Quoting Pacers Interim Head Coach Frank Vogel
“Once again I’m very proud of our effort. We competed at a high level and deserved to win. I know close doesn’t count but our guys fought. I thought we did a great job of Rose (Derrick). Korver (Kyle) killed us in the fourth. He even killed us on the last play when we couldn’t leave him to help, so that allowed Rose to get to the bucket. We just have to regroup and continue to make it a series. (On Darren Collison playing with an injury) I thought he moved fine. I thought he moved like he was 100%. Once he got some adrenaline, I thought he played well. (On the Pacers last possession and Danny Granger’s shot) They trapped him. It was a pin down low, a quick pick and roll. They doubled teamed and got the ball out of his hands. DC had a look, drove it, and got it back to Danny and Danny missed. Give them credit for defending it well. (On the Pacers fourth quarter problems) I would put it on (Chicago’s) defense. Our guys are a good offensive team. They (the Bulls) just step up and make big plays. Coach Tibs makes some good adjustments. They’re a great defensive team.”
Quoting Bulls Head Coach Tom Thibodeau
“(On Rose’s shooting night) Derrick is going to work the game. He’s not going to get discouraged. He missed some shots but he got some good looks. But you can count on him late. He went into attack mode. He kept driving. He made the big drive. He’s a tough competitor. He’ll do whatever we need at the end of the game. (On his team’s ability to close out games) We have a good group. We’re well balanced with a solid defense. Offensively, it just comes down to execution and of course you have to make shots…We have five guys who can get something done late. (On Luol Deng) I just can’t say enough about that guy. He does everything for us. He’s the glue of our team. He keeps us together and he’s a complete player. He’s the ultimate winner. (On Kyle Korver’s night) I know one thing: when he’s on the floor, you feel good…the bigger the shot, the better Kyle is. He’s done it all year for us and we want him to continue to do it. (On Joakim Noah) I thought his energy was great. He was active with his shot blocking and pursuit of the ball. He made some good plays. As time goes by, I think he’s going to get better and better.”
Quoting the Pacers’ Tyler Hansbrough
“We’re really frustrated right now. I know I’m frustrated. We now have to work to stay in this series and win our game here at home. (On overall execution) I can say it for all three games, it came to one or two baskets or one or two possessions. We were just so close. We just didn’t execute down the stretch. (On Carlos Boozer) We try to stay in front of him and keep him away from the basket, but it’s tough to do. He’s one of the strongest men in the league, so we just have to play a little smarter. But yes, it’s a little frustrating right now.”
Quoting the Pacers’ Darren Collison
“(On the last possession of the game) I felt like it was right there but it just didn’t happen. It’s kind of tough, this happening three games in a row. (On Derrick Rose) What can you say? He’s a great player. He’s a tough guy to keep track of. (On Kyle Korver) We’ve just got to lock Korver down. He’s a tough man and he hit some big threes down the stretch. (General) I thought we played really tough. And what happened at the end? Things just didn’t go our way. My ankle felt fine but it still made it tough to hold Korver down. We just need to be more aware of him and where he sets up. It’s now do or die.”
Quoting the Pacers’ Danny Granger
“(Was it an offensive or defensive breakdown towards the end?) It was a little bit of both. You have to give their defense a big credit for their energy efforts. We had three or four different options. They took them away from us. This is part of lack of ball movement and inexperience. We’re a young team. This is a little disappointing because we need to win at least one of these. We didn’t have that many good looks and we didn’t hit very many. We need at least one win in this to be respectable and build on it.”
Quoting the Bulls’ Derrick Rose
“(On the last shot) The whole time I was thinking of just going to the hole. It was tough all night the way that they were playing me. But at that time I saw a little space and I just went to the hole. (On how frustrating the Pacers trapping defense is) It’s a little irritating. We knew coming in that this was going to be a crazy game. Their fans did a great job of cheering for them. We struggled in the first half with turnovers. But it seemed like we were able to control the game better in the second half by not turning the ball over. (On trying to close out the series) We just have to keep being aggressive in everything we do, every shoot around, every film session every walk through. We are always picking things out and figuring out how to get better. (On Kyle Korver in the fourth quarter) He helps us out a lot. We tell him to shoot the ball whenever he gets an open look. We don’t care because his chance of hitting is way better than ours. He is a great teammate.”
Quoting the Bulls’ Carlos Boozer
“(On Derrick Rose’s go ahead shot) We needed a basket. He took it to the hole with his left hand and it was a great finish for us and it could have been an and-one. It was a tough environment out there on the road…Do you know who played a monster game for us? Luol Deng. He hit big shots, he got big rebounds, did a lot of little things. (On still struggling to put the Pacers away) Bottom line is we are up 3-0. We are getting better. Our defense was much better tonight than it was in the first two games. Our offense can still get better. Their defense was pretty good also tonight. You have to give them credit. It was two grind it out defensive teams battling it out.”