April 5, 2009 at Oklahoma City
Pacers 117, Thunder 99
PACERS COACH JIM O'BRIEN
(On the win) “We did a good job of defending them; shooting scoring and moving the ball. It was a really good offensive and defensive game. It was good to get a double digit win. Where you get so much you can play as many guys as we did, it’s a good feeling. ”
(On team as individuals) “This team’s got great chemistry. They’re hard workers. This is a really unselfish group. Very coachable and all want to win desperately. We stole the ball a lot. We were very active defensively. We had 21 deflections in the second half. We prevented (Thunder) from even getting shots.”
(On Kevin Durant) “We defended him well. He’s a tough guy to hold down. Graham did a nice job on him, coming off the bench. I thought we played them well and had a very nice overall basketball game.”
PACERS GUARD T.J. FORD
(On team’s overall performance) “I just think it’s been a learning year. At times we had to figure things out, make some plays and adjustments out there. It was a good win for us; especially since we just lost a tough one to San Antonio."
"We definitely came out here with the mindset that (Thunder) were gonna come out and play hard but we were in control the game.”
PACERS GUARD JARRETT JACK
(On the team getting to know each other and the coach better) “This was really a process. We had like six new guys here. It’s just time for us to understand (Coach O’Brien’s) philosophy…more so on the defensively end than the offensive end. I think that’s where we had the bulk of our struggles but now I think we can kind of see that we’re all on a tandem, all on a string and starting to play better with our defensive showing up.”
(On keeping the momentum) “We came in here a little motivated. We’re still competing. We’re still fighting. We are still an improving ball club.”
THUNDER COACH SCOTT BROOKS
(Opening comment) “That wasn’t the completive spirit I wanted to see out of our team tonight. We have to play better and harder and with more spirit. We can’t afford to play this type of effort like we did tonight. I am stunned about our play tonight. I am shocked and surprise we didn’t come out with the energy needed to compete in this league.”
(On D.J. White’s performance:) “I have been proud of D.J. all year. For him to stay mentally and physically ready is great. It hard to come back from an injury. He came in and competed and gave a great effort tonight.”
(On the Defense) “Defense is all about pride. Pride about stopping your man. We can’t play without defense. We can’t run up and down the court without defense. You have to stop the ball and keep the ball out of the lane, we didn’t do that tonight.”
THUNDER FORWARD D.J. WHITE
(On his first game in the NBA) “It was very memorable being my first time out there, although we didn’t get the victory and that’s what really counts. I felt good out there. It is something that I will always remember, being my first NBA game. I was just happy that my family was here to see my first NBA game. I booked their flights back in February and it was just a coincidence that the weekend they came was my first NBA game.”
(On his offensive performance) “I just took shots that I normally take. I’m not always going to shoot close to 100% every time. I’m going to miss some shots. My teammates did a good job of finding me in the right spots. Defense was a little different. In the first half I was guarding a four and in the second half I was chasing a three around the perimeter, which is something that I need to get better at. I could have done a better job of rebounding that what I did, but it will come with time.”
THUNDER GUARD THABO SEFOLOSHA
(On the team playing hard to finish the season) “We need to find a way individually and collectively to get back on the right track to finish the season strong. We had about five games in a row where we played well and we have been up and down again. We really need to find the identity of this team again. We have a good group of guys and we need to finish strong for pride. We need to practice hard tomorrow and get ready for the next game.”
(On playing San Antonio) “We have played pretty well against them. We know they are going to be ready and we really need to bounce back after these last two games.”