Nov. 14, 2008 at Conseco Fieldhouse
Sixers 94, Pacers 92
PACERS COACH JIM O'BRIEN
“It was a great comeback by Philadelphia. Sometimes you get too big a lead early in the game…and the NBA is a game of momentum shifts."
(At the beginning) "We were attacking the basket and I thought we forgot who we are in the second quarter on a number of things, like transition defense. As good as we were in the first quarter; it was a ball game at half time. Their best team is a small lineup and they went to a very small lineup as a result of the big lead. I think the team will be fine (going to Chicago). They’re tough minded guys who’ve worked hard all year. I have confidence in them.”
PACERS CENTER RASHO NESTEROVIC
(On the game) "After the big lead that we got, we got a little lax. We must become mentally strong and tough for 48 minutes. We had the mentality for the first 12 minutes and then lost it. "
"We’ve got to learn to be good against all teams. I think when we learn to do this we will be a much better basketball team.”
PACERS CENTER JEFF FOSTER
(On the game) "We came out with a lot of energy and intensity. After the first quarter, they became more intense and turned the aggressor. They sustained that throughout the rest of the game."
(On tomorrow night’s game) "I think we will come out as the aggressor and hopefully sustain that throughout the game. NBA is a game of runs and sometimes when you get up you relax, let your guard down and you’re behind. They were very aggressive and it showed.”
SIXERS COACH MAURICE CHEEKS
(On the 76ers after the first quarter) "We kept on fighting. The way we got back into the game was our second unit. It would have been easy to quit but we just kept playing. It’s not likely you can get down 26 and come back and win. Our bench got us back into it and then our starters finished."
(On the difference in the outcome of the game) "The difference to me is we got inside the paint, defended their jump shots and didn’t allow as many layups."
(On Thaddeus Young) "Thaddeus was great, 25 and 10. He made some plays and we played a good team game.”
SIXERS FORWARD THADDEUS YOUNG
(On the comeback) "We missed a lot of shots in the first quarter. We knew the next three quarters that we had to dig in and keep fighting. It was a team effort. We played great team defense and fought our way back into the game."
(On defending Danny Granger) "It was pretty much an effort by me and Andre Iguodala. We just tried to keep the ball out of his hands and make him make tough catches. He’s a major part of their offense. We definitely knew we had to get him out of the game in order to win.”
SIXERS GUARD ANDRE MILLER
(On the comeback) "I don’t think it was the starters that did it. I think it was the bench that came in the second quarter and got us going, got our energy going. Then we kind of picked it up from there. But they deserve all the credit. We have confidence in our bench. We know that we are going to have games like this tonight. They (the Pacers) were hitting all their shots early and we just wanted to keep pecking away, still battling even when they were hitting everything they shot."
(on Thaddeus Young) "He was big. He made a lot of hustle plays out there, got a lot of tips, offensive rebounds and loose balls. It was just a great all around effort from him tonight.”