It's quite rare to see genuine banter in the NBA podium. Press members will try to stir the pot with questions that would provoke players or coaches and lead to a quotable quote or two that would make the series more personal and engaging as they try to use it as bulletin board material to stoke some fire in their team or themselves.
For Alvin Gentry however, all gloves are off… for Saturday night at least. The current New Orleans Pelicans head coach was euphoric after sweeping the higher-seeded Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday. They managed to beat the Blazers without their second best player in DeMarcus Cousins and with an incredibly small line-up that featured a 6'3″ small forward (Rajon Rondo, E'Twaun Moore or Jrue Holiday – take your pick) – and in dominant fashion to boot. The fact that these players played exceptionally well out of position and without being exploited was even more impressive.
As such, whispers of the Pelicans going on a deep playoff run wasn't out of the question anymore given that the match-ups get smaller and faster as the brackets shrink. Gentry was asked to weigh in on their goals on whether they plan on going all out, but instead caught the media offguard with some comments that came out of nowhere.
Without even any prodding, but knowing full well that the Golden State Warriors are most likely their next opponent, Gentry glibly noted that his goal is just to outcoach Steve Kerr. No one knows exactly why (although it very well may be just playful exchange) but it's possibly to prove that he had as much a hand on the 73 win season as the chief.
"I don't care. I just want to out coach Steve Kerr. That's all." – Alvin Gentry when asked about how far the @PelicansNBA can go in the #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/U7TPdVSdyr
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 22, 2018
Follow Us
Subscribe