Indiana Pacers Summer League Postgame Media Availability | July 17, 2025

Indiana Pacers Summer League Postgame Media Availability | July 17, 2025

about the game, you know, I feel like two different. Yeah, I mean definitely, you know, with guys out um a lot of guys stepping up today and I was really, you know, a great opportunity for them and I thought some guys took full advantage of it. Um I thought, you know, Cam getting a look at him at full-time point guard was really good. You know, him getting reps with the ball in his hands was really good. Um you know, Enrique, everybody, everybody stepped up off the bench. Josiah Samson getting there felt KT, you know, coming in and and his gravity alone, like he didn’t hit a three, but his gravity once again like creating opportunities for others, his activity. Um, yeah. How important was Enrique down this? Yeah, I mean, he’s rock solid, you know what I mean? Like Enrique is the guy that we know how that we can count on, you know what I mean? So, especially with the other guys out, so he was help big time. What did you like from him today? Yeah, I mean he had a little juice to him going against his former teammate. Um, so he was, you know, he was great. I mean, seeing him get to the rim, creating, hitting shots, getting to the paint, looking for getting the paint to grin, all that stuff. I know it’s only one game left, but what are some of the things that you’ve seen from the Yeah, no question. Like not getting sped up and them, you know, playing at their pace and and and honestly just like playing the Pacer brand of basketball, which is a lot of ball movement, body movement. Um, and and we were able to do that. How about Hunter Maldonado? What have you seen out of him over the over this time? Yeah, he’s he’s just a gamer, you know, like he’s he’s like a small forward, but he can handle, but he can get to the paint. He could He’s just in the right place, right time. High IQ guy. Um, and he’s, you know, been great for us all summer. Yeah. Would he do much better on defense today? I think, you know, we we came in and we said, “Hey, we’re we’re second in points in all summer league. You know, we’re averaging 102.5 points and we talked about, you know, the defense were probably bottom 10 and it’s we’re scoring enough. We just really need to bunker down and kind of take some pride into it and I think guys were doing that and Enrique really Enrique led us in that where he was active talking as the big man and and dudes were competing from the jump. Our next step is to put it together for 40 minutes. I feel like every game we’ve done it for stints and I challenge the guys after the game, game five, we want the 40minute performance. You talk to me about game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think what I saw like from our team um as a whole last few games I don’t think we’ve played to our capabilities and I think this game we’ve had uh we’ve had a great start um going into second half and I think we lost a little bit but we were being resilient and we able to come back and keep playing all the way to zeros and get the win. So, I love our resilient of this group and uh we had practice yesterday, so we cleaned up a lot of things that we’ve been making mistakes on. So, it just shows it just shows our group like has been consistent and trying to get better every day. About about uh what you guys cleaned up at practice. Coach said there was a difference of like impact on defense and trying more there. What did you see and how do you think that translated today? Yeah, I think I think it starts with us older guys, you know, it starts with our talk. I think we’ve been trying to emphasize talking a little bit more. I think our talk helped us out a lot. It helps cleans up mistakes. Playing hard helps clean up mistakes. Um yeah, I think I think our number one emphasis is our talk on defense. What were some things that you saw like about your own game today that you felt like Yeah, I think uh for me just being confident. I know I think tonight knowing a few of our guys were out just stepping up next man up and just uh playing to my capability and just showing what I can do and especially in those last moments. Yeah. How was that? Yeah, I mean I I Chad told us we need rebounding. So that’s what it’s been my main thing. Just get on that glass, you know, uh and just and just just play the be being be in the flow of the game, you know, be I always say when you treat the game right, it going to treat you right. So just just being a good good uh player in the game with a lot of players sitting out today. Yeah. more. Yeah. Yeah. I love how they’re both just just aggressive, you know, and u they’re always, you know, when you’re coming as a rookie, you know, this is my second year, so last year I know all that pressure and and you you know, your your emotions. So, just being able to control that. They’ve done a good job controlling that and just playing to what they can do. And they they’ve been great. They’ve been really great. A lot of lobs been thrown in summer league so far. You liking them? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. The one I had today from Cam was nice. So, I loved it. All right. Cam, first off, what was it like playing against a former college teammate? Uh, it was a lot of fun. You know, it’s it’s cool to seeing a guy that you seen put in all that hard work with that you put a lot of hard work in with, too, and kind of seeing our dreams come to fruition a little bit. You know, with a lot of guys, for sure. I mean, I just kind of looked at it as the, you know, the next best opportunity. Um, and the best opportunity for me to, you know, continue to get in shape, continue to get my body right, and, you know, uh, for everybody else to get some reps. Um, so now, you know, that’s pretty much what the coaches said and the players that were sitting there said, you know, it’s next man up and we trying to go win a game. Looking back at the first game now, what do you say yourself? Um, I felt my wins coming back a little bit more. Um, that was the first game, man. Them first few updowns was was rough. You know, this is uh my first time uh going live in a, you know, a few months, honestly. So just getting my win back, getting back in shape and uh you know just keep constantly adapting to you know the pace of way. There was a moment between you and Tay lock it up to be like rookie rookie connection. Yeah, for sure. We could see more of that. But what was your mind? Most definitely. I mean I knew I was going to throw it up to him when I seen him running. You know, we kind of made eye contact and one of the first things he told me we was talking about basketball when we got to Indie was I’m ready for the lob. So I told him I’m going to throw him. So you know that’s just you know one of many. You got one more game left. What are you looking to fix in today’s game and what do you want to continue to do going into? Um, I had a few, you know, sloppy passes, a few, uh, you know, sloppy plays on defense. So, I just got to keep pushing through fatigue and, you know, not letting fatigue be the reason that I have a mental lapse.

Summer League head coach Isaac Yacob, Enrique Freeman and Kam Jones spoke with the media following Thursday’s win against the Knicks.

0:00 – Isaac Yacob
2:19 – Enrique Freeman
4:32 – Kam Jones