Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (vs New York Knicks) | December 30, 2023

Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (vs New York Knicks) | December 30, 2023

You know we we had the you know most threes in franchise history today um it’s a common theme like assists don’t happen without guys making shots I got the record at Iowa State and assist and it’s also the best field goal percentage tonight for us for in in school history

As well so it’s no surprise that those things correlate like guys have to make shots for me to get assists and um we’re doing that at a high clip right now everybody shot well from three except for me but 55% from three you know 60% from the field that’s that’s pretty good

So thought we did a good job moving the ball around guys making shots there something about the way you were being covered that made passing or reading where your teammates were going to be tonight easier or was it just like you said they were making shots in normal

Situations well uh they were you know kind of in a soft Blitz and they mixed it up into a real Blitz and they mix some things up but if you’re putting two on the ball and allowing me to pass out of it and if you’re not rotating right

Then guys usually get good shots I tend to make the right play more times than not so um I think it’s that’s been the cool part of experiencing this over the last month seeing doubles learning how to beat them the right way um and just understanding that a sec third person

Ever to do 20 and 20 in consecutive games magic and Stockton where the other two but does that mean anything to you especially to be named with two players that are Premier at your position that’s fire it’s pretty cool um it’s all anytime your name is brought up with

Legends of the game you know it’s it’s a blessing and it’s it’s awesome so yeah that’s all I really got to say about that put this behind you but you clearly were looking at and motivated a little bit by zerak at times during that game Wally zerak uh someone that had comments about

You last year I mean going against the Knicks and and playing against him for the first time I believe here since that happened did that mean anything to you and how did that motivate you today yes were you looking forward to this game because of that no I mean that’s

Extra curricular activity I mean I just the Knicks beat us last year they they swept us some games we felt like we should have won I got hurt against them last year and um it’s a really good team over there coached by a really good coach so anytime you get to compete

Against that a team like that you got to be ready to play and um you know we got around the same record right now around the same place in the standing so uh yeah it was an important game Nicks are a great team and so um I mean all that

Other stuff is is extra just having fun playing basketball teres um tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve um what are maybe a few resolutions you have for this team going into the new year um I don’t know I don’t really believe in New Year’s resolutions I feel like

It’s just an excuse to wait to do something so maybe I don’t know just I feel like we’re defending pretty well right now in over the last three or four games whatever it is um we’ve done a pretty good job uh they have 126 tonight but I believe last two or three games

We’ve held teams under like 110 115 so that’s uh that’s good for us and just keep growing on that side of the ball the great part about the NBA is 82 games and so as as the season goes on we get to keep improving on that and getting

Better on that side of the ball yeah I was going to ask you about the defense obviously people want to talk about the offense and all the you know accolades there but uh lately has it been more uh scheme has it been more attention to detail more effort what

What do you attribute to the success on the defensive end lately probably just attention to detail um I feel like we we’re spending like majority of our time talking about the defensive side of the ball I think that he trust me and my teammates offensively we know how to

Play we’re obviously putting up one of the best offensive seasons in NBA history right now like and a lot of that is just random basketball and how we play and I think he trusts and allows me to call most of the sets and doesn’t really worry about that side of the ball

And so the main focus has just been defense our shootter rounds have been a lot more intense on that side of the ball so just paying attention attention to detail and I think there’s just been a big emphasis on that holding guys more accountable and I feel like that’s

Helping us a lot yeah over the last three games you guys obviously made that starting lineup change what have you noticed from that group and maybe just the rotation in general and then uh Jaylen playing the four something we didn’t really see at the beginning of

The year him going from the five to the four what have you seen from him there I think he’s doing a really good job I think last year he started for us early in the year and he wasn’t shooting the ball very well at the four he was

Getting a lot of corner threes that weren’t going for him and the work that Jaylen Smith put in this summer is unbelievable I don’t think you guys see his body looks better I mean his game looks a million times better it’s like shooting like 70% from the field and the

Three like he’s been amazing so he’s really took a step and he’s really helping us cuz defensively his length has been good he’s helping us rebound um and that’s covering up some holes for us defensively and still allowing us to play in transition he’s shooting the ball unbelievable so it doesn’t really

Change anything spacing wise and that’s been good and so as long as defensively we get stops we’re able to run get on transition then we’re good and then second unit comes in and we’re able to mix it and move jayen to the five and when he’s not if he’s tired or what

Whatever we can play Isaiah at the five and uh we just got a lot of different guys that’s we’ talked about the depth of our team all year and so it’s been really good for us to keep leaning on that and um the the lineup change has

Been a kudos to all the guys not just the guys coming into the starting lineup but the guys who have went out I think are playing really well and have handled that very well Ben played amazing today uh we got a lot of different guys chipping in every night and that’s just

Um you know Kudo to our death our depth sorry tyes I understand you were dealing with some some back issues before the Chicago game and you know it was kind of limiting your Mo ability but to get to from there to the two games you just put

Together just how are you able to get to this point our medical staff our medical staff is Elite ask anybody who has played for the Pacers in the past I know we got the best medical staff in the NBA they’re amazing um my back has been

Really an issue since I was like 18 years old and a lot of it has been resolved um from our medical staff so it’s a big kudos to Josh Carl Patrick Victoria all the great people we have in our medical staff and our strength and conditioning staff they’ve been awesome

To me since I’ve got here and um you know it’s a big kudos to them the feud with Wall-E over with or is that something you always use as just kind of fuel I don’t know I feel like it’s a one-sided Feud uh I never have said anything about that guy I don’t

Not familiar with his basketball ability or anything about him so uh it’s in the past for me I’ve moved on um ask him how he feels now miles you were asked about him on the court just now in front of the crowd but Tyrese Halbert and tying franchise record for assists in this

Game I mean what do you think of what he was able to do and how he’s able to set you guys and you specifically up today um he just keeps getting better and better and better you know he’s not satisfied with um you know his like past

Performances it’s easy to get you know he’s Allstar it’s easy to you know get satisfied say I’m an Allstar I’m doing this and that but he’s continued to add more and more to his game his vision I mean he’s pulling Meed aside dissecting the game like hey go here or Let’s do

Let’s do this this play and I mean at the point you know I’m a I’m a veteran in this league and I’m coming to him like okay bro what do you want to do here this is and that like he he just knows the game so well and um it’s a

It’s it’s been it’s been a pleasure you know being able to play with him to keep going on that you know you talked about what you guys can do when he’s getting blitzed and like he was a little bit today have you already felt yourself get better in helping him in those

Situations and felt the team get better at at adjusting to that yeah it’s just me being more aggressive I mean I think in those situations a lot of bigs will get the ball and look to pass and distribute where my first look is at the basket and obviously you know he

Benefits from that because he gets his assist and then on the other end they take it away we have great Shooters on the perimeter so I’m spraying out and those guys are making you know plays for us and with the shooting you had six the team tied franchise record for threes

Today was it something about the way they were covered that made it easy for you guys to generate them open I mean what did you see as the key part of well New York’s defense as a whole is predicated on you know taking away the

Paint and we knew that coming in so they overh help on a lot of stuff and we knew some we were get some wide open looks now it was just a matter of um you know lining them up and knocking him down you know we got hot you know especially in

That third quarter miles talking about the shooting Aaron entering tonight was second in the league in three-point percentage I think he’s going to be first after what he did tonight just how valuable of a two-way player is he for you guys at this point I pulled a to the

Side and I told him you know today I think it was like a third quarter or so man your improvement is like been you know you know astronomical just compared to last year just your decision making you’re obvious shoo the ball well but your decision making he had a hell of a

Pass in the first half out to think some might have been Drew for a three but um like I mean it’s noticeable just the work he’s put in and just um uh how much he’s embraced his role here and uh you know he’s got a starting role now and I

Think he’s doing a great job of just playing both ends of the floor so um yeah miles as a defensive anchor how do you feel about kind of what you guys have done over the last 10 days or so since the significant changes yeah um um I’m satisfied with you know our approach

I still think think that our um way execute needs to be a bit better I think we’re still giving up way too many offensive rebounds you know we’re doing the great job of getting that initial stop but then we we give an offensive rebound and it blows all that up you

Know but I think that we’re flying around guys are competing harder we’ve gotten bigger with that first lineup you know with sticks out there and sticks is playing at a very high level right now too so I mean he’s makes the game easy you know for everybody else around him

That lineup change helped you a little bit offensively as you kind of quietly go about your business the last couple of games in terms of offense yeah I mean it’s a lot to deal with because scks is me and sticks pretty much have the same

You know type of style of play you know Inside Out sticks can post up I can post up and teams going to have to figure out who they want to put their five on or who they want to put their four on so you know it’s match up uh nightmares for

Some teams and then you know sticks does his damage in a lot of different ways and so do I so know the versatility within that lineup just um uh helps us out Rick Tyrese became the third player ever to have consecutive 20 point 20 assist games I me what have you thought

Of his offensive level these last two games and how much he’s been able to do for you guys his offensive level is beyond Elite is there anything specific that you feel like he’s done to raise his level to that point you just described is it something about the coverage

That’s been presented to him or has he just been at his absolute best against these these two opponents he’s put a lot of work in the last two summers on reads on being able to create Rim pressure and to increase his range and so you know teams are in a real

Bind and you know it just it it he causes major problems and you know our our points per chance when you know he’s in a picking role with a fiveman is um you know at a at a galactic rate I said 23 threes in this one and

I’ve heard you Jenny couple others talk about paint to Great being something you guys preach a lot given the way they defend you did you feel like that was the key to getting open from Deep what did you feel like led to such a productive night for Beyond The Arc well

We we’re playing with Pace that was important um we were behind in rebounds most of the game um you know that was an area we we we had hoped that we could be at least even in but um you know they played last night so we wanted to keep keep

Attacking them um thought we did a good job of it Tai was finding people nard was finding people um Aaron had a great game I mean he he got hot uh pretty early and you know our guys our guys continued to find him um you know the other thing I want to

Mention is just uh how well Obi played Off the Bench and the way he battled Randall I thought it just it set a defiant tone to the game and um um this has been a tough stretch you know for him um being out of the starting lineup

After starting for 288 games or whatever it is but he was he was a real Pro and he he knows Randall um Randall’s really tough matchup but he made him work and blocked a couple of his shots and um he really impacted the game so that was I

Was very happy for him it’s it’s always tough playing against your former team speaking of Obie you know obviously had 12 rebounds against Chicago the previous game nine rebounds tonight has that been something you guys have asked him to do more of with the scheme instead of maybe

Leaking out more for the fast break or crashing the glass that been something you guys have been asking Obie to do more yes um and then the other question uh I have for you is Jaylen Smith playing power forward this uh with the group that you guys just put in a couple days

Ago um obviously played the four last year as a starter then went back to the backup five what have you lik from Jaylen as the four with Miles uh since you made that lineup change it’s toughness and length um and you know it’s it’s uh it’s it’s it’s

A different it’s a whole different thing you know we’re we’re starting our really our biggest possible lineup with uh with Jaylen at four miles at five Aaron at three um you know Tai 65 Drew 6’4 I mean you know it’s pretty big um side has hurt us all year

Defensively and so this is a this is a measure to to help um to help us out on the boards Etc um and so look we’ve we’ve had some good things that have come from it um these are three really hard games that we just won so um a lot

Of respect and props to our guys for bearing down I mean lineup changes are are not easy they’re emotional they affect you know they they have major ripples effects throughout the team but we got a great group and you know Tyrese is the ultimate leader that makes things work

You know so um you know the work goes on

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

0:00 – Tyrese Haliburton
6:40 – Myles Turner
9:56 – Rick Carlisle