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Head coach Frank Vogel said his Indiana Pacers had nothing to be ashamed of on Monday, despite having fallen short of the NBA finals after pushing the Miami Heat to a decisive game seven in the Eastern Conference playoff series.
Indiana came up 23 points short in fact, losing 99-76 after a blistering second quarter from the defending NBA champions and Vogel admitted the mood in the locker room was despondent.
“They are disappointed. They felt like we could have won this series and they wanted to win badly,” he told reporters.
“So disappointed but also encouraged about the future. I told them to keep their heads extremely high. We accomplished a great deal.
“No one in the world gave us a chance to get this far … we overcome a lot to grab the nation’s attention.
“Everyone in this country knows who the Indiana Pacers are now. We represent all the right things – class, character, hard work, old-school basketball, playing the game the right way,” he added.
Reported by Simon Evans of Reuters
