HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY

On the Pelicans being in a position to win, but not able to finish and what may have been the cause:
“Yeah, you’re exactly right. I thought the second quarter was a disaster, defensively, for us. We were bad in transition. We were bad keeping the ball in front of us. We were bad getting out to three-point shooters. I think they had six three’s in the second quarter. That being said, we still put ourselves in a position to (win) – that we came all the way back and actually took the lead. From that standpoint, I really appreciate what we’re doing. As I said to the guys, I think there’s too much that’s self-inflicted for us. A bad turnover here, a bad turnover there, a missed assignment here. In the league right now, you just can’t afford to have those kinds of plays. It’s something we’ve got to take care of and take care of right away. We just can’t turn the ball over in those crucial situations like that.” 

On the strong start and why it was not maintained:
“We did and then they started exploiting the fact that we had to have (Derrick) Favors switch on to (Kristaps) Porzingis or one of those guys. You’ve got to give them (Dallas Mavericks) credit. They did a good job with that, but we still put ourselves in a position, like I said, to come back. We get ahead and then we just can’t turn the ball over. We had some just really unforced turnovers that should never happen so those are the things that I think we’ve got to clear up.”

GUARD LONZO BALL

On what was similar in the late-game execution of the first two games:
“Like I said, it’s the first two games. We’ve been together for about two or three weeks now. You know, we have nine new players. We were in position to win both games. It just game down, like you said, to the last couple minutes and we’ll figure it out.” 

On learning to play with the team:
“It’s just timing. The more practice we get, you know, it’s going to be better for us. We pretty much have a brand new team. We have a lot of talent which is good, but we’ve got to play together to get wins.”

GUARD JRUE HOLIDAY

On his offensive struggles:
“I feel like we go through this every year, especially with me, but it’s just timing. New lineups, new situations, new team, so. Again, there’s always a positive. Last two games, we were in it at the end so we’ll just go back to the film and see what we can do.”

On whether the Pelicans being called ‘his team’ matters to him during the offensive struggles:
“Not really. If y’all know me, that’s probably something that I’m not worried about, but winning games is….to be able to get guys to come together. I know that there is other things I can do to help win a game: play defense, get rebounds, do whatever. So if my shot is not falling, then there is other things I can do. But we have a lot of talent around here and I feel like it’s being shown through these first two games and preseason games and that’s something that we’ll all get together and kind of showcase together once we start winning.”