Before Sunday afternoon’s game, before the New Orleans Pelicans were knocked out of playoff contention, manager Alvin Gentry said his team had to play as if they were game 7, with the season in the balance.
But when the Pelicans took the field against the San Antonio Spurs, their lack of effort in the opening minutes set the tone for the 122-113 defeat that awaited them. San Antonio took the lead 14-3 and, although the Pelicans drew briefly in the first, they played from behind for much of the night.
Pelicans newcomer Zion Williamson said the way the team got out of the gate was “not acceptable”.
“That lack of spirit in the first half really determines the second half,” Williamson said. “If we had come out better, maybe we would have had a different result. You just have to learn from that experience and be better.”
New Orleans were officially eliminated from playoff contention when Portland beat Philadelphia 124-121 the following Sunday. The Kings were also eliminated.
Gentry said he has “no explanation” as to why his team didn’t come out with the intensity they wanted from the start.
“We talked about it, and it’s race 7. We needed to tackle it as if it were race 7,” Gentry said. “Obviously, we fell behind in the beginning. In defense, we weren’t on the ball at the start. I don’t have an explanation for that. I wish I had. But it’s the only way to beat such a team. You have to be willing to play. , you have to perform and you have to protect basketball and all the things we have struggled with today. “
The Pelicans were back by a whopping 20 points, but were able to gain the lead with possession three minutes from time. Then a quick 8-0 from the Spurs sealed the match.
Redick, who drew a season record with 31 points and set a new season record with eight triples, said New Orleans lacked a “competitive spirit” to start. The Pelicans also fell behind in their first bubble losses against the LA Clippers and Sacramento.
“We’ve had a couple of games like that here for whatever reason,” Redick said. “Our group eventually got it back and reduced the result to a match with one possession. We just didn’t start the match right. For all the first, to be honest, not just for the starters, for all the first half”.
Williamson had 25 points on the 10 out of 20 shot to go with seven rebounds. He said the team needed to be ready to go out and play, and said he saw himself in games when they weren’t ready.
“Every team has some kind of adversity they have to work on,” Williamson said. “Ours, we have good communication. Sometimes, we don’t use it, and it shows. … We just have to put ourselves in a better position to win. We can’t go out like we did in the first half. Simple as it sounds.”
Gentry pointed to the Pelicans’ 20 turnovers leading to 30 points for San Antonio as one reason New Orleans had a hard time coming back. The Spurs had 22 points out of Pelicans mistakes in the first half.
“The one thing I stressed from the start is that I said, ‘Let’s make them beat us and not ourselves,'” Gentry said. “At the end of the day, you spin it 20 times for 30 points, you had [as] great of [a] deliver that defeat as they had played, and that doesn’t detract from San Antonio because they are a good basketball team. Obviously it’s a team that doesn’t fight. “
New Orleans will end the bubble with the games against Sacramento and Orlando. The kings defeated the pelicans 140-125 on 7 August.
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