HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY

On the first half being tough down by 20 points:
“You’re exactly right. We decided to play 20 minutes in a 48-minute game and that doesn’t work out. At least it hasn’t in the 31 years I’ve been in the NBA. We have to have the same effort throughout the game. You can’t spot a team 20 points on their home court. That being said, I did think that group that we had in there competed like crazy, got us back to within a field goal. When that happens though and you get yourself that close, it still has to be the perfect storm and it’s not going to happen. There’s no perfect storms in this game. Disappointed in the way we started the game. Really appreciate the effort that we gave to get the game back but then you have to make every play down the stretch and that’s been something that we haven’t been able to do.”

On Brandon Ingram’s outstanding play in tonight’s game:
“I thought that he drove the ball to the basket time after time after time. I’m a little bit surprised that he only shot five free throws, but I guess that’s the way it goes.”

On any update on Lonzo Ball cramping status:
“I think he is fine. It was just cramps right there. I thought Zo really played well. The group that we had in there was going well so we just went with them. I thought he (Lonzo Ball) did a good job of driving the ball to the basket. I thought he shot the ball well because he had his feet set and he took good shots. The bottom line is we were right there and we had an opportunity. We gave up two offensive rebounds. Things that you just have to come up with and we just weren’t able to do it.”

FORWARD BRANDON INGRAM

On his career-high points tonight:
“Like I said, to God be the glory. He gives me confidence just to come out here every day and do my job. And my teammates give me a lot of confidence when I come out here, just to keep pushing forward, creating for myself and creating for others, so I just felt like I was in rhythm. I still missed some layups, still missed a couple shots, still missed some threes, so I could have done better.”

On where his game has grown the most since he left L.A. to now:
“Just the ability to show how I can pass the ball a little bit. I think I get into the lane and try to see things before it happens. Looking for my teammates, it’s a lot of unselfish attitudes and a lot of unselfish players here, so I really like to get everybody involved and I’m excited when they start playing really hard.”

On how he’s feeling:
“I’m a tough cookie. I don’t know who was going to tell me to stay out, but I wasn’t going to stay out.”

On the last time he felt like he was in a rhythm like tonight:
“Every practice. Just battling every practice and trying to do that in my routine when I go out to practice and before in my workouts and working off the court. Just trying to develop a rhythm where I’m feeling really, really good shooting around the basket.”

GUARD JRUE HOLIDAY

On what he saw on the court from Brandon Ingram today:
“He cared, really. I think he started off that comeback and then kind of finished it and got us within range to hopefully go down there and try to win the game. So, kind of the way he takes over the game, how he paces through the game. The way he plays is pretty good.”

On Ingram’s performance tonight despite his recent injuries:
“He’s a hooper at the end of the day. I think since he’s been in this league everybody’s known that he can score, but here I think he does it a lot more. He passes the ball really, really well. I don’t think people give him a lot of credit for. I also think how he penetrates and how he gets rebounds is something that’s big, especially with our size. We need help on the rebound. So for him to be able to do a lot of everything for us is great.”

On what they lost this game in the fourth quarter or in the first half when they went down by 20:
“I definitely don’t think it was in the fourth quarter. It’s always hard to come back from 20. You kind of need the perfect storm to be able to go against a team like that and be down 20 and come back. The threes that they shoot, the players they have, Kyrie (Irving) doing what Kyrie does is pretty tough, so I think we just need to go back, look at film, attention to detail throughout 48 minutes and we’ll be alright.”