INDIANAPOLIS – New Orleans has used a whopping 34 different starting lineups in its 70 games during the 2015-16 regular season, but none of them have included both Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca. That will change Thursday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, when the Pelicans (26-44) go with the pair of 7-footers against the Pacers (37-33), the Eastern Conference’s current seventh-place club.
“They’ve got a really big team,” Gentry said of the Pacers during his pregame radio interview with Sean Kelley (to hear the entire interview, tune in to the pregame show on WRNO 99.5). “It will give us a little size and a little help on the boards.”
New Orleans ranks 24th in the NBA in average rebounding margin (minus 2.1 differential against opponents), while Indiana is No. 19 (minus 1.1).
Other notes from pregame in the Hoosier State:
Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday has a lot on his shoulders each game, as the only player among the team’s top-six scorers who is on the court. Gentry on Holiday’s play: “I think he’s had a great year. He’s done a lot of good things for us. Obviously, we’re asking him to do a lot more, with the injuries that we’ve had. I think he’s been very consistent in what he’s doing. He’s scored the basketball, he’s made plays for other people. That’s really all we can ask of him.” …
Gentry on Luke Babbitt diversifying his offensive repertoire: “I think the assistant (coaches) have done a great job in player development. Everyone knows that he’s been a really solid three-point shooter, but what the (assistant coaches) have tried to add to his game is the ability to put the ball down and take it to the basket. You can see that he’s made vast improvements in that area.”
