Toronto Raptors vs. Indiana Pacers
Friday, November 16, 2007 – Air Canada Centre

Mitchell

Jorge Garbajosa stepping up when you needed him…
We had some favourable match-ups, (Jorge)Garbajosa played well. It’s not going to be some people’s night every night. Some guys came ready to play. I think Maceo Baston gave us some good minutes. He gave us some good minutes on Jermaine O’Neal. He played some good defense, scored six points for us.

The improvement of Chris Bosh’s game…
He’s getting there and he’s doing the things we are working on in practice.

Thoughts on the game…
Sometimes guys aren’t going to have a good night so you look to players that are going to perform. Our shooting percentage is still not where it’s supposed to be but we’re getting better.

Ford

T.J. Ford

Thoughts on the depth of the team…
I’m sure he (Coach) did what was necessary with the lineup he went with and you just understand how deep our team is. I’m glad we were able to get the win.

Calderon

Jose Calderon

Thoughts on Indiana’s play in the fourth quarter?
They played 48 minutes the same (the way we did). I think our defense was a little better in the fourth quarter. They kept playing and they hit some big three’s too and made some good plays. I think today, they did not lose the game, but we won it, because I think we played good defense in the fourth quarter. Thoughts on the depth of the team…
We’ve been saying it all season, the best thing about our team, we can play a lot of ways and a lot of people. All 15 guys can play.

Bosh

CHRIS BOSH

How much of a relief is it to get that win at home?
It’s a relief. We’re not worried. We’re not going to get antsy. We know we are going to win at home, we’ve just got to keep it going. We’ve got to do a better job of staying aggressive. We’ve got to do a better job of playing defense and as long as we do those things, and play with intensity, we’re going to defend our home court.

Thoughts on the play of the your point guards…
Anytime you can keep pressure at the point guard position the whole game, it’s trouble for the other team. They really have to worry about the point guard for the whole game. They’re pushing it up and getting guys wide open shots and creating for themselves. They’ve got to keep doing that.

Jim O'Brien

On tonight’s game…
We need to knock down shots when he’s (O’Neal) trapped. We didn’t do that on a consistent basis and God knows, we had enough open looks. Our guys are good shooters and I continue to have confidence in them. Jamaal (Tinsley) hit some big three’s. Travis (Diener) and Troy (Murphy) shot the ball well but in order for Jermaine (O’Neal) to have freedom down low, we have to consistently knock down our shots.

Tinsley

What was the difference in the second half?
In the second half, they came out more determined. They outplayed us in the second half.

How was the ball movement tonight?
It could have been better. At times the ball got swung on our side. That’s not our problem. The problem is us, playing in front of people. Letting the guys make shots, not turning the ball over, and playing defence. If we don’t hit our shots on offence, we have got to play defence.

Dunleavy

What was different in the second half?
I thought they came out in the second half and got off to a good start and made a lot of shots. They opened up the floor for themselves offensively. Our tempo all game long was good. We got the shots we wanted, they just didn’t go in.

Is that starting to be a theme?
I don’t think so. The team has had some games with bad offence and bad shots. Tonight we got good looks and they didn’t go down. If we play this way most nights we are going to win.

Were you surprised with some of the open looks you had?
They felt good off of my hands, had some in and outs and it has always been tough shooting in this building but you have to fire them up there and hopefully they go in.

Was that first quarter an example of how you guys can play?
That is the way we have got to play and that is what we are working for. Like I said if we can play that way consistently throughout the season, we will get a lot of wins.