You are here
Home > Basketball > 2019-20 Game 57: Pelicans at Warriors Postgame Quotes 2-23-20

2019-20 Game 57: Pelicans at Warriors Postgame Quotes 2-23-20

Fallback Image

PELICANS HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY

ON THE SECOND HALF:

“We need to start much, much better. We didn’t start the game with energy, didn’t start the game defensively being into the ball and it showed. We let Damion Lee get off to a great start. We don’t need to try and play uphill when we play this team and that’s basically what we had to do. I think in the second half we did much, much better job the way we started off the half defensively and then I thought we did a good job of moving the basketball and just creating situations for drive and kicks and obviously Nico (Nicolo Melli) shot the ball extremely well. We have a tendency sometimes where we lose that focus and then we have to re-focus again and what I would like to see them do over these last 25 games is to have the focus from the start. We aren’t always going to shoot the ball well, but we did a great job with our turnovers today, only 13, but it’s a little disturbing that they had 17 points off of 13 turnovers and that means too many were live turnovers. For the most part the way we played the second half is the way we have to play.”

ON JRUE HOLIDAY:

“Not only offensively but, I thought Jrue (Holiday) did great defensively and he kinda set the tone for us in the second half. We just gotta learn to be focused and start the game the right way so that we aren’t playing behind during any stage of the game.”

ON ZION WILLIAMSON’S MESSAGE AT HALFTIME:

“He basically just said, ‘Hey, let’s go, we gotta play the way we are capable of playing.’ We have to some kinda way to establish some consistency on how we are going to push the play and how we play. He isn’t your typical 19 year-old. He’s a very mature kid, very respectful of his teammates and they are very respectful to him as well. He is all about winning, just winning. He’s just a unique kid and the way he approaches the game. I tell ya, we don’t call a lot of plays for him. It’s all done within the flow of what we are doing and he’s figuring out the positions that he needs to be in to get him the ball and guys are finding him. We have to be a team that plays with flow.”

PELICANS GUARD JRUE HOLIDAY

ON TONIGHT’S GAME:

“I think it was just the energy. We kinda picked it up and started to get more aggressive and trying to score instead of driving and kicking it. They are a pretty good defensive team and sometimes we got too stagnant, especially in the first half. The second half was better.”

ON CONTROLLING THE GAME:

“I guess just wanting to start off the second half better. I was feeling it, and then I was able to feel the energy. The type of guys we have are pretty unselfish and also pretty smart. So I guess it was my turn.”

ON ZION WILLIAMSON’S MESSAGE AT HALFTIME:

“We just needed to play harder and that means a lot coming from a rookie. He really showed it. Showed it in the first half, he was fighting and battling. I thought he got fouled a lot though, but he was just leading by example and being super physical. I felt like at that point, he was just leading by example and it showed.”

PELICANS FORWARD BRANDON INGRAM

ON ZION WILLIAMSON’S BASKETBALL IQ:

“When you’re in the right spot, he’s gonna find you. He causes so much attention on that block that there are two defenders, three defenders on him and that leaves the wing open to shoot.”

ON NICOLO MELLI:

“He’s been really good all year. Just getting into the right spots and knocking the shots down. He’s really a good defender and he’s big for our team. I mean he shoots the basketball so well that we want him to shoot the ball every time he catches the basketball which isn’t probably right, but he shoots it so well.”

ON JRUE HOLIDAY:

“I mean he led our team. He and Zion (Williamson) led us to victory tonight and did a good job of finding the mismatch and going downhill. If he didn’t have the shot, he would kick it out to the guy that would have the shot.”

PELICANS FORWARD ZION WILLIAMSON

ON HIS MESSAGE AT HALFTIME:

‘It was just one of those things where I just kinda said we gotta play with more energy. We are much better than this and we aren’t playing like ourselves, not moving the ball and just gotta be better. In a sense I was always kind of a blunt leader, let everybody go out there and do their thing but when it comes down to it, if I say something, that just seems something ain’t right.”

ON THE SECOND HALF:

“I was very happy. Obviously we got the win and that is the most important part.”

ON NICOLÓ MELLI:

“He’s done it before and it’s just a matter of how often it can happen. He’s such a willing passer. He’ll turn down an open shot to try and play-make for somebody else. I can’t blame him, I do that sometimes, but tonight he just let if fly and he was money.”

FacebookTwitterEmailWhatsAppBloggerShare
Tutorialspoint
el-admin
el-admin
EltasZone Sportswriters, Sports Analysts, Opinion columnists, editorials and op-eds. Analysis from The Zone Team
Top