NBA IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT

December 7, 2023

Tyrese Haliburton

Myles Turner

Indiana Pacers

Semifinal Postgame

Pacers 128, Bucks 119

Q. Tyrese, what does it mean for your career and for your team to be on this global stage and part of the first NBA Cup final in history? Also, do you believe the In-Season Tournament will contribute to the expansion of basketball internationally?

TYRESE HALIBURTON: Yeah, the first part of your question, it means the world to us as a group. I think this was the whole point of the In-Season Tournament, to see a young group like ourselves compete and come out here and fight. I think we're shocking the world right now. Nobody expected us to be here except for the guys in the locker room. That means a lot to us, so it feels good.

Just got to prepare appropriately, enjoy this one, but get ready to go against whoever that is on Saturday.

As far as the In-Season Tournament, expanding the growth of our game, I think that this is really big for our game. I think that this will become something down the line that fans will continue to be very engaged in. Obviously this is the first year, so I'm sure some things will change as far as the format, the amount of games, stuff like that.

I think the league is getting exactly what they want. This is bringing a lot of attention to our sport at a time where usually we're kind of in a lull watching football until Christmas, the average fan.

I think it's really good for the game.

Q. Tyrese, second game in a row with zero turnovers. I think it's 28 assists. Is it something you can work to get better or it's just a matter of being focused?

TYRESE HALIBURTON: My teammates just put me in a great position to make the right play. Sometimes I make some wild passes and things like that, guys cover it up and make me look a lot better than I am. That's just kudos to my teammates and the guys who surround me.

I'm always just trying to make the right play. I think as long as us as a team, we take care of the ball, we're going to get enough good looks that we're going to be in every game. The games that we take care of the ball we're really hard to beat because we're going to get enough good looks and more times than not we're going to make enough good looks.

I think it's a team effort. Everybody is taking care of the ball, and that has a lot to do with it.

Q. Tyrese, 27 and 15, Myles with a big game, five guys in double figures. How nice is it to know you've got a bench that can put 43 up and set the tone while you guys are taking a breather to come back in and pick up where they left off?

TYRESE HALIBURTON: Yeah, I know a lot of people don't watch us play all the time, but we truly have one of the best benches in the NBA, if not the best bench in the NBA.

I think local media in Indy, all we talked about was the depth of our group and the competition that was going into training camp and how guys are really competing for minutes. We've got guys who aren't playing right now that can really contribute, as well.

We're a really deep team with a lot of different guys who can contribute. Yeah, I'm sure we've got a lot of guys that people aren't really familiar with, but they'll be familiar all too soon, for sure.

Q. Myles, what do you think this team has been so good at handling the spotlight, not allowing the big stage to get to you guys? And Tyrese, could you describe your celebration looking down at your list?

MYLES TURNER: Well, I don't think we have a lot of Hollywood guys on this team. I think that we've got a lot of guys that come in, put their heads down and work. That just speaks to what the city of Indianapolis is. We try to embrace that as a team and as a unit and just give the fans something to be happy about and just excited to follow. I'm very excited for what we're doing, and we still have a lot to accomplish.

TYRESE HALIBURTON: Not a lot of Hollywood guys, but one guy has got a suit on with no shirt (laughter).

No, I think it was just in the heat of the moment, having fun. I know I kind of pounded my chest and said it was my time, whatever, but I think really looking at it, it's our time. It's our time as a group. We're playing the right way, and like I said, we're shocking the world right now. We're going to continue to do that.

As long as we play the right way, we know we're going to be in every basketball game. We have a lot of confidence in ourselves. It doesn't matter who believes in us. It really doesn't. As long as the guys in the locker room do. We've got all the trust in the world in ourselves, and we're going to continue to have that.

Q. Myles, Rick said before when he was in here that you've been kind of waiting to be a part of a group like this in Indiana for a long time. Can you speak to what it feels like at this moment to be with a guy like Ty and be the lone guy in the frontcourt after all the questions of the fit and the contract was hanging over last year, just on a personal level how fulfilling it's been for you?

MYLES TURNER: It feels damn good. I'm not going to lie. It's been a long time coming because I know what this organization is capable of, and just to have Indy to have their guy and just have a great bench and great depth, I couldn't be happier.

I feel like I just stayed down, man. It's one of those things where I could have quit. I could have just bailed out a couple years ago. I could have just threw my hands up and said, this is how it's going to be. But I never stopped working. I just had trust in myself, had trust in the ones around me. I think the front office did an amazing job these past couple of years to bring in some great pieces.

Q. The zone obviously gave you guys a little bit of trouble. How do you feel like you figured that out? What do you think got right there? Also, they got 43 in the third and you guys hold them to 25 in the fourth. What did you do to bunker down defensively after what went wrong in the third?

TYRESE HALIBURTON: I think a lot of guys just made some shots. I think we got Bruce in the middle. You guys know for the last few years, his bread and butter has been his two-foot floater, and he was able to get to that. Drew was really big in that third quarter, making some really tough shots in the mid-range and stuff like that. This guy dominated the paint for us offensively.

We knew after last time we played them we got up 20 in the first quarter, and they went to zone and that slowed us down and got them going, so we expected that. We talked a lot about that in our preparation for this, understanding how they were going to go to zone, force us to the middle.

I think it's interesting because the point of the zone is to slow us down, but they force everything to the middle within the zone, and I feel like if I'm in the middle of the floor then I can really get guys involved. We missed a lot of shots today that I feel like we'll make on Saturday. Buddy didn't shoot it well. I didn't shoot it well. We had a lot of ones that we probably want back.

At the end of the day, we just dug in, got enough stops to allow us to play in transition. Like we've said all year, when we play in transition, we're really tough to beat. We just got enough timely stops when needed to get going.

Q. Tyrese, Rick Carlisle was in here earlier and he said that you are an MVP candidate. How does it feel to be mentioned in the upper echelon of NBA talent this year?

TYRESE HALIBURTON: Yeah, it's cool. It feels like 2K sometimes. It feels really good for me.

But at the end of the day, I've spoken on this since the start of the season. I just want to win. We've got a bunch of guys that -- Buddy is probably, I think he's played the most games in the NBA right now without a playoff appearance. That's like my brother. I want to get him to the Playoffs. I want to get to the Playoffs. This guy (Turner) wants to get back to the Playoffs. We've got a lot of guys that want to compete for something and play for something bigger than ourselves.

This is the start of that, playing for something real. We've got a chance to win a championship. It doesn't matter the prize or anything like that. We've got a chance to win a championship.

So that means a lot to us, and we're not taking that lightly. We're going to be prepared on Saturday.

But I think as a group, we just want to win. All the extra individual accolades, that's going to come with winning. That comes with winning.

Q. We just witnessed such an intense and exciting game. Talk about how the energy was different in comparison to the regular season.

MYLES TURNER: I know for me personally, it's just kind of cool to have Indiana Pacers jersey on and come out here and see all the Pacers jerseys on the side. You have your big-market teams and whenever they come to our arena you see a whole bunch of green or a bunch of purple or a bunch of different away fans that travel. But to see them waking up I guess the rest of the nation now, we have our fans traveling. We're genuinely excited about us at a neutral site like this. I thought it was incredible. The energy in Gainbridge before we left for that Boston game, that's the best I've seen it the past three to four years, ever since the last time we were in the Playoffs.

Even here today, I think fans are genuinely excited, whether they were a Pacers fan or just an NBA fan. Just this environment that was created for this In-Season Tournament was dope.

It got louder and louder; this guy (Haliburton) made a huge shot in that fourth quarter, and it got really loud in there, as well. We're looking forward to Saturday, seeing what it's going to bring.

Q. Tyrese, you said you were feeling a little different just because it was such a big game. What were you feeling right after? Was it relief? Was it excitement? What was the celebration like in the locker room for you guys?

TYRESE HALIBURTON: You know, I think us as a group right now, obviously there's a lot of excitement around this, and I think that there has to be an appropriate celebration. You know what I mean? You can't go crazy, because you play on Saturday. You've got to make sure you pay attention to the game that's about to happen here in a second to be prepared to go on Saturday.

But you want to enjoy this one. We're in an inaugural championship game. That's a lot of fun for us. That's going to go down in history.

It's a lot of fun for us. We're all excited, all really happy right now. But we didn't just come here to play in one game, play in two games, compete. We came here to win.

It's a lot of fun, but it's just an appropriate celebration and be ready to go on Saturday.

Q. What are your impressions of Las Vegas, and would you like to see Las Vegas have an NBA team?

MYLES TURNER: Well, it's the entertainment capital of the world, right? I think that when we're here for Summer League, you see the environment that it creates and the buzz it can potentially create, just for the NBA in general.

Me personally, having a team here, I think it would be a great thing just for international fans. I feel like Las Vegas is a hot spot for people who travel internationally and want to experience the league at that.

The NBA is about entertainment, and this is a perfect place for it. I wouldn't be mad at it.

TYRESE HALIBURTON: Yeah, who doesn't like Vegas, you know what I mean? Yeah, for sure. It's only a matter of time, right? I think we all understand that. You see they've got the NFL team, MLB coming. It's only a matter of the NBA coming. The guy on the Lakers, he talks about bringing the team to Vegas every other day.

Eventually there will be a team here, and that's good for the growth of the game, like he said.

I think we're at the peak of our sport right now. We've got I think the point guard position is at the best it's ever been top to bottom. I think we've got a lot of different guys who can contribute in this league, so I think more teams would be really good for our league and bring more excitement. Like I said, we bring Summer League here every year, USA Basketball here in the summers.

Vegas is, like he said, the entertainment capital of the world, and it's only a matter of time.