Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (vs. Memphis Grizzlies) | January 28, 2024

Indiana Pacers Postgame Media Availability (vs. Memphis Grizzlies) | January 28, 2024

Very very very very very very tough game obviously very physical um you know when um when Canard was unable to play and they put Rody in the lineup it just was sending a message that this is going to be a physical um a physical battle I mean that’s just

And they’re they’re physical anyway but but you know him in the starting lineup was a further message of that and as much as you try to prepare your group for how physical it’s going to be it it’s words don’t do don’t do justice to it so and we got knocked around in the

First quarter some um did better in the second quarter uh a little better in the third and then the fourth you know we were able to we’re were able to um close it out so you know three in a row in these three games is is great

Um you know my congrats to our players you know we had some stuff happened late today miles was a late scratch TJ was unable to play um you know ties out so that’s you know three of our top three of our top guys so the other guys responded I I thought Matan was

Tremendous he was tremendous in the first half when we couldn’t get anything going I mean he he was making the right play every time the right Drive um the right pullup you know the right read um and he gave us a lot of Life uh in the first and second quarter so um

Tremendous growth by him this year with those things without TJ and Tai you needed to rely quite a bit on injured Empire in this game over 37 minutes what’ you like about what he did for you guys kind of steadying this ship playing point guard all night well he made keep plays down

The stretch again and uh you know his his numbers don’t look super Gody um I mean 16 and N those are those are good numbers um but you know he he he scored in traffic one time he made the pass to sticks for a dunk one time

Um and you know he he was tough he was tough defensively the whole game so you know it was obviously broke up his minutes to try to keep him fresh throughout same thing we did with TJ in Sacramento last week um these are situations you don’t want to be in but

When you are um you know you got to you got to figure it out and he was terrific Shephard was was really good you know in those short minutes in between um buddy did a good job too buddy was was kind of a two-man tandem when uh when Drew’s out

You know we have we have Shep and and Buddy in there both those guys can handle the ball so um it was uh and those guys held the fort you can tell by the plus minus so um really good win for us Drew’s been in out of the

Lineup often this season recently more he’s been in have you felt him you know get a little more consistency and more comfortable at the point guard spot in these last 10 days couple weeks yeah and this this has been a great opportunity for him to get more minutes um and and they’re minutes

That really are you know they’re going to be there um it’s not like you know he’s got to be worrying about making mistakes you know he knows we need him out there and it’s just simply a matter of him reading the game and doing what he does what you

Think of the way that Pascal was able to defend jiren Jackson if like that was a significant development in this game well the last the last play of the game for them was one of the reasons we traded for Pascal you know um putting him on a playmaking

Big like Jackson and uh they ran a keeper um he smelled it out was able to stay in front forc a difficult shot and then the rebound and then the game was basically over so um he was he was uh once again I you know eight for 13

Um six boards six assists I mean he played he plays an allaround game that really complement our our roster I guess to stick on him I mean how important is when you’re facing a team that’s that good at defending the paint has that much length size and

Everything to have a guy like him who has that the length that he has the ability to rise up get in the paint and rise up above those guys and hit that shots I mean how much does that kind of change the dimensions of a game like

This when you have that option yeah it was it was difficult to get good shots all night um Pascal got us going in the third quarter uh with some with some really good screening and footwork um was able to break loose we we hit him two or three times that gave us momentum

Into the quarter um and that was big and you know he’s just got he’s got the inside and outside Dimension you know late in the fourth we ran some some something to get him popping back and um and making plays off the bounds and look

He’s going to give us he’s going to give us really uh unique versatility at the four position uh obviously how important was just sticks tonight stepping into to play center but also just his inside outside game obviously hit some important shots from outside rebounded well block shots just how big was he

Across the board sticks played great you know he he really did and again as the game went along he He adjusted better and better to Jackson and his Tendencies um he hit enormous shots in the game I mean the three hit in front of our bench in the fourth quarter was

Was a was a monster shot for us um and you know so we needed him and I thought Isaiah Jackson did a great job too particularly in the in the third and early fourth you know he he was he was active um he got the ball in the basket

He rebounded he ran you know so a lot of good things from him as well to stay fresh does your approach change at all how do you kind of manage what you’re doing and make sure you’re on top of things all night um approach doesn’t really change

Towards the game I think you just got to be ready to to play those extra couple minutes I think I’m in shape for it I just got to have that mentality that I’m going have to play hard all game kind of been in and out of the lineup with

Injuries all year but you’ve had this stretch recently playing and feels like you’ve been more comfortable especially on offense recently do you feel that do you feel like you’ve kind of found a a groove on that end of the floor these last couple weeks um yeah for sure I

Think um injuries have affected me a little bit but I think um being in and out rhythm is tough to get but I think I’ve also had good stretches earli in the season throughout the season so um I think I just consistent the last few games how do you feel like you’ve jelled

With the new look starting vibe that you’ve played with these last couple games especially with Pascal now coming in there yeah I think um Pascal makes it super Dynamic on both sides of the floor when it comes to guarding certain matchups and switching or offensively he

Can kind of bring the ball up and initiate or some some more post Touches for him and guys moving off of that he attract so much about gravity so uh it’s been fun it’s still a learning process we’re still kind of feeling you guys obviously knew you were going

To be dealing with a team that was going to be physical obviously they’re missing a bunch of their guys and they pretty much played all their big dudes and they generally pretty good at defending the pain anyway what do you think you guys did well to get 54 in there um and you

Know be able to move the ball around just what do you think you did well offensively against that typ def um I think our Pace was solid in the second half especially I think we moved it pretty well and and had a good mentality to kind of just keep getting into that

Pain and keep playing off of cloes outs and um trusting each other what uh just how important was Ben tonight especially to get have somebody just straight attack that thing and get in there and get started just how important was it for him to kind of break something loose there yeah I think

He took the pressure off of us he was super aggressive going downhill especially in the first half um drawing fouls getting easy layups so um he did a good job of opening up the the game for us not that side out of four and I also

Just how important was it to have both sticks hitting some outside shots and Pascal having a guy that’s you know 68 that kind of length that can score you know in the middle in the mid-range just to have those kind of weapons to open that open things up yeah I mean uh

Sticks and miles can both shoot the three and they’ve been shooting it well all year so that gives our offense something and makes us more Dynamic and then what was the second part you said uh rise up like he can can get into the lane like that can handle like that that

Size to be able to rise up above the big they got in the lane yeah I think the thing about Pascal is his gravity makes it easier for everybody else and he’s a very unselfish winning type of player so it’s easy to play with him and um it’s

It’s it’s it’s fun to play with him out there attracting so much and making it easier on guys that me you hit a th000 points for your career tonight does that mean anything extra to you and how is your uh offensive game do you think you’ve uh improved uh since you’ve

Turned Pro say that one time yeah you hit a th000 points for your career tonight does that mean a mean anything extra for you personally and how’s your offensive game do you feel like improved since you turned Pro um can’t say it means too too much to me

But um I think my offensive game has become more of with the spacing I think it’s a diff totally different game but with the spacing I think it allows me to be more aggressive to score the ball first and allow those passes to come off of it um instead of just thinking kind

Of playmaking all the time more of a passing side but uh I think I I think I really grow my scoring game Ben Rick was just telling us that he thought you were really key in the first half of this game getting you guys off on the right

Foot and making the right plays what were were you seeing in that stretch that was so important to you and how do you feel like you got off on such a good foot um I mean the main thing for me was just to keep the game simple just trying

To come out there and have an impact you know it was working it was working I was scoring and you know trying to get my my my teammates involved so was pretty much you know what the first half was about talked about that a few times this season keeping the game simple what

Exactly does that feel like to you is it just not thinking as much is it attacking certain spots how do you kind of do that for yourself and does no one no no one what the defense gives me you know they were they were giving me uh

The drives early you know and I was applying pressure going to the rim so uh that’s that’s pretty much it you were drafted with Drew you guys have been together this whole time since then he was important for you guys tonight played a ton with other point guards out

How have you seen him be better this year what do you think of was was able to do tonight I mean he’s improved he’s improved a lot um you know I was I was with him this Summer a little bit you know work working um you know he

Couldn’t guard me personally but like you know he was able to you know to to be a good Defender um but I feel like Jew is working really hard and you know it’s it’s really paying off lately or we’re Indie working out yeah uh you talked about them just giving you

The layups earlier obviously they’re a team that’s generally really good you know defending the rim and and certainly they’re playing even bigger you know with some of the guys that they’re missing I mean was it was it a scenario where you just looked at it as you just

Got to go with them as hard as you can as early as you can and that’s how you get to the rim is that knowing knowing who’s at the rim you know I going to the rim knowing that you know jiren Jackson had two fouls you know we know he’s not

Looking a foul um so obviously just trying to attack the rim you know on certain occasions and you know just trying to find the right uh the right time to attack what uh what kind of opened up the outside shot for you at that point or or did you kind of just

Feel momentum once you get a got a couple to fall on the drives um no like I said I just feel like I was making shots um just picking up my spots and you know everything was wrong so what just collectively I mean you guys got 54 in the paint and they

Generally give up a lot less than that what do you think worked across the board for you guys to get some opportunities they’re going to the rim either through passes or through the drives uh the main thing was transition you know I feel like applying pressure

At The Rim you know I feel like it opened up a lot of things uh drives you know Ki house and stuff like that man these last three games um all wins a little bit different every single the script for everyone has been a little different what would you say have been

Maybe some of the consistent things between these three wins that you’ve seen that’s a great question uh I feel like we have a lot of guys on the team you know who’s able to get you know 24 was able to get U 22 you know what I’m

Saying like just just really you know a group of guys who’s who’s able to you know to take over the game um you know last game against Phoenix you know Drew was playing you know amazing so I feel like we have we have a deep roster and

That’s the ability that we have um you know to be able to to finish the game able to perform uh yeah just staying ready um being ready with my names called both mentally and physically and um TJ was out Tai was out um we had some players with bumps and bruises and it

Was important for everyone to give their whatever they can to the team and uh just play together and that’s what we did tonight so you’ve had a lot of different types of games as a team here lately the blowout win over the 76ers kind of a come from behind dramatic win

On Friday tonight maybe more the gritted out style is there significance to finding different ways to win in a season you think definitely um it’s a long season 82 games and um yeah today was a grind we knew that going into the game uh they’re missing a lot of players

As well and um it’s just going to be a dog fight like a rock fight and uh we went out and played harder and we came out with the win so what’s the significance of finding a way to win defensively for a group here who’s shown everything they can do offensively the

Defense has been improving but it was a big reason why you wanted it I think that’s where like we get our stuff started especially um in big games and tough games like we did tonight um but everyone knows we can score and defense is like super super important so once we

Get it started on that end then everything else just starts to flow this was not an easy four game home stand you guys go three in one on it without your best player with some more injuries here today what’s the significance of all of

That to you it’s been a long week and uh it’s been good uh happy for our team and uh we got more work to do next week so um yeah just staying together not getting too high not getting too low and just playing Pacer basketball so

Rick Carlisle, Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin and Ben Sheppard speak with media following the Pacers win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday afternoon.

0:00 – Rick Carlisle
6:18 – Andrew Nembhard
9:52 – Bennedict Mathurin
12:58 – Ben Sheppard