Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (vs. Cleveland Cavaliers) | March 18, 2024

Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (vs. Cleveland Cavaliers) | March 18, 2024

We didn’t have a very good starts of the game uh think we down seven to two and had a couple very bad defensive possessions but got it back together and and did did well finishing the first quarter and then the second quarter was um was a big problem and

Uh you know third was bad too and so uh got in a hole did some good things to fight out of the hole but uh consistency wasn’t there and and so you know uh it’s a it’s a tough loss you had a sixish minute stretch without making a shot in

That second quarter was it something about their defense that shifted I think they were in his zone for a little bit that gave you guys so much trouble in that span they’re a good defensive team but we had some very bad possessions that were in in our

Control and we just were doing things that were uncharacteristic um I don’t have all the details of it but ball didn’t move we dribbled into crowd once or twice there was some bad things happening sometime sometimes sometimes poor offense can be the precursor to really bad really severe defensive

Problems and that was like that was very much the case in the second quarter guys have struggled with your three-point shot as a team since the alstar break has there been any theme you’ve seen to that not generating looks you like certain wrong shots going up from wrong

Guys like what is it to you that’s kind of led to that or is it just missing shots just got to stay with the process you know we start off the game um we stroked two or three uh early that you know were great and just got to stay

With it I mean but when you’re not when you’re not defending the way you need to defend with the with the way our team is presently set up um you know we just we we put ourselves In Harm’s Way is I mean I guess is anyway the shots

Not going is that leading to other struggles on offense you feel like guys are forcing things or guys dribbling into crowds because you know they’re passing stuff up I mean are you seeing the Mysteries leading to other issues on offense uh no it’s you know to me there there were

Just segments of the second quarter where we just did uncharacteristic individual things that we just needed to avoid and um so you know we’ll look we’ll look at some of that stuff tomorrow um but yeah it’s just it’s it’s hard to watch you know it’s hard to watch you

Got a team that leads the league in scoring and passes and um we get into um segments where we’re over dribbling and dribbling into a crowd and not looking to move it and that you know that’s shame on us with the defensively I mean it seemed like Cuts were a pretty significant

Issue it seemed like you had pretty good ball pressure especially from Andrew is is is that something you saw a lot of breakdowns are as far as guys getting Cuts around yeah a few times we they came off double teams and so when you when you double team you open yourself up to

Some some challenges um I don’t I don’t know how many there were um but you know we’ve we’ve just we’ve got to stay we’ve got to stay positive you know I mean um we’ve got to have a good day tomorrow and get ready for Detroit on Wednesday I mean Detroit’s another hungry team

And you know we’ve got to be we’ve got to be more hungry than everybody we’re playing right now speaking of hunger TJ plays with that all the time how do you think your team can maybe match that even more mean even tonight 10 points in the first half off the

Bench what a great question look it’s you know TJ just he approaches it the same way all the time he’s going to he’s going to give everything he’s got out there regardless of the situation and that’s that’s what we all need to do and um you know th this time of

Year we got to keep the main thing the main thing and that is doing everything possible on every possession offensively and defensively to put our team in a positive pos position and tonight we we had too many periods where we didn’t do that and so um we got to work on getting it

Fixed um and whatever we show these guys tomorrow we’ll show some we’ll show some mistakes and some corrections needed but we’ll show them a lot of the way it’s supposed to look and we’re obviously very capable of doing that um but we didn’t do enough of it tonight

Last one for me uh Tyrese down the stretch made a couple big buckets that was good but you know that’s something to build on for sure yeah how have you seen him kind of just navigate that space still even when like he might not have it going early in the game but

Trying to get over the hump as the guy look he he he wants the responsibility uh at the end of the game for decisions um the important shots um and that’s great and look it’s not you know it’s like I said the other night it’s it’s men not machines you’re

Not going to make every shot um the process and the intent is probably the most important thing um and tonight we just we just needed a better a better a better mindset process-wise defensively and um we had we had too much inconsistency there so um look our teams changed a lot you know

We’re you know we’re we become a team that is is is capable of of holding teams to a number you know and and um in winning games with defense and you know and and that’s where our mindset needs to be um you know offensively you know when when the

Defense is there the offense always flows it’s it’s it’s pretty simple start with you you guys had a stretch midc quarter where you didn’t hit a shot for about six minutes what were the Cavs doing defensively at that time I think they went into a zone that made it so

Hard for you guys to play the way you want and actually get points on the board um obviously give Cleveland credit um and there’s no disrespect to them maybe a couple possessions they went Zone and surprised us a little bit but I honestly just think we didn’t really make any

Shots that’s what it I think we got a a couple good looks and they just didn’t go in and credit to them for switching it up but um you know I just think we just didn’t make shots to that end you know before the All-Star break you guys

One of the best three-point shooting teams in the league bottom five in percentage since including again another rough night from Deep tonight is there something to that is it different threes are generating different Personnel what why do you think that is the case either of you um they’re just really not

Falling right now um no real explanation for it we continue to play the way we do and continue to take the shots they’ll fall um um you know it’s just it’s an up and down thing you know from three and the numbers will even themselves out

This month you guys have had three games you’re right there at the end at home and can’t quite get over the hump is there a theme in any of those you’ve seen that you guys can’t get to or is it just three losses uh just not get enough

Stops on the stretch and uh not capitalizing enough offensively and that starts with me so we just got to be better on that end just I mean uh not to hammer the threes Point home too much but I mean is that are the missed out side shots leading to other execution

Issues I mean whether it’s if something’s being forced or if you guys are being defended any differently I mean how is the fact that you’re not you know you’ve had a couple games where you haven’t that shots how does that change the rest the way the rest of the offense is working and

Executing um I mean certainly we’re trying to generate a lot of Threes um and when they when they’re not falling it’s you know it hurts our game a little bit but um you know we can’t make an excuse for ourselves just got to keep trying to generate those type of Threes

And um you know just trying to generate good offense because you know when we go through those laws and we don’t score we put a lot of pressure on our defense and you know that’s any defense in the NBA if you you know go through gaps of the game where you don’t

Score um no defense is going to really be able to sustain it so we got to continue to generate good shots from three layups you know just how the what the defense has given us and and go from from there seemed like I guess the one trouble you guys had on defense

Particularly was Cuts seemed like they were able to get some open looks at the the rim that way seemed like you guys had some pretty good ball pressure I mean just what what kind of things did you see break down there as you know Rick mentioned double teams and just

What kind of led to them getting some of those looks um I mean I don’t know their their guards are Dynamic um Garland Garland’s really good and Caris is is certainly really good um just them getting downhill and I having to rotate um you know we were just a little late on you

Know finding the Cutters and um you know I thought we did a good job here and there but um you know when they need a bucket um you know they certainly made timely buckets with you know the cuts and stuff like that t obviously you hold yourself to a super high standard I

Would imagine you like probably want to play better the last few games but how do you how much do you look internal when it comes to these types of things and also at the totality of just overall team performance I mean I play better we win so I I’m

Just trying to figure it out right now obviously it’s frustrating never went through a slump like this in my life but you know it’s all part of it figuring it out and yeah I mean it sucks like you know everybody’s got the answer but I mean it’s about me figuring the out so

Um I shall be better and I will be better moving forward and uh you know if I’m not we got other people who will be prepared to do it but um you I got to be better the time me me I mean I still I played 32 minutes more than enough time

To you know do what I do and um I just got to be better point point BL followup um what do you think Rel to maybe some of the stagnancy on offense seem like the space a little bit off on a few possessions um throughout the game which

The super characteristic for you all because you all move it a lot yeah I think it just stems from me getting guys in the right positions right spots getting the right shots at the end of games um just me doing a better job I think it starts with me

And then uh kind of trickles down from there so how I’ll be better TJ tonight you were playing with a lot of energy a lot of passion just where does that come from for you um I don’t know it’s just something I’ve kind of always played with

Throughout my career um it’s kind of like my calling card um just one of those things where just try to be energetic and get the group going and um help get the crowd into it and make a difference um I don’t know where it comes from but I’m

Certainly glad I have it tied late what do you think kept you guys from getting over the hump here tonight um it’s a tough question um I think I think we had a pretty solid night defensively I think got to look at the stats to see where where we weren wrong

But um we had a couple stretches where went a little drive maybe on the offensive side of the ball and maybe gave up a couple couple stretches where we got loose on the defensive side I got to watch the the game a little more to see that Rick was talking a moment ago

About the ball movement how it’s been this team’s calling card but maybe hasn’t been quite up to par here lately and anything stand out to you as to why that’s been the case um no I think I think we we changed some some players up

So you know you got to get used to playing together in a certain unit and I think guys may be in different roles but I think we just need to make that something that’s in the front of our minds when we’re starting the games or playing in the game you mentioned the

Defense and the positive is this month the defense has been pretty good um even in a loss like tonight do you feel like you’re making strides on an area that’s going to be really important here as you close out the year and hopefully are talking playoffs 100% 100% the numbers

Tell um what we’re doing is better and it’s got to be huge for us going to the playoffs um we’ve been a good offensive team all year so when that comes up to par and our offense gets back to kind of what we were doing a little bit we’re

Going to be tough to beat this has been a resilience group all year you’ve got a pretty tough five game Road Trip here uh coming up what in totality is it going to take for you guys to come out of that feeling like you had a successful

Trip um I don’t want to put a number of wins or not on it I think we got to just play together keep getting better um play winning hoops and I think we have a chance to win all those

Rick Carlisle, Tyrese Haliburton, T.J. McConnell and Andrew Nembhard speak to media following the loss to the Cavaliers on Monday night.

0:00 – Rick Carlisle
6:33 – Tyrese Haliburton and T.J. McConnell
11:32 – Andrew Nembhard