New Orleans Pelicans

Gentry told Pelicans 'This is our season' while trailing Timberwolves

Published Jan. 20, 2016 7:13 p.m. ET

Brett Pollakoff

We're at the halfway point of the NBA's regular season, and for the New Orleans Pelicans, that officially means that they're running out of time to turn things around.

A slew of injuries is what's mainly to blame for the team's 14-27 start, but head coach Alvin Gentry knows that his guys can't afford to lose any more games to opponents they're supposed to beat.

Maybe that's why he put it all on the line when New Orleans was losing at halftime to the 13-30 Timberwolves.

"In all honesty I just said to them: 'Guys you know what? This is our season,'" Gentry said, via NOLA.com. "This will determine if we want to be involved and have a chance to be talked about as a playoff team or we won't and that's what it comes down to. It's that simple.

"There's no speeches, there's no adjustments, there's no anything to be made except for us to go out and compete at the level we need to win a basketball game.' That's basically the speech I gave."

The motivational tactic worked, as New Orleans came out in the third quarter and seized control of the game, outscoring Minnesota by 24 points over the final two periods to close the game out.