Pelicans' meltdown vs. Suns left Alvin Gentry trying to explain bizarre sequence

Tom Gatto

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Pelicans' meltdown vs. Suns left Alvin Gentry trying to explain bizarre sequence image

Alvin Gentry claimed the Pelicans' overtime loss Saturday to the Suns was his fault, but, really, it took a team to lose the way New Orleans did.

Gentry and his men committed three brain locks in rapid succession to blow a three-point lead in the final seven seconds. Rather than recite the list, here's the damning video evidence:

If you're reading on after watching the video, here's the review: a five-second violation, a foul-or-defend failure and a game-losing technical foul off an illegal timeout. Pelicans announcer Joel Meyers' "Why didn't they foul?" on Josh Jackson's game-tying 3 was as much of a primal scream as a play-by-play call.

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Gentry tried to "take the hit" for all of it.

"I called it. That was my mistake. It was on me," he said of asking for a TO when New Orleans had none. Pels guard Elfrid Payton, however, said (per Nola.com) that the players knew after the five-second call that they had no timeouts. They weren't aware before then, though.

As for Jackson's tying 3, Gentry started his explanation with, "Just miscommunication."

You know who didn't miscommunicate? NBA Twitter:

Don't know about the tanking accusations: As badly as the Pels (30-42) screwed up the ending, they aren't close to being at the bottom of the league. The better conspiratorial take is that the Suns (17-54) should have regrets about tying the game and forcing the timeout error.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.