Latest / Bleacher Report / Pacers NBA Finals Media Day_ Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Rick Carlisle

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Pacers NBA Finals Media Day_ Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Rick Carlisle · Bleacher Report

0:01
Speaker 1: We'll take first question. Second row here in the front.
0:04
Speaker 2: Jordan Davis with Oklahoma and Tyree's first. It's kind of
0:08
Speaker 2: two part question. First off, you know, how does it
0:10
Speaker 2: feel to actually finally be here at the NBA Finals?
0:14
Speaker 2: And then secondly, can you just detail the last twenty
0:16
Speaker 2: four hours with you? I know that you know the
0:18
Speaker 2: plane got diverted from Tulsa because of the tornado.
0:20
Speaker 3: Just what was your reaction to that?
0:22
Speaker 4: Uh?
0:22
Speaker 5: Uh, Now, I'm excited to be here.
0:24
Speaker 6: Obviously, the Finals is a very special thing and some
0:28
Speaker 6: I've wanted to be a part of, you know, my
0:30
Speaker 6: whole my whole life, and so to be here means
0:32
Speaker 6: the world and I'm just you know, taking it all in,
0:34
Speaker 6: soaking it all in, and uh really excited, you know,
0:37
Speaker 6: for this moment. As far as yesterday, we took off
0:42
Speaker 6: and I slept the whole the whole plane ride, which
0:44
Speaker 6: I don't normally do. And we landed and I was
0:46
Speaker 6: ready to get up, and they said we were in Tulsa.
0:49
Speaker 6: We sat there for another like hour, and then we
0:51
Speaker 6: took off again and felt we were in there again
0:53
Speaker 6: for another hour and a half. We didn't land here
0:55
Speaker 6: until time we land like seven, which normally would be
0:59
Speaker 6: like eight.
1:00
Speaker 5: Back home, so it's like a five hour travel day.
1:02
Speaker 6: We might as well just travel to Portland or something. Well, yeah,
1:05
Speaker 6: that was a long travel day. But what can you do.
1:08
Speaker 6: You can't. None of us can control the weather. Those
1:10
Speaker 6: worst problems in life will be fun.
1:13
Speaker 7: Jeff on the right side, Jeff zil get USA today, Terry,
1:17
Speaker 7: you guys have faced some pretty talented point guards in
1:20
Speaker 7: the playoffs.
1:20
Speaker 8: You get another one here. I was wondering, when you
1:23
Speaker 8: watch Shay during the regular season, do you watch it
1:27
Speaker 8: as someone you might be competing against in a situation
1:30
Speaker 8: like this? Are you able to look at his game
1:32
Speaker 8: from purely I enjoy basketball perspective? And what are some
1:36
Speaker 8: of those thoughts you have when you do watch him play?
1:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think all the above.
1:40
Speaker 6: You have to watch him and understand you're in the
1:42
Speaker 6: same league, so of course you're gonna have to compete
1:44
Speaker 6: against him at some point. You know, what he's been
1:47
Speaker 6: able to do this year has been amazing. He's an
1:49
Speaker 6: amazing player, the MVP of our league rightfully so for
1:51
Speaker 6: a reason, and I think we're looking forward to the
1:54
Speaker 6: challenge of competing against him and this whole group that
1:57
Speaker 6: for that matter. So it's gonna be a lot of fun.
2:00
Speaker 6: They're a great team, well coached. He's an amazing player,
2:02
Speaker 6: and you know it's gonna be a fun series.
2:05
Speaker 1: Standing over here in the.
2:06
Speaker 9: Left, so man, Jerry McCain, NBA player, correspondent. My question
2:10
Speaker 9: is being a lead point guard in the NBA, how
2:12
Speaker 9: do you balance attack in the basket being aggressive for
2:15
Speaker 9: yourself but also managing passing to others and making sure
2:19
Speaker 9: everybody's involved.
2:20
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think there's a it's there's ebbs and flows
2:23
Speaker 6: to it. There's never a consistent right answer. I'm at
2:28
Speaker 6: my best when I'm obviously more aggressive, but I think,
2:31
Speaker 6: you know, every game calls for something different, and I'm
2:34
Speaker 6: not perfect. I have bad games, and I'll have a
2:35
Speaker 6: game where shoot five shots and I passed the ball
2:38
Speaker 6: too much. And I'll have a game where I shoot
2:40
Speaker 6: too much and probably could have passed a little more.
2:41
Speaker 6: So there's no right or wrong answer, and I think
2:45
Speaker 6: the best thing to do is just learn from experience,
2:47
Speaker 6: and not like I'm a VET or O G or anything.
2:49
Speaker 6: I'm a year five, But just try to learn as
2:52
Speaker 6: much as I can from these experiences, you know, to
2:54
Speaker 6: help me, you know, as my career goes forward.
2:56
Speaker 1: On your right, Mark Spears.
2:58
Speaker 10: Mark Spears, Escape, congratulations.
3:01
Speaker 5: Appreciate it.
3:02
Speaker 10: Just talk about what your dad has meant to you.
3:05
Speaker 10: I know he's gotten a lot of news in the
3:06
Speaker 10: other direction, but what does he meant to you in
3:10
Speaker 10: your basketball journey and also as a father.
3:14
Speaker 6: Yeah, obviously my relationship with my pops is well documented.
3:18
Speaker 6: You know, he means the world to me. He's been
3:20
Speaker 6: my my biggest fan my whole life. You know, my
3:22
Speaker 6: dad doesn't think that I can do any wrong. I
3:25
Speaker 6: think my whole life, He's always said I'm the best,
3:27
Speaker 6: I'm going to be the best, And you know, we
3:30
Speaker 6: have a very close relationship.
3:32
Speaker 5: Growing up, my.
3:33
Speaker 6: Dad got laid off when I was in like elementary school,
3:36
Speaker 6: so I lived like down the road from the elementary
3:38
Speaker 6: in the middle school, and so I would make my
3:40
Speaker 6: dad drive me every day and that was just how
3:41
Speaker 6: we connected. And then growing up he started working third shift,
3:44
Speaker 6: so my only real time to connect with him was
3:47
Speaker 6: in the morning. We would watch you know, Sports Center
3:49
Speaker 6: or whatever together in the morning before he would drive
3:52
Speaker 6: me off at school and sleep for the rest of
3:53
Speaker 6: day until he had to ref or whatever the case was.
3:56
Speaker 6: So me and my dad are really close and obviously,
4:00
Speaker 6: h that's that's well documented. I'm excited that he's going
4:03
Speaker 6: to be, you know, in the building and uh, you know,
4:06
Speaker 6: the NBA has allowed him, you know, to be to
4:08
Speaker 6: be back, you know, in India as well. And yeah,
4:11
Speaker 6: I think that the commentary around my dad, I think
4:14
Speaker 6: got a little ridiculous, you know, and of course I'm
4:17
Speaker 6: gonna say that I'm his son, and it it got
4:20
Speaker 6: a little over the top. You know, he was wrong,
4:23
Speaker 6: and that is what it is. And I don't think
4:25
Speaker 6: any of us want to be defined by our worst moments.
4:27
Speaker 6: And that's that's just sports media. Sometimes we just take
4:31
Speaker 6: a super good thing or a super bad thing and
4:32
Speaker 6: and and and overblow it and you know what it is,
4:35
Speaker 6: what it is. But uh, he's learned from it, and
4:37
Speaker 6: you know it won't happen again. But uh, I love
4:40
Speaker 6: my pops dearly and really thankful that he's going to
4:42
Speaker 6: be in the building. And yeah, along with along with
4:45
Speaker 6: me on this journey.
4:47
Speaker 11: Back left Michael Pena the ringer H Terry's what makes
4:53
Speaker 11: Alex Caruso such an effective defender on and then even
4:56
Speaker 11: more so off the ball.
4:58
Speaker 6: I think he's just got a great basket mind. He's
5:00
Speaker 6: got a really high i Q as a defender and
5:03
Speaker 6: just as a basketball player in general. He seems like
5:05
Speaker 6: he's always in the right spots. And then I saw
5:08
Speaker 6: Zach Lavine interview the other day where he called him
5:10
Speaker 6: like a like a crash dummy. He's just willing to
5:12
Speaker 6: put his body and uh so many different uh places
5:16
Speaker 6: and and just do whatever it takes to win.
5:18
Speaker 5: And you know, he's a he's a great player.
5:19
Speaker 6: And you know last year, the last couple of years
5:23
Speaker 6: having to deal with them in Chicago, He's glad he
5:25
Speaker 6: was out of our division. And here we are again,
5:28
Speaker 6: so definitely excited to compete against him and this whole team.
5:33
Speaker 12: Tim on the right front, Tim Reynolds with the ap tyrase,
5:36
Speaker 12: grats on getting here for the When did when or
5:42
Speaker 12: if did you stop being fueled by doubters? You know,
5:46
Speaker 12: you were passed up a few times in the draft obviously,
5:49
Speaker 12: and was it getting the second contract? I want to
5:53
Speaker 12: pick gold metal, Like, has there been a moment where
5:55
Speaker 12: you're like, Okay, I no longer have to be fueled
5:56
Speaker 12: by this stuff or in some way does is that
5:59
Speaker 12: still a driving force for you?
6:01
Speaker 3: No?
6:02
Speaker 6: I've never I've never stopped, It'll never stop. That's just
6:06
Speaker 6: what I think. That's part of my drive. Obviously. I
6:09
Speaker 6: want to be the best. I want to be, you know,
6:12
Speaker 6: I want to be great. I want to squeeze every
6:14
Speaker 6: ounce of God given ability that I have to be
6:16
Speaker 6: the best player I can be. But any doubt is
6:19
Speaker 6: always good for me. I love to hear that stuff,
6:21
Speaker 6: and I'll continue to tell you guys in certain moments
6:25
Speaker 6: that it doesn't matter what people say, but it matters,
6:27
Speaker 6: and I enjoy it so that I think. It's just
6:30
Speaker 6: I think the greats try to find, you know, external
6:32
Speaker 6: motivation as much as they can, and that's something that's
6:35
Speaker 6: always worked for me. Not that I mean it doesn't
6:38
Speaker 6: like I understand what you're saying. It doesn't like solidify
6:42
Speaker 6: who I am, Like I know who I am. I
6:44
Speaker 6: don't need anybody to tell me who I am or
6:47
Speaker 6: who I am as a player or a person. I'm
6:49
Speaker 6: grounded in myself and I think a lot of that
6:52
Speaker 6: is through you know, the Lord and Jesus and knowing
6:55
Speaker 6: who I am. But I think that extra doubt, that
6:58
Speaker 6: extra fuel always helps.
7:00
Speaker 1: We're here, third Row Center, the porta Helena Domdiicant Republic.
7:04
Speaker 3: What can you remember playing alongside christ Dote?
7:07
Speaker 6: Uh?
7:07
Speaker 5: Great, great teammate of mine.
7:09
Speaker 6: I love playing alongside him, A guy that I still
7:11
Speaker 6: have a relationship with to this day. And when I
7:13
Speaker 6: got traded here, he was a big, big part of
7:15
Speaker 6: helping me in my transition here.
7:17
Speaker 5: So, uh yeah, I got a lot of love for
7:19
Speaker 5: CD and his fan, Vince.
7:23
Speaker 13: Tyree's right in the middle. Then's good, Y'all's bots, congrats
7:25
Speaker 13: on getting here. The two best teams with the best
7:28
Speaker 13: record since January first has been you guys in Oklahoma City.
7:32
Speaker 13: Yet there's this decided advantage people see Oklahoma City having.
7:36
Speaker 13: You're one of the biggest underdogs in recent NBA Finals history.
7:41
Speaker 3: How do you see that? How do you take that?
7:42
Speaker 3: Do you see it that way?
7:43
Speaker 13: Do you see Oklahoma City being this great team that
7:46
Speaker 13: you're going to have to upset? How do you view
7:49
Speaker 13: this series basically from thirty thousand feet Yeah, I.
7:52
Speaker 6: Mean they're a great team. They're historically great on both
7:55
Speaker 6: sides of the ball.
7:56
Speaker 5: They have the MVP.
7:57
Speaker 6: I mean, there's so many different things that you good
8:00
Speaker 6: name down the list of why they are so great
8:02
Speaker 6: at what they do and uh, why they're such a
8:04
Speaker 6: great team. And you know, we know that this is
8:07
Speaker 6: a great team, and I wouldn't want to if we're
8:10
Speaker 6: to win a championship, I don't want to win any
8:11
Speaker 6: other way. I don't want to go around or go over.
8:14
Speaker 6: I want to go through. You want to go through
8:16
Speaker 6: the best team. You want to go through the best challenge.
8:17
Speaker 6: So this is the best challenge. And this is the
8:20
Speaker 6: best team in the NBA, has been the best team
8:21
Speaker 6: in the NBA all year and they're well coached, They
8:24
Speaker 6: just they just do everything so well. So uh, there's
8:27
Speaker 6: no shortcuts to beating this team. And we know the
8:29
Speaker 6: odds are stacked against us, but you know, it is
8:31
Speaker 6: what it is.
8:32
Speaker 5: Uh.
8:33
Speaker 6: We want to be here, We want to play against
8:34
Speaker 6: the best, and this is the best. So uh, you know,
8:37
Speaker 6: we're looking forward to the challenge as a group.
8:39
Speaker 3: Joe.
8:39
Speaker 1: Final question right here.
8:40
Speaker 14: Hey Ti, Uh, you've talked about this before, maybe it
8:43
Speaker 14: was with when you signed your extension, but being from
8:46
Speaker 14: Oshkosh and then going through Aims and now you're in Indianapolis,
8:50
Speaker 14: which is a small market. You know that small market
8:52
Speaker 14: has been kind of a discussion this week. I guess
8:56
Speaker 14: within that light, can you describe I guess the the charm,
9:01
Speaker 14: or what you like about playing in Indianapolis.
9:04
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, I mean, I'm I'm from Moscots, Wisconsin, kind
9:08
Speaker 6: of like seventy thousand people.
9:10
Speaker 5: There's nothing to do. I didn't have anything to do
9:12
Speaker 5: growing up.
9:12
Speaker 6: I stayed in the house or went to the local
9:14
Speaker 6: YMCA to play basketball, I went to the high school
9:16
Speaker 6: to play or I went to like my park at
9:19
Speaker 6: Oakland Elementary or whatever the case was.
9:21
Speaker 5: There wasn't a ton to do.
9:23
Speaker 6: So I just think in my life, you know, I
9:26
Speaker 6: really feel like right now, in my life, I'm not
9:29
Speaker 6: talking about basketball, but like in the off season whatever,
9:31
Speaker 6: I think I could live anywhere and be just fine.
9:33
Speaker 6: Like as long as I got my dog, my video
9:36
Speaker 6: game and a court, like I'll be fine. So I
9:39
Speaker 6: just feel like being in Indie, like it's a great
9:42
Speaker 6: place for me. And it's like India is a much
9:45
Speaker 6: bigger place than I'm even accustomed to. And I know
9:48
Speaker 6: people say, you know, it's a small market or whatever
9:50
Speaker 6: the case is, but you know, I'm not like I
9:53
Speaker 6: didn't grow up somewhere where it was much bigger, have
9:56
Speaker 6: more to do. So I love being in Indie. Indie
9:58
Speaker 6: is a great been a great place for me and
10:00
Speaker 6: my fami. My whole family lives there now, so we
10:03
Speaker 6: love being there. It's a lot of fun for me.
10:05
Speaker 6: I don't need like the glitz and glamour of you know,
10:08
Speaker 6: large a large city or anything. I really like the
10:13
Speaker 6: like I think maybe like hometown like small town feel
10:16
Speaker 6: from our fans, right like I think, okay, okay, see
10:18
Speaker 6: can relate to that as well. Like our our home
10:21
Speaker 6: court advantages are different because people are really passionate about
10:25
Speaker 6: our teams, and they're their parents were passionate about the team,
10:28
Speaker 6: and their parents before that were.
10:29
Speaker 5: Passionate about the team.
10:30
Speaker 6: So I think that's like a different type of home
10:33
Speaker 6: court advantage or a different type of fan than like, uh,
10:37
Speaker 6: like a bigger city, you know, if that makes sense.
10:39
Speaker 6: So that's why I enjoy being a part of it,
10:41
Speaker 6: and why I want to be a part of it,
10:42
Speaker 6: you know, for the rest of my career. I really
10:44
Speaker 6: enjoy uh, you know, being a Pacer.
10:46
Speaker 15: Scott Campsel with the score. Obviously this will be Finals
10:49
Speaker 15: of Parents number two for you. I was curious if
10:52
Speaker 15: you see any similarities between the twenty nineteen Raptors team
10:55
Speaker 15: and the you know, current Pacers team you're on.
10:57
Speaker 4: I feel like I've asked this question a lot. I mean,
11:02
Speaker 4: I think I think you gotta be a great team
11:05
Speaker 4: to get to the finals. You know, I think, you know,
11:07
Speaker 4: two great teams obviously different and in a lot of ways,
11:12
Speaker 4: but also just some similarities in terms of just like
11:17
Speaker 4: playing the game the right way, having some some some
11:21
Speaker 4: level of defense, you know, which which ultimately you know,
11:24
Speaker 4: gets to winning. And I think a mix of veterans
11:28
Speaker 4: and and also young players, which I thought we had
11:31
Speaker 4: also back in nine in twenty nineteen. So yeah, it's
11:35
Speaker 4: it's it's it's different in a lot of ways, but
11:38
Speaker 4: but also some similarities.
11:40
Speaker 7: Michael here on the front, Michael Grange from Sportsnet, and
11:43
Speaker 7: and a little bit on that team.
11:45
Speaker 3: Uh.
11:46
Speaker 7: First of all, congratulations in the Finals award. You know,
11:51
Speaker 7: you were one of the young guys. Now you're a vet,
11:54
Speaker 7: and maybe do you find yourself kind of drawing on
11:57
Speaker 7: some of the experiences you had alongside why you're alongside
12:01
Speaker 7: Kyle just as the playoffs get deeper and deeper, do
12:04
Speaker 7: some of those lessons resonate even more than they used to?
12:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, for sure, And I think one of the
12:09
Speaker 4: things for me I learned, you know, just from from
12:11
Speaker 4: those guys is like, no matter what, we just always
12:15
Speaker 4: felt like we had a chance.
12:16
Speaker 3: And when we got down, I mean, we're down.
12:19
Speaker 4: Too against Milwaukee, Like we've had, you know, a series
12:22
Speaker 4: where it was really tough and you know we had
12:23
Speaker 4: to go in Philly and win games on the road.
12:26
Speaker 4: And I think all those experience kind of definitely stays
12:29
Speaker 4: with me and trying to transfer that spirit to my
12:32
Speaker 4: team in terms of you know, being down or whatever
12:36
Speaker 4: in the game or whatever happens, just always playing the
12:39
Speaker 4: railway and understanding that you always have a chance. So
12:42
Speaker 4: that's something I probably say I learned from those guys
12:44
Speaker 4: for sure.
12:47
Speaker 1: Fifth Fair on the.
12:47
Speaker 5: Right, Mayron Patton.
12:49
Speaker 3: Okay, see sports Radio.
12:51
Speaker 13: You guys got off to a slow start the season
12:53
Speaker 13: ten and fifteen, but the beginning of the year really
12:54
Speaker 13: turned things around.
12:56
Speaker 10: What led to the big turnaround? And what are those
12:58
Speaker 10: things you think will help you this in this series?
13:01
Speaker 4: No, I think I thought, you know, obviously, starting the
13:03
Speaker 4: year didn't started what we wanted to. We had a
13:06
Speaker 4: lot of guys in and out of the you know
13:08
Speaker 4: the lineups, you know, some injuries, some things, and I
13:11
Speaker 4: just always talked to the plan. We just continued to
13:13
Speaker 4: be ourselves and and when we had you know, everyone
13:16
Speaker 4: back healthy, we just started playing good basketball, playing together,
13:19
Speaker 4: defense improved, and and you know, just a lot of
13:23
Speaker 4: things that you need as a team to be able
13:25
Speaker 4: to be successful.
13:26
Speaker 3: So I thought we started rocky.
13:30
Speaker 4: But we just stayed stayed steady and just kept being
13:33
Speaker 4: ourselves and and eventually, you know, we we got better.
13:39
Speaker 16: Esperahini for NBA Daily. A lot of people are asking
13:42
Speaker 16: about the twenty nineteen finals, but it's been six seasons
13:45
Speaker 16: since then, and I'm wondering for yourself that journey that
13:49
Speaker 16: you've had from that first finals run to now this one.
13:53
Speaker 16: What have you learned about yourself and your game and
13:56
Speaker 16: how you've developed over the last six years.
13:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's been an incredible journey.
14:02
Speaker 4: I'll say, a lot of a lot of tough times
14:05
Speaker 4: for sure, and and and just learning from adversity. You know,
14:10
Speaker 4: I thought it just wasn't kind of always pretty, which
14:14
Speaker 4: I which I think made me.
14:15
Speaker 3: Who I am.
14:17
Speaker 4: And and just being in this moment now where I
14:19
Speaker 4: can just know that I've I've been through like almost
14:22
Speaker 4: everything as a player, and and a lot of highs,
14:25
Speaker 4: a lot of lows, and and that's just all makes
14:28
Speaker 4: the journey sweeter, you know, and I and I and
14:29
Speaker 4: for me, I enjoy all those those moments and it
14:32
Speaker 4: makes me just appreciate everything even more and and just
14:36
Speaker 4: play freely out there on your right.
14:39
Speaker 10: Mark Spears, Mark Spears, Espanska. How do you compare your
14:45
Speaker 10: journey and the amazing obstacles you made to get to
14:50
Speaker 10: the NBA versus what African players and the resources they
14:54
Speaker 10: have now? And also what kind of role model are
14:59
Speaker 10: you you for you know, aspiring African players to get
15:03
Speaker 10: to the NBA.
15:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, it's it's been it's been interesting, I think
15:07
Speaker 4: for me coming in as a as a as a
15:10
Speaker 4: young player, you know, like just not really having played
15:15
Speaker 4: any basketball, really having to learn on the fly, and
15:19
Speaker 4: and I think, you know, like at that time, it
15:20
Speaker 4: was mostly like you know, when you was a big
15:22
Speaker 4: guy from Cameroon, you just came in and you was
15:24
Speaker 4: a big and you you ran and you're dunk. You know,
15:27
Speaker 4: like that's pretty much what it was. And I think
15:29
Speaker 4: for me, I can see that, you know, evolving now,
15:31
Speaker 4: you know, we guys my size being able to do
15:34
Speaker 4: different things and and now you know, with the NBA
15:37
Speaker 4: going in Africa, Like, it's just it's just so much
15:40
Speaker 4: more development and and guys are getting a lot more,
15:42
Speaker 4: a lot better, and the skills are being learned early
15:45
Speaker 4: on something that I had to do really late in
15:48
Speaker 4: my career.
15:49
Speaker 3: So it's it's evolving and and and I'm I.
15:54
Speaker 4: Hope, you know, I can be one of those guys that,
15:56
Speaker 4: you know, some young guys can look at and be like,
15:58
Speaker 4: look at his journey and the things that he's able
16:00
Speaker 4: to accomplish and and how he did it, and they
16:02
Speaker 4: can take it an example, you know, Like I really
16:05
Speaker 4: don't don't look at myself like, oh I'm a role
16:08
Speaker 4: model or anything, but I just feel like, you know,
16:10
Speaker 4: you can look at my journey and be like, man
16:12
Speaker 4: like he did it, and he did it the hallway
16:13
Speaker 4: and there was no shortcuts and and and someone that
16:17
Speaker 4: gave everything, just worked hard, put his head down and
16:21
Speaker 4: no matter that the obstacles, and he's just he just
16:23
Speaker 4: kept working, you know. And I think that's that's something
16:26
Speaker 4: I want to tell your own players. It's just it's
16:27
Speaker 4: not going to be easy. Nobody's going to give you anything.
16:31
Speaker 4: You're probably gonna have less opportunity because you come from
16:34
Speaker 4: where you come from and and as long as you understand,
16:36
Speaker 4: you know, the odds against yourself and and that you
16:40
Speaker 4: just go out there, no nonsense, You just work on
16:41
Speaker 4: your game. I think you know, you can accomplish big things.
16:45
Speaker 4: So I hope that you know, they can look at
16:47
Speaker 4: my journey and be like, yeah, that's someone that did
16:48
Speaker 4: it that.
16:49
Speaker 1: Way over here on your left third row.
16:51
Speaker 17: Jamal Collier from ESPN uh I got two quick ones
16:54
Speaker 17: for your Pascal. The first one about your relationship with
16:57
Speaker 17: Tyrase and just hell, you've seen that grow and develop
17:01
Speaker 17: in the year and a half since you've been here.
17:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, it's been great. I said.
17:05
Speaker 4: I remember, you know when I first got here, and
17:07
Speaker 4: you know, we got on the phone, we talked, and
17:09
Speaker 4: and you know, there's just like a mutual understanding about
17:12
Speaker 4: just what we want to accomplish. It's all about winning.
17:16
Speaker 4: And and for me, I was just kind of excited
17:18
Speaker 4: that we have that same mindset. We just we just
17:21
Speaker 4: didn't care about nothing else but winning, you know, And
17:23
Speaker 4: and I think that that's something that that draw us
17:26
Speaker 4: to each other. And and just for me just being
17:30
Speaker 4: that presence that he can have someone that he can
17:32
Speaker 4: talk to that's been in these situations before and and
17:36
Speaker 4: for me as a player of being out there with
17:37
Speaker 4: someone that's selfless and just plays a game the right way,
17:40
Speaker 4: and it's just it feels it feels great, you know,
17:43
Speaker 4: it's it's he's a great person to be around and
17:45
Speaker 4: also a great player to play with. And I think
17:48
Speaker 4: that's that's that's you know, our relationship has been growing
17:52
Speaker 4: and and we definitely have the same mindset.
17:55
Speaker 17: And then just uh, you guys haven't lost back to
17:58
Speaker 17: that game since March. And I think terraces a couple
18:00
Speaker 17: of times that the film sessions in between can get
18:03
Speaker 17: like pretty brutal, pretty honest sort of point out mistakes.
18:06
Speaker 17: Just one of those film sessions, like with Rick Carlisle
18:09
Speaker 17: after a loss kind of how what do you think
18:11
Speaker 17: makes them so good at making adjustments?
18:14
Speaker 3: I mean, I think we just look at ourselves.
18:15
Speaker 6: You know.
18:15
Speaker 4: It's no, it's like the film is there, it doesn't
18:20
Speaker 4: lie right, so you look at it and you see
18:22
Speaker 4: what you can do better, and just being honest about
18:25
Speaker 4: what we need to do to get better. And I'm
18:28
Speaker 4: glad that the guy's been able to just turn the
18:30
Speaker 4: page on whatever is that happened before and just move on.
18:34
Speaker 1: Last two third row over here on the right in
18:35
Speaker 1: the second round.
18:37
Speaker 13: Hey Paskecalvan's good will, y'ahoe sports you and the Pace.
18:41
Speaker 3: Excuse me.
18:41
Speaker 13: The Pacers and the Thunder have the two best records
18:43
Speaker 13: since January first, Yet the Thunder are a decided favorite.
18:47
Speaker 3: In this series. Is that?
18:50
Speaker 13: Do you look at them as this historically great team,
18:52
Speaker 13: this huge undertaking and challenge, or do you see this
18:56
Speaker 13: as more of a series that's evenly matched, Like, how.
18:59
Speaker 3: Do you view it is coming? I think we focus
19:02
Speaker 3: on ourselves. I think.
19:05
Speaker 10: I don't.
19:05
Speaker 4: I don't think we expect anyone to pick us though,
19:07
Speaker 4: and that's been like that the whole playoffs. It's been
19:08
Speaker 4: like that the whole season. So I think for us,
19:11
Speaker 4: nothing really changes. We just continue to be ourselves, focus
19:16
Speaker 4: on us and and it's it's always been us against everyone,
19:20
Speaker 4: so it doesn't change.
19:22
Speaker 18: You have been in the twenty eleven finals as an
19:25
Speaker 18: underdog and that you guys won. How do you think
19:28
Speaker 18: that experience can help you uh through this finals? And
19:33
Speaker 18: how to pass that to to their players?
19:37
Speaker 19: Yeah, oklas Hooma City is a great team, and yeah,
19:44
Speaker 19: we're aware what's expected here and and so.
19:50
Speaker 5: We've got we've got a lot of work cut out
19:52
Speaker 5: for us.
19:54
Speaker 19: A lot of our guys have been through a lot
19:56
Speaker 19: of situations where they've been underdogs in the past, and Uh,
20:01
Speaker 19: it's it's simply gonna come down to us being able
20:04
Speaker 19: to play our game at the best possible level. We're
20:09
Speaker 19: gonna need to take care of the ball because these
20:11
Speaker 19: guys turn people over at a historic rate.
20:16
Speaker 3: And we're gonna have to make some shots.
20:19
Speaker 1: Joe up here on the front, Hey.
20:21
Speaker 14: Riic Uh, there's been some discussion this week about this
20:26
Speaker 14: being a small market finals and the thunder Ridges stuff
20:29
Speaker 14: there said some really cool stuff about what it's like
20:32
Speaker 14: to play here. You've had this long career and lived
20:36
Speaker 14: and worked in massive markets and small markets. What what
20:40
Speaker 14: do you find is the charm of coaching and working
20:44
Speaker 14: in in Indianapolis.
20:49
Speaker 19: You know a lot of people talk about great places
20:54
Speaker 19: to live. When you have a good situation, you're working
21:01
Speaker 19: with great people and your team is good, that's a
21:03
Speaker 19: great place to live, you know. And small market, big market,
21:07
Speaker 19: you know, it's doesn't matter. I just I have such
21:13
Speaker 19: great respect for what Oklahoma is building here. I know
21:18
Speaker 19: Mark Dagnault pretty well and Sam Presty and I go
21:22
Speaker 19: way back.
21:25
Speaker 3: You know, I was.
21:25
Speaker 19: I was invited to San Antonio's training camp and the
21:30
Speaker 19: fall of two thousand when I was headed into a
21:33
Speaker 19: year where I was going to do just take a
21:36
Speaker 19: year away and ended up doing broadcasting stuff. But Sam
21:42
Speaker 19: Presty was an intern for the Spurs at that time,
21:50
Speaker 19: and I remember, you know, he is from the Boston area,
21:55
Speaker 19: so he had grown up a Celtics fans. So he
21:56
Speaker 19: actually remembered when I played, which was miraculous to me.
21:59
Speaker 19: It's like he was probably way too young for that.
22:03
Speaker 19: But we had a couple of dinners.
22:06
Speaker 5: Together, and.
22:10
Speaker 19: You know, he he he asked, he asked me, you know,
22:13
Speaker 19: I what what can I do? I gotta I gotta
22:16
Speaker 19: somehow get a job out of this. I said, well,
22:18
Speaker 19: just just become a guy that they can't live without.
22:21
Speaker 19: And and Sam is a great demonstration of resourcefulness and
22:30
Speaker 19: you know wherewithal and stuff like that, and and he's
22:33
Speaker 19: forged himself a great career. He and Kevin Pritchard are
22:38
Speaker 19: two of the best franchise builders around, and so this
22:41
Speaker 19: series really should celebrate those two guys and their staffs
22:45
Speaker 19: and what they've done. But as far as the markets,
22:50
Speaker 19: you know, I understand that there would be could be
22:56
Speaker 19: concerned for you know, how many people would watch because
22:59
Speaker 19: they're small our markets. But if we're celebrating the game
23:04
Speaker 19: and we're putting game above all, which was one of
23:08
Speaker 19: the things that Adam Silver said when he when he
23:11
Speaker 19: became commissioner, then it really shouldn't matter, you know, it
23:16
Speaker 19: really shouldn't matter. And so I know that we're going
23:19
Speaker 19: to do our very best to represent our city, our
23:23
Speaker 19: state at the best possible level. You know, Thunder will
23:29
Speaker 19: do the same. But this really, hopefully is about the
23:35
Speaker 19: quality of the games, and you know, we got our
23:37
Speaker 19: work cut.
23:38
Speaker 3: Out for us.
23:38
Speaker 12: There on your right second row, Tim, Tim Reynolds, ap Rick,
23:43
Speaker 12: if I may ask you to put your NBC A
23:45
Speaker 12: hat on, what was your reaction yesterday when you heard
23:48
Speaker 12: about Tom.
23:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I.
23:55
Speaker 19: Get I get asked frequently about these things, and I
23:59
Speaker 19: always say shocked, you know, and then sometimes you get
24:03
Speaker 19: numb and you're not shocked. But you know, the Knicks
24:09
Speaker 19: have such a unique situation, with so much attention and
24:15
Speaker 19: such a large fan base and such a worldwide following.
24:22
Speaker 19: It's one of the most difficult jobs to take. The
24:28
Speaker 19: guys that have been most successful, you know, Red Holtzman,
24:31
Speaker 19: pat Riley, Jeff Van Gundy, Rick Patino had a short run,
24:37
Speaker 19: but a very but a very effective run.
24:41
Speaker 5: And then you know.
24:43
Speaker 19: That there were a lot of lean years, and you
24:46
Speaker 19: know Tims went in there and changed so much, and
24:49
Speaker 19: so you look at all that and then what happened
24:55
Speaker 19: yesterday And when I when I first saw it, it
24:58
Speaker 19: came over one of the you know, I thought it
25:00
Speaker 19: was one of those fake AI things. You know that
25:03
Speaker 19: the way that's the way possible, you know, And I
25:08
Speaker 19: know how the players feel about him too, and so
25:12
Speaker 19: UH has not much else to say. I mean, teams
25:17
Speaker 19: and ownership can can make these decisions unilaterally and then
25:23
Speaker 19: and it's.
25:23
Speaker 5: Their right to do that.
25:25
Speaker 19: And so, uh, Tom will certainly be will certainly be fine.
25:30
Speaker 19: I don't think he's gonna have any problem finding it.
25:33
Speaker 19: Finding his next job is is going to depend on
25:36
Speaker 19: when he's ready to jump back in again. But I
25:40
Speaker 19: have great respect for for TIBs. I go, I go
25:43
Speaker 19: back with him a very long way.
25:45
Speaker 12: And uh so you know, I was surprised one follow
25:51
Speaker 12: as you gave the anecdote yesterday of driving from Lisbon
25:55
Speaker 12: to Ogdensburg as probably the only other guy in the room,
25:59
Speaker 12: who's been to about the way has been in Ogdensburg.
26:00
Speaker 12: I feel like I can ask this the Yeah, well,
26:04
Speaker 12: the where you're from, guys don't go to the NBA.
26:08
Speaker 12: It's just it doesn't produce NBA players.
26:11
Speaker 19: When Jimmy Howard had a great career as a goalie
26:13
Speaker 19: in the National Hockey League, that's he's from Augensburg, Yes, but.
26:17
Speaker 3: Not the NBA.
26:18
Speaker 12: No, it's were you ever dissuaded when when you were like,
26:22
Speaker 12: this is the path I want to go down. I
26:23
Speaker 12: want to play at Maine. I want to play at Virginia.
26:26
Speaker 12: I want to play big time basketball. Did did you
26:29
Speaker 12: ever think, no, I can't because nobody here has done it?
26:32
Speaker 12: When did you how did you get past all that?
26:35
Speaker 5: Well?
26:35
Speaker 19: One of my best friends growing up was a guy
26:38
Speaker 19: named hal Cohen who played at Syracuse University, and he
26:41
Speaker 19: was he was the greatest player to ever come out
26:44
Speaker 19: of the North Country.
26:44
Speaker 5: He was two years ahead of me.
26:47
Speaker 19: In high school and he got a he got a
26:49
Speaker 19: scholarship to Syracuse University. So he he got a scholarship
26:53
Speaker 19: to a big time basketball program. And and I grew
26:59
Speaker 19: up playing with him them all the time, competing and
27:04
Speaker 19: it was one of the reasons that I ended up
27:06
Speaker 19: having a chance to get a Division one scholarship, and
27:11
Speaker 19: I had to go to prep school to do it.
27:13
Speaker 19: I went to Worcester Academy for a year. U University
27:15
Speaker 19: of Maine was my only Division one offer, went there
27:18
Speaker 19: for two years, and then through a series of connections
27:23
Speaker 19: and relationships, was able to transfer to University of Virginia
27:27
Speaker 19: and play with ral S Hampson for a year. And
27:29
Speaker 19: that changed, That changed my life forever. And uh, I
27:33
Speaker 19: had great coaching and and and a lot of things
27:36
Speaker 19: that were very fortunate, and you know, ended up getting
27:40
Speaker 19: drafted by Boston and around that no longer exists in
27:43
Speaker 19: the draft, and so uh, a lot a lot of things,
27:47
Speaker 19: a lot of things.
27:51
Speaker 5: Fell my way, but I worked hard.
27:54
Speaker 19: Too, and and but but you know, seeing how Cohen
27:57
Speaker 19: do it do that was was something that gave a
28:00
Speaker 19: lot of people, a lot of guys in the North
28:02
Speaker 19: Country a lot more belief about about being able to
28:06
Speaker 19: go to higher levels, not just in basketball but other sports.
28:09
Speaker 19: And I think Jimmy Howard would would be another example
28:11
Speaker 19: of that.
28:12
Speaker 1: Time for last question, Tanya in the.
28:14
Speaker 20: Back Tanya Gongali, New York Times. There's so much discussion
28:19
Speaker 20: about who's the next face of the league. I've even
28:23
Speaker 20: seen it phrases like an existential question for the league
28:25
Speaker 20: after Stephan Lebron retire, what happens. I was wondering what
28:30
Speaker 20: you think about to what degree that is imperative for
28:36
Speaker 20: the league, for the health of the league, Like does
28:39
Speaker 20: it have to do there have to be a couple
28:40
Speaker 20: of guys that sort of the whole ecosystem revolves around.
28:46
Speaker 19: Well, you know, I haven't been drafted in nineteen eighty four,
28:50
Speaker 19: in the in the midst of the Bird Magic explosion
28:54
Speaker 19: of the NBA. I think I think people would would
29:00
Speaker 19: assume that it was it was Larry and Magic, and
29:03
Speaker 19: then it was and it was Michael Jordan for for
29:06
Speaker 19: a few years and then you know.
29:08
Speaker 3: But.
29:10
Speaker 19: Things are changing, you know, the roster construction seems to
29:15
Speaker 19: be evolving in a in a in a slightly different direction,
29:19
Speaker 19: if not a pretty significantly different direction. And it's possible
29:25
Speaker 19: that you know, there are there are always going to
29:28
Speaker 19: be stars, but identify, identifying with teams may become more
29:35
Speaker 19: more of a significant thing than just the star aspect
29:39
Speaker 19: of it. You don't have to see it's it's such
29:42
Speaker 19: a dynamic business, and it's it's it's it's so quickly changing,
29:49
Speaker 19: and it can and it can change on a moment,
29:51
Speaker 19: in a moment, in a you know, in a moment, much.
29:55
Speaker 5: Like a playoff series can.
29:57
Speaker 19: But I just think the league is so healthy right
30:00
Speaker 19: now because there are so many young, great young players
30:05
Speaker 19: that have personality that are such great promoters of the
30:09
Speaker 19: game simply by virtue of how they play the game,
30:12
Speaker 19: you know, with their with their joy.
30:14
Speaker 5: With their love.
30:17
Speaker 19: It's it's it's moving away from an isolation league to
30:21
Speaker 19: really more of a of a of a team type
30:24
Speaker 19: game type game. Oklahoma plays that way. We we try
30:27
Speaker 19: to play that way and so, uh so time will tell,
30:32
Speaker 19: But Lebron James and Steph Curry, I mean those guys
30:36
Speaker 19: are still there's there's still the gold standard. Really, I
30:39
Speaker 19: mean there's there's still they're still it and uh those
30:43
Speaker 19: guys have been absolutely beyond belief.
30:48
Speaker 1: Thank you, coach,