Alvin Gentry Talks Pelicans' Struggles amid 0-4 Start After Loss to Warriors
Head coach Alvin Gentry expressed concern about his team following the New Orleans Pelicans' 134-123 home loss to the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.
According to ESPN's Andrew Lopez, Gentry felt the Pels weren't competitive in the defeat: "I just thought tonight, you look at the game and you look at the score and you think, 'Oh, it ended up being an 11-point game.' We were never in the game. We never had any chance at all to win, and I think that's the most disturbing thing to me, especially playing at home."
New Orleans fell to 0-4, but Gentry expressed his belief that the Pelicans played far better in their previous three losses to Toronto, Dallas and Houston:
"First three games, I thought we played well and gave ourselves an opportunity to win. We talk all along about establishing some kind of home-court advantage, which is very important in making it difficult to come in here and win. If we're going to say we're not going to bow down, then we're going to have to do a lot better than that from the standpoint of the way we compete when teams come in here."
Monday's win was a huge one for a Golden State team that started the season 0-2. The Warriors dominated through three quarters to the tune of a 24-point lead before allowing New Orleans to make the score look better cosmetically in the fourth.
Golden State dominated New Orleans on the glass with a 61-41 rebounding edge despite the fact that neither Kevon Looney nor Willie Cauley-Stein played. The Pelicans also shot themselves in the foot by going just 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) from the free-throw line.
New Orleans was without several key players Monday, including rookie No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson, who is expected to miss multiple weeks with a knee injury. Veteran guard Jrue Holiday and big man Derrick Favors were also held out with knee injuries.
That forced Gentry to mostly go young with the exception of guard JJ Redick, and the results were mixed. While the starting unit featuring the likes of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Jahlil Okafor got pushed around, Gentry received some strong performances off the bench.
A pair of rookie first-round picks in Jaxson Hayes and Nickeil Alexander-Walker were especially impressive. Making his NBA debut, Hayes finished with 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting, while Alexander-Walker registered 15 points and nine assists while posting a team-best plus-six rating.
The early returns haven't been good for the Pelicans, but the fact that some of their young players have been forced into action early in the season could pay dividends in the coming weeks and months.
When they are fully healthy, it can be argued that the Pelicans boast one of the most talented rosters in the entire NBA.
Holiday, Redick and Favors are proven veterans with the ability to lead a young roster, while the likes of Ingram, Ball, Hart, Williamson, Hayes and Alexander-Walker could form a successful core for many years to come.
Teams tend to take some lumps along the way when they start from scratch and rely on younger players, but there have been some encouraging signs from New Orleans' youngsters, even in defeat.
