Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (at Houston Rockets) | December 26, 2023

Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (at Houston Rockets) | December 26, 2023

Well what a great game just super competitive tons of action a bunch of lead changes a lot of high level players out there um real proud of our guys you know halftime deficit big third quarter fourth game in a row we’ve kept teams under 120 that’s a really good

Sign and uh you know there were some some really high level playmaking I thought nard leading the second unit was key in the third and then Tyrese you know made some great plays to finish the game um a real key part of this you know Mike Winer made a gave me a

Suggestion of something to run down the stretch that uh that really worked out for us we scored two or three times in a row on I think we scored three times in a row and uh that was a really key part of the game so um you know everybody

Contributed to this and uh Houston’s a tough team you know tough physical s goon’s a beast van B’s a you know an underrated player um and um and they just you know they just really go hard RI I was going to ask coming out of the

Timeout you guys were down 117 115 you ran a play it looked with Tyrese got miles to the free throw line is that one of those plays you’re talking about that was the play and we were under two minutes I was considering advancing the ball and and

And running one of our late game actions and Mike Mike gave me a really good suggestion on a play to use the entire court get some momentum into it and then you know miles knocks down the free throws and I think we ran two two straight times and and scored on both so

Um you know players got to make the plays but you know the the being able to run the right thing at the right time is Key and so you know that’s why Mike’s been such a great a great coach uh a great assistant for me at the same point

As good as your offense was you guys got four big stops to close the game and I know you guys have been talking about improving on the defensive end what did you see there what did you like uh in those final four possessions you know I thought I thought miles trer played a

Great defensive game um you know sh playing in his home building um you know there’s a lot of noise he creates a lot of contact so you know there were a lot of fouls being called out there but down the stretch miles did a great job with five fouls of defending him without

Fouling um protected the rim a couple other times when other guys were attacking it and came up with probably the biggest rebound of the game and uh hit a big three in the in the fourth the free free throws you talked about were huge um and so this is a really really

Great win for our team you know coming off this this tough stretch so uh very proud of the guys very happy for them Rick you adjusted the starting lineup got off to a better start you’ve always said that this team is at its best you had all five starters and double figures

You had eight in double figures even though Tyrese Garners a lot of the headlines you guys are at your best when everybody else is chipping in well we we have to be a balanced team that’s how we’re built right now um of course you know Tai carries a

Statistical load that’s at a much higher level and you know we just we’ve got to protect him as best we can you know um from the physical pounding that he takes from you know every team’s best physical perimeter Defender um and try to put him

In in positions to you know be be able to get open shots and so yeah the balance the balance is always key um and you know this is a game we got to we got to try to build on um you know going into Chicago in a couple days you know

They’re playing a lot better than they were early in the year and uh you know they ended up beating us in that game at our place so you know it’s another important divisional game for sure I mean I think just when you when you get

500 you know you feel a little bit more pressure because nobody wants to be under 500 so uh we feel like this game was kind of a must win for us we know that’s a really good team over there really feisty team and um you know we

Just figur out a way to pull it out to what was that timeout like when they took a two-point League Rick gave Mike a lot of credit for play calls what did you share a little bit of that yeah just calming everybody down you know we were

A little frantic there taking some bad shots in transition um you know I didn’t do a good job of slowing us down so coach made a good good good play call got miles a dunk we ran the same play again uh got me a three on the wing so

They did a really good job of getting us in a good set individually and as a team when you’re you got it going so well in the quarter and the third and you take a break how hard is it to get that back well I mean just you know you got to

Figure it out I mean you can’t play 24 minute straight can’t play 48 minutes straight nobody does that so um you know you got understand pick your spots figure out how you can get going and be appropriately aggressive you know just let the game come to you at the right

Times I thought I did a good job of that today shanon’s tough to defend but what did Miles do with five fouls there in the last 45 minutes to limit him I think just showing his hands staying down um shanon is very you know second third thrust guy um plays through hands I

Thought all of our bigs did a good job of staying down and when they did get in the air not allowing him to have an ones no layups um you know make him earn him at the free throw line but yeah he’s a really tough cover I wouldn’t be

Surprised if he’s an All-Star this year he’s been really good for them okay good get getting a new starting lineup you know it’s never easy for any type of player what are your thoughts on this game just had to figure it out you know we’ve play a lot of different lineups

This year we experiment with a lot of different lineups and practice and stuff like that so thought we did a good job of being prepared and thought everybody did a good job of being ready for their role and filling in where needed Chris also asked Rick you guys had some

Crucial for like back-to-back defensive stops want of your thoughts on that you guys have been emphasizing defense Lely so just want your thoughts on that yeah I think the biggest thing is just getting time these stops getting stops at the appropriate time to win games and

Uh we were able to do that tonight I think just our Pace the way we played move the ball I think uh it got us a lot of open looks uh especially on defense I think we uh blocked in on defense and uh sort of made a swing went on the Run

There uh so Miles pick up his fourth foul early in the third you and Jaylen played a long stretch together off yeah yeah I mean we sort of been in that situation before I think against Detroit with both in uh I mean I think we play with well

Together uh we coping each other uh especially rebounding uh just being affecting the uh affecting shots and stuff on the defensive end and stuff uh then the spacing out and stuff I mean I think we can play together wellnes was one that just need kind of needed to

Have after the challenging couple weeks you’ve been on how good did this one feel uh it feels real good uh especially coming off Christmas I feel like Christmas Day and uh after Christmas uh games are some of the hardest to play uh I think we handled it were well we came

In uh we knew it was going to be a dog fight uh everybody eating and laying around and stuff for the last couple of days so mean I think uh I think it was a big win for us though uh we came in mentally uh just uh dogged it out and

Got the dub game’s tied and I’m guessing there’s no one you want to shoot that shot than Tyrese with what you’ve seen from him the last couple weeks uh I mean he’s a killer uh say it over and over and over uh he’s a killer man so I mean

That’s that’s our I mean that’s the star player on our team uh we look for him to make shots like that uh down the clutch uh so it’s not a surprise I mean I’ve been been wning for two years now so I mean I’ve been seeing a lot of that so

Uh I mean hopefully we just keep keep winning keep keep keep striving especially on the defensive man keep striving and stuff so how do you stay on that wave going into Chicago next one uh I think just locking in uh tomorrow is big for us especially during practice uh

Locking on defense and stuff uh so get chag going figure it out

Rick Carlisle, Tyrese Haliburton and Isaiah Jackson speak with the media following the Pacers win over the Rockets on Tuesday night.

0:00 – Rick Carlisle
4:19 – Tyrese Haliburton
6:20 – Isaiah Jackson