Dec. 23, 2008 at Conseco Fieldhouse
Nets 108, Pacers 107
PACERS COACH JIM O'BRIEN
“That’s a tough loss, an understatement I know. They have an All-Star backcourt that scored 61 points. We played well enough to win and just didn’t."
(On Danny Granger’s last shot) "The shot we got was perfect. I think we faced a lot of adversity the last 10 days. I’ve been very pleased with the effort we’ve been getting from people. I think we’ll be a better and deeper basketball team because of it.”
PACERS GUARD BRANDON RUSH
(On his career game) "I felt real good coming in tonight. But we just couldn’t get the key stop defensively at the end. Devin (Harris) just shot the ball real well."
(On having so many injuries and illnesses) "In a way it’s helping a lot because more guys are getting more time. But the problem is, we don’t get into any kind of normal rotation."
(general) "I felt good tonight. My shots felt good going down and I think my teammates now are looking for me more. But in the end, it’s hard to stop their two guards, Carter (Vince) being the All-Star and Harris will probably be one.”
PACERS GUARD TRAVIS DIENER
“We’re working hard and we’ve been putting ourselves in a position to win but unfortunately we’ve been falling short recently."
"You know their guards are going to get their points. But in the first quarter, Carter got off to a fast start. When you have a pair of guards like them you know it’s a tough night."
(On missing players) "All teams seem to have their injuries and illnesses. It just seems like we have more than normal. We’re going to start winning, it’s just a matter of time getting everybody healthy.”
NETS COACH LAWRENCE FRANK
(On Devin Harris’ last shot) "It’s called club chaos. That was an unbelievable play by Devin."
(On Devin taking the last shot) "Why not? Devin was huge in the second half. Luck was on our side tonight."
(On the game) "It was a game of runs. Our advantage when they brought Danny in was to play small to chase him around. The key is putting ourselves in a position to win. As long as we keep playing with passion, we’ll be alright.”
NETS GUARD VINCE CARTER
(On the win) "This shows how resilient we can be. Devin has been playing phenomenal. It was great for him to hit the game winner. I told him this was his first one, so welcome."
(On his scoring early in the game) "I wanted to just set the tone. I wasn’t worried about who else could do it; I wanted to set the tone tonight. I just wanted to be aggressive. "
(On the last shot) "We just wanted it to be Devin, so he could have room to either pull up or get to the basket. If not, I was going to drift behind him for an outlet. (His shot) looked good from where I was. He got his feet set and he had enough time to get it in rhythm and do what he needed to do. I am happy for him.”
NETS GUARD DEVIN HARRIS
(On the game) "It was a fun game to play. Back and forth and no lead was safe. It was a defensively hard played game. It was just a good game both ways."
(On the final play) "I was just waiting. The play was supposed to come to me. We were supposed to get it in cleanly to Vince (Carter) and he was going to swing it and I was going to go to work. But I was kind of wondering what was going on. When Jarvis (Hayes) got it he was kind of holding it and Vince got it and he held it a little bit and then it was like, ‘Okay Devin you take it.’”