Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (vs. Washington Wizards) | January 10, 2024

Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (vs. Washington Wizards) | January 10, 2024

The first half you guys were playing a little slower than normal maybe intentionally and then you sped things up in the second half was all of that intentional and why do you feel like you guys played more Pacers Z in the second no that was not intentional at all um I

Mean it’s just a little different with Tai being out there so we’re just trying to get used to everyone um we’re going to be like that for a little minute um but it just took a few quarters and we figured it out life at all like in general without

Him and what you guys had to do differently because your assistance to makes ratio was still fairly similar the ball movement was still well if anything I think it was a balanced night I mean you look down I mean like 15 18 16 16 14 that’s how it’s supposed to be you know

When uh one of your guys goes down you rest team has to step up and I think we uh did a phenomenal job of doing that tonight sort of referen this last night but you feel like that balance or Monday excuse me this balance is critical going

Forward without him to continue to play at this level yeah absolutely you got to do by committee and I think that’s kind of how we got here obviously you know Tyrese is you know being a superstar that he is but you know we all got here

By committee and um you know we got to continue the same thing on the road you guys have been better on defense the last couple weeks 104 is the lowest you’ve allowed the season tied I believe what what do you feel like you guys did well on that end of the floor tonight

And can that be sustainable going forward yeah I just think with being more physical with communicating there’s been a few times I was yelling that miles that I was back and that wasn’t happening at the beginning of the year so just using our voice being in the right spots and really knowing our

Personnel and and executing our game plan to just to stick I guess on the topic of the diff difference between the first half and second I mean what did you guys have to work through I guess to be a little dive into that a little bit

More I mean what what were the things that you kind of had to do to get your kind of feet under you I guess I you I think the energy was low to start the game and that’s another thing we talk about doing stuff by Community we all

Had to be you know committed we can’t just rely on you know someone like buddy Hill who gives us effect all the time you know it has to be you know from the jump we have to rely on each other to provide our own energy especially you

Know going on the road when you’re in hostile environments and whatnot so energy has to be a little bit better and um you know I think it wasn’t bad but it just wasn’t Pacers basketball you know what I mean we were we were getting up and down we were getting stops we held

21 points in the first quarter but we only scored like 22 23 whatever it was so you know it’s not like we were doing a bad job just weren’t playing our brand of basketball you guys obviously had a good bit of L lineup fluidity throughout the year to begin with but obviously you

Got a late Str scratch with Jaylen being out I mean what did it take just to find you know some kind of group with that starting lineup basically how everybody works for the most part we played together like that with ob being in it’s just Aaron and Drew was a little

Different but I think it was fine we’ve all played uh together at some point um and then we got guys Jordan came off the bench and had a huge night um for himself so it was good to see him out there and you guys to see him what I

Guess talk a little bit more about him obviously you have probably haven’t seen a bunch of him obviously he did a lot of scoring last year you know after you guys acquired him and just how helpful was he tonight just to to to see him get some time and

Opportun yeah it was great I mean Jordan puts it in the work I mean I’m usually the first person usually in uh for early treatment or lift and and Jordan’s right there behind me um so he’s been putting the work in um and going back years ago

When he was in Milwaukee and I was in Brooklyn he had 30 in the preseason so he’s just an elite scorer um so once he gets to show it um he be he’ll be good obviously with that lineup you get you know you you Andrew you and and Aaron so

You know four of your best defenders uh basically obviously you’re able to hold them to 21 in the first quarter I mean just uh how much to what degree can that be your strength I guess if that’s going to be your starting lineup going forward to have that many of your top Defenders

Together we’re taller I mean that helps a lot a lot I mean you got guys and I think at the beginning of the year we were getting hurt a lot by wings or you know like the you know fours and whatnot and um now that we have some

Like you know bigger guys in there makes things easier makes stuff like rebounding easier you know that’s another area I think we have to really improve upon if we want to you know be the team that we want to be is those uh getting those offensive rebounds or

Defensive rebounds and whatnot and um being able to you know we’re getting the stops and they got to be able to finish a possession you know I know we keep asking about it but obviously TJ has another you know pretty significant night coming off the bench seven out of

10 I think eight assists zero turnovers just is how critical has he been when whether Tai’s playing or not in maintaining the tempo that you guys want to do and just sort of keeping everything together when you got that you up asking him I’m used to it that’s

The TJ I know bro like when he gets his opportunity he never looks back man I know you know I’ve been playing TJ four five years now and um you know just to see his level you know his confidence grow is is an incredible thing so you

Know I think that um it was nothing I wasn’t expected 104 tonight for the Wizards is tied for the lowest you guys have allowed this season what did you see from your team’s defensive level tonight and can that be something sustainable with the lineup changes you’ve made well we need to do

Everything we can to sustain it um it should have been 102 we gave a guy a layup in the last play of the game which you know pisses all the coaches off but that’s you know um but yeah know that’s you know these games are going to look different

Without Tyrese out there and um I thought we played very hard in this game Washington’s a much improved team forget what their record looks like um their coach uh West unel Jr is doing a terrific job developing their young guys and they’re getting tougher and they’re getting better defensively and they can

Really score and so our our guys made a really um strong effort tonight defensively and uh it was one of our best games just in terms of of a sustained level of force and they still you know we’re making runs and and this thing was still a dog fight

So um all these games are going to be tough the third quarter was a difference we came out of the locker room and um you know Bruce got us going uh and you know from there we were’re able to finish but you know these guys you

Get a lead on them they put a bazillion points up very quickly you know we got up 17 and it was down to eight you know it’s just uh but that’s that’s how teams are going to come at you one assist miles was just talking about this but how how important do you

Think that balance will be going forward in these games with Tyrese out well that’s how we’ve been all year I think we have eight guys averaging double figures as it is so look we got to we got to play a balanced game we got to play with and for each other um our

Rebounding has got to get better we did a much better job in the second half than the first half that was key and then you know uh turnover wise we started the game with four turnovers in the first three minutes and that was that was that was

Not us and so you know going forward you know we got to try to avid void those kinds of stretches I guess to keep on that point what what did they have to do just kind of get their legs under them I mean it seems like obviously it was kind of a

Different team in the third offensively in particular than it was in the first what did they just have to kind of work through to you know find some level of flow well uh limit turnovers and rebound I mean they you know Washington had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half and

That was causing huge problems and you know second half we won the boards I think they only had two in the second half and so you know we made the adjustment um but you always strive to have that kind of attention to detail and force going for the ball for the the

Entire game but it’s the NBA and it’s hard so obviously with Tyrese you still have three really good you know experienced ball handlers between Andrew and Bruce and TJ just how’ you feel about just the way each of those guys you know facilitated even you know Bruce

Kind of in a secondary ball handler role yeah I I thought uh I thought Drew did did a solid job in game um he’s still getting his legs under him I I expect him once we get into this trip to to settle in and and really uh really get

His rhythm um TJ’s been very consistent for the last month you know actually more than that he’s been really great all year um and you know Bruce is healthy and you can tell he’s moving differently he’s got more bounce he’s got more energy um he his Vibe on the

Court is different you know now that he’s is not experiencing discomfort and so you know it’s a game changer and you know we’re likely going to play 10 Deep most of the time and um so our depth has got to be a big part of our calling card

Important was Bruce on the glass in particular nine rebounds obviously had a lot of long ones uh tonight he was obviously chasing a lot of those down just how much of a game changer was that I guess the F was going to get those well we we started going to him in the

Second quarter because p p was guarding him and P had started going offensively we wanted to wanted to make him work um Bruce got some got some uh got some good stuff going offensively in the second carried it over to the third and in the fourth when they went Zone one time he

Popped in the middle and popped in a shot and you know he’s a Dirty Work guy you know the the boards charges loose balls all that kind of stuff that’s you know um those kinds of things are are things that team team he’s played for have always been able to bank on

Jordan’s obviously a guy you’ve continued to tell us you that that’s a guy that can play and obviously hasn’t got a lot of minutes I mean just well I thought yeah I I I thought Jordan War show tonight would being a professional in the NBA is um he’s had a frustrating

Year in terms of opportunity but he has he has stayed the course he comes in works on off days he was in playing pickup yesterday with the interns and some of our low minute guys um and then you know Jaylen was unavailable right before the game got

Word to Jordan you know that likely going to be in the rotation tonight and uh he was terrific I mean he he he defended offensively he was really good the dunk was a huge play in the game for momentum in the third quarter and he

Made a big three so I was really happy for him you know um guys have a choice you know when things aren’t going well they can they can put their head down and you know blame the world or or they can look in the mirror and and and stay

Ready and stay tuned up and keep an edge and he’s done that Rick jarus played this morning and Jaylen was a late scratch what more can you say about their absences and how long they made be for you guys who jarus and Jaylen who were scratched right before jarus was

Sick so we sent him home don’t know what he has um and jaylen’s thing was something that came on today I guess didn’t know anything about it he went through the prep he was moving slowly and he and he kept you know reaching for his lower back and

Finally I took him out of the prep and told him to go into the trainers and they looked at him and it just he just was unable to go so uh we’ll hope we’ll hope we can get that turned around in a in a couple of days

And have him ready for Friday but if if not then you know um it’ll be the next man up Rick with Bruce Brown is it taking him a little while to find his you know to to find himself in this offense where he’s not handling the ball

All the time which he he did more of in Denver well he played backup point in Denver the majority and that’s not what he’s doing here he’s been mostly starting at two playing with Tyrese who has the ball a lot of the time you know tonight um with a different

Configuration with Tyreese out you know we were moving the ball to different people you know buddy heeld made two or three great plays off movement um you know we were going to Bruce in the second third and fourth quarter um and so you know again our game is going to

Look is going to look different without Tyrese and we’ve got we’ve got to continue to figure things out about what’s going to be best for us but um you know I think Bruce Prides himself on being a guy who’s resourceful and can adjust to virtually any NBA situation

I’ve seen him play point I’ve seen him play two I’ve seen him play three I’ve seen him play four and he you know he never he he never complains he just finds a way to get the job done and that’s you know that’s meant a lot to our team this year

Myles Turner, Bruce Brown and Rick Carlisle speak with the media following the Pacers 112-104 win over the Wizards on Wednesday night.

0:00 – Myles Turner and Bruce Brown
4:09 – Rick Carlisle