Jan. 23, 2009 at Conseco Fieldhouse
Pacers 107, Rockets 102
PACERS COACH JIM O'BRIEN
“Great win, they’re all great. We had a chance in the third quarter to put them away and didn’t take advantage of it. The main thing is we won the game."
"Teams will get runs on you. T.J. Ford did a nice job attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line. We wanted to go small a lot."
"I thought we did the necessary things to win the game. It’s always a challenge when you play that many games in a short amount of time. However we are getting healthy at just the right time.”
PACERS FORWARD TROY MURPHY
(On his rebounding) "I work hard in practice and try to carry it to the game. This is one area that my team expects me to do and I work to get the job done."
(On his game) "Something that I think I can also do is make big shots. This would have been a bad situation had we not been able to pull this out. This was a huge win and we need to continue. I am willing to do whatever is asked of me and to keep this team moving in the right direction. I know I can’t make all of my shots, but I am going to take them if I am open."
"With them missing Yao, Ron (Artest) and (Tracy) McGrady, I think we kind of figured that we had to win this.”
PACERS GUARD T.J. FORD
“We made the game a little closer than it should have been. We were lucky to come out as a winner. In the end when we played poorly, it didn’t cost us as much as it could have."
" I think I can help this team on the whole whereever I play, off the bench or starting. I am getting a little closer to getting my back and my body back in shape. I just need to continue to work at it and continue improving my game along with our team.”
ROCKETS COACH RICK ADELMAN
“We gave ourselves a chance in the second quarter. They outworked us. For whatever reason we didn’t have anything going."
(On Yao Ming not returning to the game) "The guys knew. We talked about it so it shouldn’t be a factor."
(On the second half) "We weren’t at a level we needed to play. "
(On the Pacers) "They’re a tough team to play. They can rebound the ball, they can shoot and we had a tough time getting started.”
ROCKETS CENTER YAO MING
(On his injured knee, which happened on the first defensive possession of the game – he did not play in the second half) "It was a knee to knee hit. After the first possession it just felt funny. At halftime we took a look at it.”
ROCKETS FORWARD LUIS SCOLA
(On the second half comeback) "We tried to play hard in the second half but it just wasn’t enough. I think they deserved to win."
(On playing with three starters out, including Yao) "It’s tough with three of our main guys out, but that’s the way it is. Everybody has injuries; it’s just part of the game.”
ROCKETS FORWARD SHANE BATTIER
(On the Rockets’ improvement in the second half) "I think we competed hard in the second half. We continued to fight. A few plays down the stretch and we could have pulled this one out."
(On playing without Yao) "We were disjointed. Yao is our stabilizer. When the stabilizer is not out there it takes a few possessions to get oriented. But once we settled down in the third quarter we out scored them (in the period). But it took us a while to get in the flow.”