NBA quotes: A bitter and a sweet homecoming

Indianapolis native Brad Stevens, a childhood Pacers fan and former Butler coach, returned home last week as the rookie coach for the Boston Celtics. It wasn’t a warm homecoming. The Pacers blew out his Celtics, 106-79. “I probably would’ve been better off just sitting up in the stands with somebody, the way that we played,” Stevens said. “First of all, they’re really good. Secondly, we weren’t very good.”

No stopping him

Tyreke Evans, former rookie of the year with the Kings, had a better homecoming when his new team, New Orleans, played at Sacramento on Monday. Evans had game highs of 25 points and 12 assists, as the Pelicans beat the Kings, 113-100. “I know they have no shot blockers, so I was attacking every chance I got,” he said.

How low can you go?

The loss was the Kings’ sixth in their last eight games. “How many times do you have to hit rock bottom? Look at our record, we’ve hit rock bottom four or five times now,” said Sacramento’s rookie Coach Michael Malone. “I’m used to being in the playoffs, being a competitive team that takes pride in its defense. Right now we don’t have a lot of guys to do that. I’m not sure what their rock bottom is, but I hit my rock bottom about one week into the season.”

barry.stavro@latimes.com