Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy on late-game defensive mistakes: ‘We deserved to lose’

A pair of defensive blunders in the closing seconds of regulation Sunday doomed the New Orleans Pelicans in their loss to the New York Knicks.

After the 122-112 overtime loss, coach Stan Van Gundy didn't mince words when it came to how upsetting the finish was and said the Pelicans "deserved to lose" after failing to protect a late le

Up three with 7.8 seconds left, the Pelicans planned to foul the Knicks before they attempted a potential game-tying shot. However, Eric Bledsoe didn't foul Derrick Rose, who then drove the lane to the basket.

Rather than let Rose score two points, Lonzo Ball then helped off of Reggie Bullock, who was spotted up in the corner behind the 3-point line. Rose dished to Bullock, who hit an open 3 to tie the game at 103. The Knicks then took control in overtime for their sixth consecutive win.

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REGGIE BULLOCK SENDS IT TO OT! pic.twitter.com/BaE1uUOHOD

"We screwed up that entire play. It wasn't just (Ball)," Van Gundy said. "There were two mistakes on that play. They know what they are. We deserved to lose. When you do that, you deserve to lose. It's not like somebody threw in a tough one. We deserved to lose."

Bledsoe acknowledged his failure to execute the planned strategy.

"I wasn't paying attention. Lack of focus," Bledsoe said. "D-Rose got downhill and made a great play."

The loss was the Pelicans' third in a row, dropping them to 25-32 on the season. They are currently in 11th place in the Western Conference, three games behind the San Antonio Spurs for the final spot in the NBA's new play-in format.

"Today was really frustrating because I thought our guys played really, really hard," Van Gundy said. "I really did. I thought we fought hard. We were right there. And all you have to do is execute for 7.8 seconds. You're just supposed to come out of the timeout, do what we're supposed to, put the game away, and we don't do it.

"I don't care if you're a senior in high school, you can execute what we were supposed to be doing with 7.8 seconds to go. No excuse whatsoever."

Follow Matt Eppers on Twitter @meppers_.

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