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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: PELICANS vs WARRIORS

April 28, 2018

Alvin Gentry

Oakland, California: Game One

GAME 1

Warriors 123, Pelicans 101

COACH ALVIN GENTRY: Well, that didn't go as planned. I guess I'll answer questions.

Q. What do you think really went wrong on the offensive end in this second quarter?
COACH ALVIN GENTRY: 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.

Q. How much of that was how good Golden State was versus mistakes that you all made to kind of open it up?
COACH ALVIN GENTRY: 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.

Q. Following up on that, how much of Golden State's defensive flexibility is based on Draymond green?
COACH ALVIN GENTRY: 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.

Q. 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?
COACH ALVIN GENTRY: 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.

Q. 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?
COACH ALVIN GENTRY: 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.

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

Q. But does any of what happened change how you may game plan running up and down the floor?
COACH ALVIN GENTRY: 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.

Q. 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?
COACH ALVIN GENTRY: 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 Drue's been going, he took it upon himself to lock in and guard.

Q. 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?
COACH ALVIN GENTRY: 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.

Q. 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?
COACH ALVIN GENTRY: 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.

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