Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry: On what happened in the fourth quarter: “They made shots, and we had some breakdowns and we turned the ball over at the most inopportune times. I told the guys, this is a young team and they’re trying to establish themselves in the league, so they’re not a team that’s just going to quit playing. They made some shots and we didn’t, you just can’t give up that many shots in the fourth quarter.”
On the effects of Anthony Davis’ injury: “I don’t think it’s going to be one of those deals where he’s going to be 100 percent, but I do think that more than likely we’ll rest him and I’m assuming that he’ll be able to play in the next couple of days. Like you said, it’s one of those deals where I’m not quite too sure the extent of how it will affect him, but we expect for him to come back and play.”
Pelicans Forward Ryan Anderson: On what turned the tide: “They were aggressive. They made shots. We did a great job defensively. We did a great job of running on them. We made great decisions down the stretch. They just had a few loose balls, you know, a couple of plays that they just completely imposed their will on and it’s a tough one to lose. … We played well. We had a great first half. Whenever they tried to make a run on us, we countered it and made a run of our own. They just had a great fourth quarter.”
On if Minnesota did anything differently when they went on their big run: “They just were incredibly aggressive – going to the rim, getting foul calls. They were taking some tougher shots early on in the game, then moved the ball, found the open man and knocking down shots. (Zach) LaVine hit a couple of key three-point shots. One of them, I know I should have contested. He took a relatively long shot and it went in. That kind of stuff, you know, can’t happen. We need to be better on plays like that.”
Pelicans Guard Eric Gordon: On attacking the rim more: “That’s what I just had to rely on, early on. I remember missing two threes early and I was just like, ‘Just to keep on attacking, attacking the rim and eventually I’ll get better later on.’ …That was the first time in a while where I started really, really attacking the rim instead of just relying on my jump shot. It was good having that combination working for me.”
On the team’s unforced errors: “Oh, turnovers. That’s how they got a lot of fast-break points in the fourth quarter. When you do that, you give them pretty good shots at the rim. Obviously, that’s the main thing.”
