Nov. 18, 2008 at Conseco Fieldhouse
Pacers 113, Hawks 96
PACERS COACH JIM O'BRIEN
“I thought we put together four quarters of complete basketball. Danny (Granger) and Rasho (Nesterovic) were terrific, not only from scoring but Rasho had eight deflections and Danny had seven deflections. We run a lot through Rasho. He understands the game and he’s very unselfish. He understands that game on a level that is fun to coach."
(On Jeff Foster’s first three-pointer in six-plus seasons) "We ran something and it didn’t work. They shut it down and Jeff did the logical thing and took a fade away jumper."
"Troy had a spectacular game, not only the 19 rebounds but four assists and zero turnovers. We’re trying to get a couple more dimensions of Murphy…passing the ball and going down on the post."
"I think Danny in the two years I’ve been here had his best leadership night. He communicated what the team needed to do to win.”
PACERS CENTER RASHO NESTEROVIC
(On the game) "We came out very deliberate, focused, aggressive and ready to play from the beginning. We played both ends of the court and that’s what you have to do to get a win. We worked on mismatches on pick and rolls which gave me chances to get buckets. Our team does not depend on one person. Anyone can step up on any night and get the job done. We are still learning each other and will continue for a while."
(On his scoring) "Box scores don’t mean anything if we don’t win. We did win. I am still learning and when we all get together we will be a good basketball team.”
PACERS FORWARD DANNY GRANGER
(On the game) "Our defense was very solid tonight as well as our shooting 55 percent. We had a very bad performance in Chicago and we wanted to get it right tonight. I had to work on my driving to the bucket more, because that frees up other players and that gives me another dimension. Sometimes we do some little things that are uncharacteristic of us, such as stepping out of bounds and just turning the ball over. We’ve got to eliminate these things, keep concentrating on doing the things that will help us win basketball games. We did a pretty good job of it tonight.”
HAWKS COACH MIKE WOODSON
(On Al Horford’s absence and how it affected points in the paint) "Al is a big part of what we do. When he’s missing in terms of clogging up the middle, banging for us, and scoring a little, he’s missed. But it gives the other guys an opportunity to step in and we just didn’t get it done. In terms of our bigs standing in there and banging, I thought we let Nesterovic have his way and Murphy kind of threw his weight around as well."
(On his team’s defense in general) "We’re into the mode of trying to outscore teams, and we’re getting outscored. We just have to get our package back together and regroup, and go home tomorrow and try to muster up a win against the Wizards."
(On the team’s problems in general during four game losing streak) "It’s not the offensive end that’s really hurting us. We have to defend and rebound the ball a little better than we’re doing. The first six wins we defended and rebounded and teams struggled to score against us.”
HAWKS FORWARD JOE JOHNSON
(On losing four in a row) "That’s pretty much the NBA season, a lot of ups and downs. Like told all the guys when we were 6-0, don’t get too far ahead of ourselves. It’s a marathon and not a sprint. It’s a down time for us right now. But we’ll bounce back."
(On why they are losing) "We haven’t been playing together. We’re playing with no energy. A lot of guys have gotten complacent and it shows on the floor."
(Asked if Danny Granger could be a superstar in this league) "He’s a pretty good player. But I think it’s a little too early to tell if he can be a superstar player in this league.”
HAWKS FORWARD MARVIN WILLIAMS
(On their four game losing streak) "After we lost to Boston, a game in which I felt we played pretty well, we go to New Jersey and we lost and it’s like we stopped defending, stopped playing defense together. We have to play defense as a team and we haven’t been doing that. Tonight seems like every time we made a big push they would make a big play. They are a good team. I think they will be in contention in the East all year long. I think we’re going to need to look at the tape and see where we’re not defending. We just have to find the time to sit down and do that and work to improve.”