Quote Board: Jason Kidd, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving talk about the loss to the Indiana Pacers

The Dallas Mavericks lost the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night in a close one, 122-124. The Pacers controlled the game for most of the second half until Dallas closed the gap with a late run. It was too little, too late, as multiple clutch-time quality shots refused to fall and the Pacers escaped with the win. You can read more about the game here, but here’s what Jason Kidd, Luka Doncic, and Kyrie Irving had to say about the loss.

Jason Kidd

(On the last look of the game…)

“Great look. Executed the last play, Kai [Kyrie Irving] had the option for the two or the three. He had a good look, I thought it was good.”

(on how the Mavericks need to improve defensively...)

“– seeing the fourth quarter, the defense was pretty good and gave us a shot. That’s big. Just understand the guys that played in the fourth quarter put us in a position to win that game, or tie it. We got stops, we got misses and put us in a position offensively. One thing defensively we’ve got to do a better job of is just [avoiding] fouling. I think they shot 40 free throws. Understanding if you give a team like that 40 free throws, it’s going to be hard to beat them.”

(On the Pacers defense…)

“Understanding Rick [Carlisle] is not going to let Luka [Dončić] play, and he didn’t. But, Luka did a great job of staying patient, attacking, and I thought he did a great job in the paint and finishing. The big thing is, we couldn’t make the timing shot. We had a lot of great looks for threes there late, and two of them were airballs. Kai [Kyrie Irving] had a good one in the left corner that didn’t go down, and then Kai’s game winner just didn’t fall for us. We got wide open looks – quality looks – late, that we’ve got to be able to make.”

(On Maxi Kleber’s return…)

“I thought he did great, nine points. We made sure we got to his mark for minutes, didn’t go over. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. I think the guys were happy to have him out there on both ends, offensively and defensively. Offensively for us, we dominated the paint due to his ability to shoot the three. I thought his playmaking [was good] and defensively, he covered up everybody. He has done that for us all season. To have him back, it’s good for everybody.”

Luka Doncic

(On the last play of the game...)

“It was a good shot, I think. It’s Kyrie. He can make a lot of those shots. We trust him.”

(How can the team play better defense...)

“I don’t know, that’s the question.”

(Is the team capable of playing better defense...)

“Yeah, of course we are.”

(On the overall team effort tonight...)

“I don’t think the effort was bad. Some coverage we didn’t execute well. But I don’t think the effort was bad.”

(On the progress of he and Kyrie...)

“I think we should be talking about the whole team because we play as a team. We lose and we win as a team. It’s not just about two players. It is about the whole team. So, we have to do better as a team. That’s it.”

(On the progress of the team since the trade...)

“We still have some things to figure out – especially on the defensive end.”

(On having Maxi Kleber back...)

“It was great. I think he played great today. It’s his first game. It’s always a tough one after (missing) so many games. I think it was amazing and he’s going to really help us.”

(On Tyrese Haliburton...)

“He’s a great player. He can score and he can assist. He’s been doing that the whole season. I am not surprised that he played amazing.”

Kyrie Irving

(On the last shot attempt of the game…)

“Great shot, great look, just didn’t go down. Obviously we had a few different options on that last play, but I just appreciate the coaching staff and my teammates trusting me with that shot. And just the comfort they gave me afterwards. I really want to win here, really put a lot of pressure on myself, at times I think I need to scale it back a little bit. Just because the second half of the season, we’re not going to be great every single possession. Usually these learning curves and learning moments happen in preseason, but it’s happening now.

(On how the pressure of the game affects him…)

“Just post All-Star break, it’s just natural pressure. It’s just like NBA pressure, it comes with the second half of the season. We only have 20 games, 19 games, left in the season and for me personally, I just want to play well. Last two games, I just haven’t played with the fluidity of my game, and just complimenting others and doing the little things to get the win.”

(On the leadership within the Mavericks locker room…)

“I think it’s a collective effort for us in this locker room. I mean we have Hall of Famers in the locker room, so it’s not difficult to go up to one of the guys and ask questions and inquire about what’s going on. That’s probably one of the greatest assets that we have, we have one of the greatest guys to play the game leading us as a head coach [Jason Kidd]. We got some great coaches that really demand excellence out of themselves, and demand excellence out of us.”