Pacers 134, Wizards 130 (OT)
Q. What's your reaction to that one?
COREY KISPERT: When Malcolm went out, we kind of lost our composure. He does a really good job of settling us down, and from the point he went out until the end of the game, we couldn't really find anything comfortable on offense, and we need to be better at getting better shots down the stretch and getting stops, as well, as the game gets closer to the buzzer.
Q. How do you sum things up as you guys approach the All-Star break? What's gone on so far, and what do you hope to do --
COREY KISPERT: Yeah, a lot of growth. Honestly, a lot of tough times. But we're starting to turn a corner. We're playing more competitively. We're playing longer stretches of better basketball. All the things we talked about wanting to see at the beginning of the season. Yes, it might have started to happen a little bit later on than we hoped for, but growth is growth. We're looking forward to being in a ton of games after the break.
Q. What do you see that tells you you guys are turning a corner?
COREY KISPERT: I mean, we're rebounding the ball better, we're playing more physical, we have a better presence on the defensive side of the ball, we're getting better shots, we're working to create the best shot possible. All those little things lead to us being in these games in the fourth quarter and having a shot.
That's all you can really ask for for a team like us is just get in the mix, be competitive and see what happens. It's all things we've been preaching since the beginning of the year, they're just kind of starting to materialize now.
Q. How much is that is the young guys getting more acclimated to what that means, with you guys getting more comfortable with each other, with a new system?
COREY KISPERT: Yeah, a lot of it is on the young guys for sure. We're playing them a lot of minutes. We're throwing them in the fire. As they get acclimated and learn what the NBA game is all about and how it flows and ebbs, the better we're going to be. The credit goes to those guys. They've been learning the whole time. They're ultimate competitors, and they're doing everything they can to help us win.
We're also kind of getting to -- we're seeing the results of the kind of brand of basketball -- playing the brand of basketball that BK wants us to play, and it's leading to us being much more competitive with the roster we have now.
Q. What kind of growth have you seen from Jordan Poole as a leader on the court?
COREY KISPERT: Yeah, he has the ball in his hands a ton for us this year, and that comes with a big responsibility. It's a responsibility to score for himself and get himself in rhythm but also set the other guys up. That's kind of his job. He's learning. He's growing. He's gotten a ton better at it. And in games like this, he helps us a lot, too. He's played in a lot of big games, never afraid of a big moment, and when the game kind of felt out of hand in overtime especially, he brought us back in a matter of seconds.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports