Toronto Raptors vs. Indiana Pacers
Monday, April 17, 2005 – Air Canada Centre

Mitchell

Is that a tough way to end the season at home, considering you’ve played well here all season?
Yes, we didn’t shoot the ball well and they shot the ball well. We were playing some of our young guys and my thing was leave them out there and just gain some experience and understand what being in this league is about. You have to learn how to play through tough games and it’s just all part of growing up in the NBA. There’s not much to say, we’ll let the young guys take a look at it. You have to mature in this league, it just doesn’t happen overnight, it just doesn’t happen in one year, and I wish people understood that. I was pleased with the effort of the guys I left on the court from the third quarter on because they kept trying. It just gives them more of a barometer and make sure they understand what they have to work on and what they have to improve on. I tell them all the time, everybody needs to improve their shooting, everybody needs to improve in all aspects of the game. But the biggest improvement you have to make to play in the NBA, or any professional sport, is (mentally). How do you mentally prepare, how do you get mentally prepared for you to go out and do the things you have to do? The people that go out and be more successful than others are the ones that the light comes on. Some guys get it early, and some guys they take a year or two to get it.

Is there any other way to create that mental toughness than leaving them on the court?
Nights like this, practice is practice. ‘I play against you every day. I know you, I’m comfortable with you, I’m comfortable playing against you.’ You’re playing among your peers. Where you gain it is when you have to suffer through nights like tonight, in front of (a crowd), in front of people watching on TV. There’s nowhere to run and hide you just have to suck it up and suffer through it. All of us, as a coach too, where am I going to go? You can’t stop coaching your players, no matter what the score is, no matter what happens or how bad you’re playing.

Peterson

MORRIS PETERSON

Thoughts on end the home schedule…
It’s tough to go out there and still play. But like coach said, you always have to be ready for the next one and go out there with the attitude that you’re just going to play basketball and play good basketball. Tonight we didn’t do that. Indiana almost didn’t miss a shot in the first quarter you’ve got to give them credit. They played well. They executed on offence they took away some things on the defensive end and it was tough for us tonight. We just have to learn that no matter what – we’ve got one game left, but we’ve still got to play basketball and as a professional try to finish the season strong and get ready to prepare for the next year.

Thoughts on the game…
I’m a little bit upset that we didn’t play as well as we should have. It’s obvious. We got some boos during the game. It’s been tough on us all season, but it’s been a lot tougher on the fans, but they still support us and they still come here and watch us. The only thing is I hope that the guys in the locker room take this game and remember it while they’re working out in the summertime. Think about things like this. Think about being in the playoffs. Then hopefully next year we won’t have to go through the same thing especially if we bring the core guys we have back. It’s going to be a lot different next year. My expectation is to go out and win next year. With the experience we’ve gained this year, my whole thing is to take this experience and be hungry and be ready and be angry. As a professional you have to want to win and that’s my mentality. I’m going to be working hard this summer getting ready. I’m going to do the things I need to do to be ready for next year to help me lead this team.

Villanueva

CHARLIE VILLANUEVA

What can you take from a game like this…
We really wanted to give a show to the fans and I’m a little disappointed we couldn’t do that. It was our last home game and we wanted to go out on a good note, a positive note. It was decent season for me. I think it could’ve been a lot better. There are certain things I’m going to carry into the off season and work hard at and come back (in the fall) as a stronger player in this league. There’s a lot of lessons I learned out there today. It was frustrating, but you just got to keep playing.

Carlisle

RICK CARLISLE

You finally got a road victory and you are heading into the playoffs, how important was tonight’s victory?
Every win is important. Playoff position is at stake and we just had a string of road losses that were tough on us, so getting on track was important, and we’re starting to get a little confidence in our overall situation as well. We were fortunate tonight, we played well and we defended well for the most part and they (Toronto) missed some shots they normally make. We were able to get a lead and extend it.

On the Pacers offense…
We did the right things on offense. We moved it (the ball) and got it to the weak side. Jermaine O’Neal did a great job passing the ball out of the post. He had six assists – I think five or six in the second quarter. We started to do some things defensively, to really get a disposition at that end. You can’t stop Toronto. It’s very hard to beat them. They were very hard to stop because they come at you. They have got guys who are very aggressive and they’ve got shot-makers and play-makers. We brought the level of our defence up and that was very important.

On getting the opportunity to play the younger guys…
Yeah, we’ve got some guys banged up. Jermaine O’Neal has a bruised foot – it’s bothering him. We’ve got some banged-up guys here, and it was a luxury we didn’t figure we would probably have. We’ll take the win and run and we are going to get ready for another tough one on Wednesday.

Stojakovic

PEJA STOJAKOVIC

A good win heading into the playoffs?
It was an important game. It was very important for us with playoff seedings. It was good to have a good game before the playoffs and get on the right track and start to play up to our capabilities.

You really got your stroke going tonight…
We all got it going, it was a team effort on both ends of the floor. We started real aggressive on the defensive end, especially on Mike (James) and MoPete (Morris Peterson), that was our focus. Then we fed it to our post guys and they didn’t have any answers, they swung the ball and we made shots.

Your team really moved the ball well tonight…
I think that should be our game because we have so many unselfish guys and so many guys capable of making shots, so I think we can get a lot of people involved with ball movement.

Johnson

ANTHONY JOHNSON

Big road win…
Definitely. We’ve lost nine in a row, so it was important for us to come out and play with intensity and stay focused for all 48 minutes. I think we lacked focus in the fourth quarter, but tonight we came out and played well and got a much needed victory.

How important was this with the playoff seedings up in the air?
Definitely, we have the eighth spot and you have to face Detroit who is the best team in basketball right now. They’ve eliminated us the past two years so that is a spot we really want to stay out of, but at the same time it’s not like we want any particular team, we just want to do the best we can and get the best seeding so we can go into the playoffs with momentum and give ourselves a good chance to advance.

Your team did a good job without the ball…
We did a great job of spacing the court and whenever they came with their double teams against our post players, we found one another for open layups and wide open three’s. We did a great job of sharing the ball, we had a lot of assists and took advantage of their deficiencies.