Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (at Atlanta Hawks) | January 12, 2024

Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (at Atlanta Hawks) | January 12, 2024

You know a really good effort by our guys um there were a few frustrating stretches with turnovers during the game but uh the third quarter was tremendous and created the separation that was needed and uh you know it’s two wins without Tyrese and that’s that’s really important right now

As we you know head further west what you mention obviously the over 41 assists I think on 53 buckets again we talked a lot about sharing the basketball balance scoring and it seems like you guys obviously aded to the formula there got the B pain you yeah

The spirit is really is really good um the spirit of the group um the guys that were in the game were playing together encouraging each other the guys on the bench were up encouraging the guys that were playing and you know you know when you have that

Kind of synergy you know you can have some special special nights and you can have a special group so um we’re doing some good things um this trip’s going to get tougher and tougher as we move further west but it’s a challenge that uh you know this

Group um I believe is looking forward to you mentioned the third quarter obviously you guys had I think a 20 point lead in the second and lost a lot of it what just sort of got right whether it was you know through halftime or in the third quarter just what did

Those guys just do I think to to re you know take possession that kept Our poise stayed aggressive um got more sensible with the ball took care of the ball um and you know when when when the ball’s moving like that shots tend to go

In more often um we had a good point in the paint number points in the paint number um you know we were we were aggressive to get to the rim and you know a lot of our a lot of our threes came off of penetration and those are the best ones

Know you said you’re never worried about these guys but some of the Wings had a didn’t have great shooting that night obviously buddy was5 was three n Ben was four 13 all those guys obviously got right today I guess uh how important was that and you know how nice was to see

You buddy in particular well buddy likes playing here it’s pretty clear and uh he’s shot the ball really brilliantly in the two games we’ve we’ve had here in the last month or so and so um look I’m I’m more impressed with Buddy’s defense and and how he is

Digging in and how he is helping teammates um you know he’s he’s really elevated his level at that end mathine has two um all our guys are are are really taking the challenge it’s a it’s a tough challenge defending in the NBA in

2024 um you got to do it as a team and you got to youve got to really react well um you got to help each other and um you can’t let bad things on offense affect you so for the most part we didn’t

Um you know so you know I was I was real proud of the of the group you know um stuck together you know the two guards over there are murdering they’re just they’re both great players and um you know you just got to try to make it hard on them you mentioned special

Things can happen you have that Synergy I believe this is a season high shooting percentage for you and it’s the second scrip game against Atlanta that you you’ve had the high that they’ve allowed in terms of shooting percentage so you were getting a lot of high percentage

Shots basketball not a big stats guy you know I I really it’s just it’s what you’re feeling from the with the vibe of the group you know intentionally and and things like that and right now we really understand you know everyone in that room you know staff players support people understand

That you know everybody has an important job um we’re going to play we’re going to play 10 guys on most nights um you’re basically tag team in your position with somebody else and you go play you go play your butt off and then you you know you you you highfive

The guy coming in and and and you encourage him and that’s that’s how we got to do business right now I just want to go back to what you said about Buddy’s defense what do you just to elaborate a stands out just physicality um attention to detail um

Communication and look you know when things were going a little Haywire tonight um Budd he calmed the group down on the floor and you know he’s he’s a veteran he’s he sees the opportunity that we that we have this year um we’ve got a very very long way to go but it means

Something to him know I asked about him last time but TJ and Andrew again and also Bruce I just just kind of Contin Sol got how supp that keep everybody track you got to have Playmakers you know um and it’s even better when you have playmakers that can defend so you

Know with the with their two guards um and you know bonovich coming off the bench I mean they got a lot of Firepower and and you gota you got to play a game at both ends you know it’s second night in the row where Bruce has really given

Us a strong lift offensively and been real solid defensively what did you like I know we asked about him last time in a shots you guys really defend the try well what out look he’s a great player and we’re get we’re we’re we’re getting him a lot of

Attention um we spent a lot of time game planning for him and you know he had some looks that he normally makes it didn’t go in tonight and the last game so um I don’t feel we’ve solved anything by stretch um but every time you face face

Off against him I mean you’re you’re going against you know one of the real surgeons in our game offensively I mean you know he he can he can dice you up in so many ways and um we kept him off the free throw line the only guy the only only guy send

The free throw was me with that technical tonight so um so I was good I guess he had three three free throws but you know keep keeping them holding them to three instead of eight or 10 or 12 is a a huge deal you know cuz that’s that’s

Them him making 98% of his free throws and them setting their defense it’s you know it’s it’s no fun how well do you feel like that worked again tonight I think you had 41 assists on like 53 buckets nobody more than 18 seven guys eight guys yeah I

Think that’s our M Mo really on on offense we pass we play fast we get the ball moving super random so um when we’re playing that way it’s we’re going to fall into having a lot of guys score the balls I think just got to be ourselves you obviously figured out

Pretty early you guys could hack the paint on these guys 70 points in the P how how what do you think that’s part of your game work just getting guys set up around the rim yeah I think that’s huge part of I think it’s people don’t really

Realize that that’s one of the main things we we do is score the paint so our movement creates creates problems where guys are kind of mismatch on the weak side and opens that paint up and um that’s been kind of making our making our Mark there obviously you’re still

Coming back from everything and obviously kind of rough shooting that the other day come back and shoot three threes or whatever he was how how good did you feel out there just shooting the basketball ton night and getting your own shot I feel good I feel good um I

Don’t really based my performances off one night really so I’ve been feeling been feeling good for a little while you I’m just going to try to keep staying in the gym and keep working obviously buddy comes off with a pretty big shooting night uh he had kind of rough night too

How good was it to get him going obviously how important was he also on defense tonight hard and I’m happy that heward we all nobody all time so we’re not too worried about that we let that just come we just I just asked Rick about you guys setting season half for shooting

Percentage and did this against the hulks just a few nights ago as well um what’s the trip to the success and especially creating those baskets in the paint that you talked about I think um the amount of assist shots in those two games um lead to high percentage we’re

Getting good looks b um passing up good ones for better ones paint the great we talk about so I think just playing our team basketball what gives us good shots efficient shots I mean s helped us out on defense uh get on the transition uh

Like a lot of blocks we had was like uh sort of put us in transition and stuff I mean I think they like a I mean they want to shoot the ball of course but they’re more a paint team we sort of uh sort of not let them get in the pain uh

I mean we play C basketball obious I think you guys had 70 yourself in the pain just how happy with with the way you guys attacked it basically how obviously you saw that opportunity there uh certainly from playing them before how problem was that you guys just get

As many at The Rim as you could uh it was sort of a game plan for us just to just to attack the rim the rim was uh the main focus uh we didn’t want to settle for threes and stuff we know we shoot the ball uh but I mean I think the

R something that uh the defensive were offensive scheme that we wanted to do uh I think we did that real well uh we had a couple of lives uh I mean we just I mean got in there Isaiah we’ve seen all year how much depth this team has and

It’s really coming into fruition isn’t it yeah it is uh we got a team full of killers everybody can everybody can go uh from from the bottom to the to the top uh I think it showed tonight uh this how uh that we was even a getting at the

End I mean went in there did his thing so uh I mean help off the the whole team uh we just looking to keep Ro going you guys shot 67% from the field you got eight guys in double figures nobody had more than 18 41 assists again just how

Important is just continual ball movement and the sharing of the basketball and selfish I think that’s a big bu uh I mean I think we had 41 assists so we just saw Shing the ball uh and I mean everybody eats one of those things uh I think that shows uh it’s

Material I team tonight uh the the way that we play uh especially being one of the best passers in the league uh I mean h on for you individually this felt like last November or the day before Thanksgiving was it like your first big moment of the Season since then you’ve been real

Consistent how you feel like you’ve progressed this season uh I think I mean I took a step forward uh this in all my game uh this being just being patient with uh it’s everything uh when I catch the ball being patient uh passing the ball even on defense uh just defensive

Reads and stuff uh it’s all better so I mean just keep looking to keep keep get better the assist numbers I mean you’ve had 50 40 and you had 41 tonight uh what’s been the story and why are you guys so connected um I just think everyone’s

Making a collective effort um with tyres out I mean he’s the engine that makes us go and you know I keep saying this I sound like a broken record but and this isn’t a shot at anyone on our team no one can replicate what Tyrese does so as

A group you know me and Drew have to be better and get people getting people involved and um I think we’ve done a good job of that but credit to the rest of the group of sharing the ball and making the extra pass it’s it’s just

Really fun uh to be out there and it’s it’s awesome to watch you guys shot 67% from the field 41 assists and and took very few threes until the second half what what was the the game plan tonight against Atlanta um just to make the right reads we we knew that they were

Going to you know the last time we played them you know they kind of Trapped us coming off pick and rolls and um the weak side helper was there so um just not trying to force it and making the right pass pocket passes early and Miles sticks and um Isaiah you know they

Made the right reads and you know they took away threes from us tonight and we adjusted and we able to get to the paint and get to the rim as good as the offense was you guys have really improved defensively over the last 2 three weeks

What’s been the key there yeah I mean we haven’t changed anything schematically it’s it’s effort um you know the stuff that you know Jim boan and and Jenny are yeah that they’ve implemented it works but if you don’t have a if you don’t play with effort on that end doesn’t

Matter what kind of schemes you have um you know it’s an effort thing and you know when our defense really struggled we just weren’t playing with any effort we weren’t connected we weren’t talking and we’ve made a a group effort to be better on that end as well I look at the

Second quarter the fiveman bench unit really extended that lead to 19 you guys are pretty well connected as well aren’t you yeah I mean I’ve said this my whole career I feel like the bench unit is their job is to extend the lead when

They come in um or bring us back if if if we’re down and you know credit to our to our bench and credit to our starters as well um it was a group effort what um talk a little bit the importance of the third quarter obviously you guys go 20 and then kind

Of lose most of that lead and then get it back I mean just what did you guys have to kind of shake off at half time and just sort of get right as far as especially as far as cutting down turnovers and just being more steady

There yeah I mean I think that’s what it was um we slowed down a little bit in the second half I mean I think I still had five turnovers but um har was in the right place uh but it was one of those things where you know we were turning

The ball over they were coming down hitting three backto back threes and um just getting getting going and you know even on Mi they were coming down and scoring we were just kind of trading baskets and just really tried to take that away and get stops and get out and

Transition to what we do best I know buddy isn’t a guy you worry about per se when when he’s in a little slum you kind of know he’s going to shake out of it but still how important was it to see him shoot the way that he shoots the

Ball and also defend um you know on a couple of really big occasions in this one I mean he’s one of the best Shooters in the world and anybody who disagrees with that doesn’t know basketball so um we’re glad to have him over here and he

Really helps us um in stuff that people don’t even talk about you know when we’re running pick and role plays or stacked guys are so worried about him that our point guards can get downhill and and start moving the ball and and creating a problem he does so much for

Us and I don’t think his defense has talked about enough e either he’s been he’s been incredible on that side of the ball and um plays his butt off on that end what have you seen him do just better there I guess one R made a point

To say is that you know like he obviously has the great reputation of shooter he doesn’t have the same reputation as a Defender but he obviously had some really big ones tonight I me what’s where are you seeing him improveing where you seeing rowing as a defensive player I mean it’s I mean

He’s it’s locking into Tendencies he’s always had the ability to stay in front of guys laterally he plays incredibly hard and accepts The Challenge and um he’s just taking it to another level um watching more film and um reading the scouting reports and and but the effort’s always been there for him uh

Last one I think uh Obi and I think I there were like 12 or 13 from the field obviously you knew were going to have some opportunities out the paint but how critical was this to make sure the guys were finishing like they do and have

Guys that have that capacity to throw it down at they in there yeah I mean um I’ve been trying to get OB a lot for a while um finally got him one I threw one of them to Ben in the sixth row today um but you know when you got guys that

Attack the rim like that um it makes mine Drew Tai our jobs easier and everyone you know buddy coming off pin Downs hitting hitting the bigs and they’re able to just go and Elevate and dunk on somebody it’s you fun to watch

Rick Carlisle, Andrew Nembhard, Isaiah Jackson and T.J. McConnell speak with the media following the Pacers 126-108 win over the Hawks on Friday night.

0:00 – Rick Carlisle
7:18 – Andrew Nembhard
9:17 – Isaiah Jackson
11:30 – T.J. McConnell