Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (at New York Knicks) | February 10, 2024

Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (at New York Knicks) | February 10, 2024

Yeah they were very good very good um you know the game itself we didn’t have the greatest first quarter but we we we got momentum in the second and did a good job playing with the lead in the second half and that’s been something that’s been a challenge for usach play the

Lead youch tonight yeah McConnell was tremendous I mean I mean just uh out of this world you know and uh we just got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys and they’re they’re thin right now and so you know we had to take advantage of our

Depth and try to keep energy in the game as best we could um I’m just trying to make it hard on Brunson you know it’s just he’s going to wear he’s going to wear you down and he’s going to keep scoring and just try to try to make it

You know as tough as possible and made made them be tough twos if possible um so but it’s a great win you know it’s it’s um you know it’s Madison Square Garden on a Saturday night it’s a hard place to play regardless who’s out there coach you guys came after that

Tough loss losing four of six you lost to the Knicks as one of these losses to come in here tonight kind of answer it but just elaborate how big it is so that your team doesn’t go into a SC especially before the allstar break you want to go with the right momentum how

Big was tonight’s very important um you I don’t I don’t look backward very often I’ve learned not to do that but you know and staying staying in the present um it’s important to get uh a roadwi like this at this at this juncture uh it builds confidence you know our team has changed

Some we got McDermot now and uh heal is gone and so you know this we have a different we have a different setup now and so uh you know our our our rotations will figure out pretty quickly here but uh but we need everybody and uh and I’m

You know I’m real happy for the guys was that it’s always big it’s always big the key is generating the good threes which are the good catch and shoot threes off of penetration and creating problems and you know um first half n Smith got hot second half Pascal hit a couple big ones

You know nehar did a big one the one tie hit at the end of the third quarter was a big momentum shot and so um yeah it’s just it’s process stuff you know it’s not you don’t go into games talking about we got to make this number of Threes or whatever you you

Just create the best opportunities and and let the game and the basketball Gods dictate what happens you know if you do the right things you know you’ll get some good looks and you’ll get your share to go down you mentioned process you really see him play like that one tyes made

Back well one characteristic that all great players have is resourcefulness and the ability in a split second to invent something special and he did just that and um you know and again that that’s a play that created momentum for us and if for some reason that possession was unsuccessful it could

Have created a lot of momentum for the the Knicks so you know it’s uh the only word I can really say is just it’s just special special stuff I was gonna ask you Isaiah I mean he’s a guy that’s sort of in and out based on Jaylen playing well and not

Being healthy I mean what was his impact tonight well jaylen’s going to be out um through the next two games we’re going to let let him heal up um and that’ll give him the allstar Break um he uh he needs the time and and this is why

Isaiah’s put the work in you know Jim boan is the guy that that works with those two bigs Jaylen and Isaiah and what’s great about their relationship and really it’s the three of them um Isaiah and jayen push each other hard they work hard together but they really pull for each

Other you know when it comes to the team and so right now you know jaylen’s really pulling for Isaiah and Isaiah has stayed ready and and jimes had a lot to do with that so uh you know really really good stuff there oh just able to

Get enough stops get out and run play and transition um you know last time we felt like we had an opportunity but they killed us on the glass hardenstein um auua Josh you know yeah guys who didn’t guys who didn’t play yeah true so

Uh we just thought we had to be able to match their energy tonight you mentioned their kind of lack of centers over there was that kind of the focus to to try to get them to speed them up underneath I mean I don’t think so necessarily I

Think just putting him in high pick and role uh we felt good about you know the way we can operate out of there it’s we run a lot of our offense that way so um it wasn’t necessarily A considered effort to get in the paint or I mean

It’s always consed to get in the paint but not you know not to throw to our five a ton just get keep him in pick a roll and keep defense honest can you talk about the way you finished the game like you grab the lead didn’t

Yeah I thought I mean that’s just part of the maturation of our group being able to finish games the right way still have a lot of things to clean up what are what’s our end of game package now that we’ve added Pascal and all those things so uh just figuring out every

Night and this is think my first game I played 30 minutes it’s my minut intersection started so um you know the more time goes on the more that we’re able to play together and be healthy uh the more we can figure out you know what our lineups look like so it’s okay with

You if you’re not the high scorer of youright right yeah I me I don’t care it doesn’t matter to me how uh how good did it feel to finish be able to finish the game today after having to watch yeah no week yeah no it felt amazing I think

That was the frustrating part last year having to sit on the bench and watch and not being able to help contribute at the end of the game I feel like um you know this team depends on me to close games and I’ve kind of Built My Reputation of

Of closing game so uh to have that opportunity uh to do that on a nightly basis is one I don’t take for granted and uh just just glad that I’m feeling healthier every game and just want to continue to Trend that way and probably just got asked earlier if I was talking

To Rick did you uh you ever done that before the throw off the backboard to pass to I’ve never done that before um like I said you see so many guys in the NBA trying it um and I was I was going to try in the first half on like the

Right a little off the right slot but uh that it was like kind of a weird angle so that that that in transition it just felt like there was a lot of room in the paint um and yeah just you know just playing basketball having fun yes sir with the rebounding and the

Three-point shooting and the bench scoring that this seem is as much a complete win as you had in I think so I think so I mean this is we feel like we’re kind of as complete as we are healthwise as well you know what I mean

And uh we just got a lot of different guys contributing and um you know we just want to be at our healthiest and playing our best you know come April you know want to be ready to play in the playoff so ‘re just trying to build on a

Nightly basis and um yeah just keep building

Rick Carlisle and Tyrese Haliburton speak with the media following the Pacers win over the Knicks on Saturday night.

0:00 – Rick Carlisle
4:42 – Tyrese Haliburton