we were going to come out and play hard and play for each other.”

On team’s confidence right now:
“We’re very confident. We’re very confident in every shot that we take, as a team. No matter who takes it, you know it’s a shot you work on in practice or pregame. We feel comfortable with you taking shots. We’re confident that shots are going in. Any time shots are going in, of course, it helps.”

On how the team is covering Damian Lillard:
“We don’t want to give him the same look every time, so every game we switch it up. They might game plan for one thing, but we come out and do something else. We just want to mix it up, but I think we’re just doing a great job of just making him take tough shots and being physical with him. Then we’re going at him and trying to wear him down a little, so if he does have an open shot he’s a lot more tired shooting shots then if he’s well rested and we have to knock them down. We just try to make him play on both ends of the floor.”

On playing well in front of the Smoothie King Center crowd:
“It was just amazing to play at home with all this crowd and I think that they were just great tonight and they really helped us with energy and everything and I think they deserve this success and hopefully, you know, they’re going to be even better next game and we can be even better, so we are really thankful for that.”

On the home crowd tonight:
“It was pretty good, pretty good. It was loud pretty much the whole game. I feel like that’s what we expected and then some. So, it was definitely awesome to come home and feel like they were part of this win.”

On if the crowd was better tonight than the Playoffs in 2015:
“It was a little better. I think as the games go on it will probably get louder. Again, it was a great start.”

On the importance of ending the series on Saturday with a win:
“We’re obviously just taking it a game at a time, but to be able to come out with that same energy, have the fans have that same support system and energy from them as well, to be able to come out and distract them. Man, it’s fun. It’s fun playing this game.”

On Nikola Mirotić tonight:
“Man, I really was just looking for him, honestly, at that point. He gave me the night off. I didn’t have to score as much. When he’s playing like that, man, we’re definitely hard to beat.”

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Round 1 Game 3: Pelicans-Trail Blazers Postgame Quotes 4-19-18

What did you think about the performance of Holiday?

“I thought he was really, really good, but I mean, he’s been really, really good the whole season, so this is not like a surprise or anything. He’s been great the whole season and as I’ve said, in my opinion – and I may be a little bit bias – but if you can tell me a better two-way player in the league right now, Kawhi’s not playing, if you can tell me a better two-way player in the league right now, I’m willing to listen, but what we ask him to do and the things we ask him to do offensively, he was just great tonight. But I thought our whole team did a good job. Once again, I thought it was a good team win because when we needed guys to step up, we had different guys that stepped up and made big plays for us.”

Thoughts on leaving 2-0 after analysts picked Portland to at least win one of two games:

“I guess it’s great that we don’t listen to the analysts then. To me, we got two wins. We’ve still got to get two more wins, so we’re not overly excited about anything because we still have two more games that we have to win. We’re playing against a really, really well coached, great team. We’ve done an exceptional job on those two guards and you never know when they’re just going to go off, and so we’re not celebrating anything, we’re not doing anything. We’ve got two wins we need to come up with, two more – that was our message to the team and actually that was their message to each other, that we hadn’t done anything yet. We got two wins, we’ve got to try to find a way to get two more.”

On Holiday’s role defending Portland’s guards being a central aspect of game plan and secondly, why do you think he’s not the guy that people think about when they think about two-way players?

“I’ll answer the second part first – I don’t understand because he’s done it the whole season. This is not something that’s happened over the last 10, 12 games. He’s done it for the entire season. We ask him to guard the best perimeter player and we ask him to do it while we’re also wanting him to get 20 points for us every night. So it’s really tough. What he is, he just locks in. We ask him to guard both those guys. One heat up a little bit, then we put him on that particular guy and he’s answered the bell every time. As I’ve said, I just thought he started the game tonight really getting the ball and driving it to the basket to score some easy hoops driving it to the basket and they began to switch and we liked the mismatch that he had when they switched the things and I thought he just came through for us.”

On Holiday picking up 4th foul in the third and withstanding that:

“I think he’s smart enough to play with fouls. Moreso than anything we wanted to get him out for a few minutes to give him a rest because we knew that down the stretch we were going to have to have those guys. What we try to do over the course of a game is that we try to save as many timeouts as we can so that if we have to use them as rest timeouts, we can use them as rest timeouts also.”

On Rondo providing offense tonight after 17 assists last game, including late three:

“I don’t know where that Playoff Rondo name came from, I don’t know who came up with that. He is a guy that if you can remember last year in the Chicago-Boston series, he had them in the same situation where they went in and won two games and then he was hurt, but he’s just a guy that he really has command of the team. The guys really believe in him. They swung him the ball and they wanted him to shoot it. In those situations, I like his chances because I know what a competitor he is. I know that the chances of him making that shot are pretty good if they’re going to leave him wide open.”

You knew Lillard would try to force his way in the game and he had 4-point play, what did you think about how team responded?

“As I’ve said, I’ve got so much respect for Lillard. I just think he’s one of those guys that – you know, he’s going to try to will his way through anything. He’s always been a guy that had to earn it. No one really – had to go to school at a place, didn’t get very many offers, so you’ve got to understand that he’s never going to give up. He’s never going to give up and he’s going to continue to attack and attack and attack. I thought we responded well. It was a great shot, he made a great shot but we went right back down and scored and I think that our guys have had a real calmness about them in this series so far. They haven’t let anything bother them. We’ve executed when we really needed to.”

How has this team been able to keep composure when the arena gets fired up and respond to big shots?

“We’ve been a very good road team all season long. Matter of fact, I think we had the fourth best road record or fifth best road record in the league, so it’s not unusual for us to play well on the road. I just think our guys felt like if we came in here and played to the abilities that we have and what we can do, that we would put ourselves in a position to win and then we would have to make plays down the stretch to do it.”

You were asked about heavy minutes and the quick turnaround for Thursday, is that a positive

“Well I think you just play and everybody looks and minutes and everything – there’s a guy in Cleveland that’s about 65 years old and he plays all game and he plays all game very effectively. My guy is 25 years old, and the other one is 26 and the other one is 29, so I don’t worry about minutes at this stage, I really don’t. I mean, LeBron does it every night, 82 times he’s done it, and 82 times it’s been way over 30 minutes and so if he can do it, I think the other guys can do it. To me, at this stage, you want your best players on the court as many minutes as they could possibly be out there. I don’t worry about the minutes that we’re playing them, we can rest all the way – we have a four and a half hour plane ride that we can rest and sleep and nobody’ll bother them.”

AD, have you ever seen Jrue play with this much emotion? He was chatting it up with the fans…

Not to the point where you say he’s talking to the crowd, but he’s in a good place. He’s playing well, he carried us tonight. Made some big shots at times during situations and he did it at both ends of the floor. I think he did a great job on both their guards, who are very tough to defend. Very tough. They score well, but he’s doing stuff that he’s always done. Great defensive things.

AD, you’ve been with Jrue longer than anyone else on this roster. How is it seeing him have this moment and play the way he is?

It’s been great. All he wants to do is play basketball, and now that everything that was going on with him is squared away and doing fine, he’s just focused on playing and he’s playing at a high level.

It seems like Portland focused on you defensively, did you feel other players should take more roles offensively?Anytime I step on the floor, teams try to game plan for me and all these guys step up. Niko made a big shot, Diallo made a big three. A big layup… Jrue played Jrue basketball. Ian made tough shots. E’Twaun… all those guys. Darius hit a couple threes. All these guys stepped up, and they know the ball is coming to them. The more teams try to take me out, the more these guys step up every night. They’ll have to continue to do that the rest of this series.

I know it’s just 2 games in, but the fact that not many people gave you a chance to come here and do this, how much confidence do you have that you defied the odds?

Like I said last game, after last game, we have a ton of confidence. We had confidence coming in. We’re a great road team. We know that. To come here in a playoff situation, this crowd, with this type of team, we’re satisfied that we got both of these wins, but we know the series isn’t over. They beat us on our home floor, so we have to go home and take care of business in front of our crowd, but we have all the confidence. We had confidence before coming into this series. We knew it, we just got game not matter who we play. We’re going to give teams problems just with how much confidence we have in ourselves, and what we’re able to do on the floor – both ends of the floor. I think just winning two games on the road in a hostile environment has given us even more confidence

“Honestly just really excited, really excited to be in the playoffs. Really excited for what our team has accomplished together through the adversity, through the season, through everything, so just to be able to be here I really feel like we as a team appreciate that.”

“I was just having friendly conversation with some of the fans. That was really it, just going back and forth, I feel like that’s what they paid for, for us to communicate and talk to them so that’s what I was doing.”

On if a game like this shows what he’s capable of as a two-way player:

“Honestly, man, I do what my team needs me to do. Whatever they need me to do. No matter if it’s defend, if it’s score, if it’s get other people involved, if it’s to cheer from the sideline on the bench. Again, I just feel like I’m in a really good place right now and just blessed to be out there. I know I’ve been hurt for a minute so again, just blessed to be out there playing.”

On holding Damian Lillard to 0-8 shooting when he is defending him:“Just being aggressive. I think it’s a team effort though, everybody’s being aggressive, we know that he’s the head of the snake. Like you said he can get 30 or 40 anytime he wants to, but I think for him, as well as CJ [McCollum], we just try to make it tough. When the playoffs hits it’s a little bit more physical, so we can be a little more physical but really just always got to have a hand on him. Always have to know where he is, offensive rebounds, he hits a lot of open threes that way so when they hit offensive rebounds I really just try to stick to him.”

On if it’s more satisfying to play great defense or score and hit big shots:

“Both of them are pretty fun but I think to get the win is the biggest part for both games and going back home where we feel like our crowd is going to be our sixth man and definitely help us with these last two games.”

On if he’s surprised at what he can produce for him team:

“I’m not surprised, I’ve worked hard for this, honestly. All season when nobody’s looking and really just to be able to go out there and play again is a blessing. I’ve been battling injuries and to be out there and to play, that’s what I trained for, so as well as that my teammates give me so much confidence. I don’t think you guys understand how positive of a group we have in our locker room. You guys can probably see it out there on the court, always talking to each other especially when a team like Portland starts to come back on us but just to be able to have positive teammates definitely helps me out.”

Since playoffs last year, the games you’ve played in… is Playoff Rondo… is there something to that?I don’t think there’s too much to it. I think there’s a level of focus on the teams I’m fortunate to play with. The focus that we bring on the road. I was telling the other guys on commentary I know that Dame and CJ text every night, but after game 1, AD and I and a few of the other guys were watching film together in the training room. I think coming together on the road forms great team chemistry. That’s what has allowed us to get these 2 wins on the road.

Everyone seems to agree that Jrue doesn’t get much credit, even as a top 2-way player in the league. How is that possible doing what he’s doing?I think it goes along with his personality. He’s not a guy that talks, even though he’s shown more emotion in this playoffs as of late, but he flies under the radar. He’s playing in a small market the last couple year. What was going on with his family, people probably look over him, but I was excited. When I first started to play with Jrue, it was this past summer in Kentucky. I loved the way he played without the ball. He moved, and he looked like he belonged in a different offensive system. He’s a hell of a player. Especially both ways. I get better as a player offensively when he checks me in practice. It’s been fun getting to know Jrue this year. He’s a great person, even better person off the court than he is on the court. I can’t say enough about what he does for his team on both ends of the floor.

What has this team done to be so composed in these moments and hit shots when you need to?We believe in each other. That’s the biggest thing. I can ask any of my teammates and vice versa. We continue to trust one another on both ends of the floor, but not necessarily make shots. We’re able to get stops defensively. We get stops at a timely matter when we need them. That’s when we can get a break and get easy shots and execute.

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Round 1 Game 2: Pelicans-Trail Blazers Postgame Quotes 4-17-18

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