Quoteboard for Pacers 111, Mavericks 100: "No way around it, it's an embarrassing loss"

The Mavericks were very bad on defense

Rick Carlisle, on his thoughts on their defensive play: "Poor. When you get outscored in every quarter, that's a demolition. It was a physical demolition. We're not the most physical team, just in terms of our body types, but we've got to be real tough mentally."

Tyson Chandler: "We've got to get better. We've got to correct this if we want to accomplish anything this season."

Carlisle: "There's no flipping a switch in this league, I don't care who you're going up against. I've told you guys this many times, it's much more a first quarter league than a fourth quarter league. If teams get going early and beat you in the first quarter, they've got a chance to get a lead into the fourth, and that's exactly what happened tonight."

Chandler Parsons: "When they hit one or two shots, they get so much confidence. I think it starts from the jump, playing hard, make it uncomfortable for them. If you give anybody shots, and they make their first one or two, they're going to keep shooting, and shoot the ball with high confidence."

Carlisle: "We had breakdowns in many areas. We had big transition breakdowns against Houston, and tonight we were getting beat off the dribble and on pick and rolls. People just put hteir heads down and they just come through us or go by us and it's not good enogh. We have to do a better job helping each other and of making a stand and do a better job individually on our own guys."

Dirk Nowitzki: "We haven't been good [defensively] the last two nights. I said it before the season, this team is going to be challenged defense wise and rebounding wise. If we don't bring it every night then we're going to get lit up, and we were just a step slow. When you start the game off slow and you let guys get their confidence then they throw in shots they probably wouldn't make if you played them in the beginning."

Chandler: "Teams are shooting too high of a percentage against us. It's not because teams make shots against us; it's because we allow teams to make shots against us."

Dirk: "We'll compete in practice a little bit [tomorrow] and get the competitive thing going again on the defensive end, and let it all rip before we go out on the round again."

Carlisle: "There are very few teams who haven't been confident shooting against us. We just got to put up more resistance. That's where it's at defensively. Our guys know that. At one point midway through the first half, they were shooting 60 percent on us. If teams get going regardless of the personnel situation and injuries and all that stuff, it's hard to stop them. They had a lot of guys who got going early. We need to meet the challenge earlier in the game and sustain it."

Tyson, on how to improve: "The focus, and understanding what we're trying to accomplish out there. Attention to details. It can't always be offense, you can't always try to outscore teams every night, and it makes the offense that much easier."

Carlisle: "Indiana just played a great game -- you have to give them a lot of credit. They played a first class, hardnosed, mistake-free game and they deserved to win. They played great and we did not meet the challenge and that is disappointing."

Dirk: "It's another reminder that we're not good enough to coast against anybody."

How bad was this bad loss?

Parsons: "Just a bad loss. We [played] a shorthanded team, at home, with what our schedule is looking like, we have to take advantage of nights like this. There's no way around it. It's an embarrassing loss, we have no room for this especially in the Western Conference, with how tight everything is."

Dirk, on where this ranks on the 'bad game meter': "I don't even know the words; horrible, horrific, awful. I can't find any more words. Especially coming off a tough loss against Houston, we should have had a lot more energy."

Tyson Chandler, same question: "Down there at the bottom of the barrel. Or up there, what ever way you want to categorize it. Bad loss for us, especially coming off of that we should have won in Houston and we let get away. To come out the way we came out is disappointing."

Everything else

Parsons, on Wednesday's game: "It's huge. We haven't lost two in a row yet, so it will be a big test to us to see how we respond. We can't let this game affect us for our preparation tomorrow for New York. We have to get better from this, learn from this, and hopefully not ever allow it to happen."

Dirk, on Tyson's overall impact: "Obviously his leadership is so amazing. He's always the first guy to talk, get on the guys on and off the floor. He addresses the team at halftime, before the games, and that's great. On the court, he's the same [things] he brought two years ago, he's active defensively, talking, pushing guys in the right direction, finishing above the rim on offense, keeping the ball alive. It's definitely good to see him back."