The Pelicans suffered their worst loss of the young season as they dropped their fourth-straight game to the previously winless Warriors.
Golden State earned a 134-123 win in the Smoothie King Center Monday night. And as New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry confirmed, this one wasn’t as competitive as the score suggested.
“It ended up being and 11-point game but we were never in the game,” Gentry said. “We never had any chance at all of winning and I think that’s the most disturbing thing to me.”
The Pelicans looked lethargic and trailed by as much 29 in Monday night’s contest and never led. While the Warriors, who Gentry called the more desperate team, were able to shoot nearly 50 percent from the floor and out-rebounded New Orleans 61-41.
“If we are going to say we are not going to bow down then we are going to have to do a lot better than that from the standpoint of the way we compete when teams come in here,” Gentry said.
Gentry said his team’s showing was disappointing considering their performance in the season’s first three games losses of eight, seven and three to the Raptors, Mavericks and Rockets, respectively.
“The first three games I though we played well and gave ourselves an opportunity to win,” Gentry said.
Gentry said that much of what ailed the Pelicans Monday night, which included playing poor defense, is correctable and his players seemed to agree.
Forward Brandon Ingram, who led the Pelicans with 27 points and 10 rebounds, said he thinks the Pelicans have the pieces to win games.
“I think we just got down a little bit when we weren’t making shots and it affected our energy a little bit,” he said. “We have the guys in this room that we need so we don’t get discouraged at all.”
The Pelicans end the game shooting 46.6 percent from the floor although that number was boosted by a fourth quarter that saw New Orleans hit 17-of-22 shots with the game already out of reach.
New Orleans was already without No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn meniscus, but were also without starters Jrue Holiday and Derrick Favors for Monday’s game.
“When everybody gets to full health, it’s gonna be really really scary,” Ingram said.