INDIANAPOLIS -- Rick Carlisle's voice seemed strained after he hollered through four quarters and two overtimes in the Pacers' 141-135 season-opening loss to the Thunder , so he understandably was trying to trim his word count in his post-game press conference.

When he was asked what he walked away feeling after a three-hour, 13-minute war of attrition in which he saw one of his most important players at his thinnest position injured and then three more players foul out but also saw his team push the defending NBA champions for 10 extra minutes of basketball before it finally ran out of responses, he tried to sum it all up in three words.

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