The last time the Indiana Pacers came within two games of an NBA title, it was a stay of execution that postponed the inevitable celebration for the Los Angeles Lakers, the league’s brewing dynasty.
It was a performance for the home crowd 25 years ago, nearly an apology for losing a winnable game four days prior.
These Pacers came within two wins of a championship on Wednesday because they executed at every level, putting spackle on every hole and flaw, and, more significantly, stopped treating the Oklahoma City Thunder like the dynasty they could become.
This may be a delay, but the Pacers are defending home court in what feels like an upset, with a strong fourth quarter on their way to a 116-107 victory in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
So, how do they keep doing this? After defeating Nikola Jokić’s Denver Nuggets in the second round, the Thunder were expected to be crowned as the franchise that had done things correctly.
The Pacers were expected to be a nuisance, and not even the surprise in Game 1 had changed anyone’s thinking. It was dismissed as an anomaly, with the Thunder taking their foot off the throttle and getting caught by a Pacers team that many consider to be a level below Oklahoma City in talent.
The Thunder’s defence is historical, both numerically and visually, but the Pacers discovered that their best friends are endurance and a passionate audience. The Thunder are young, with guys who are mature beyond their years and physically developed, but they were the ones straining their shorts in the fourth quarter, gasping for oxygen.
Maybe it took the Pacers three games to realize that waiting for a fantastic shot means dribbling into a mistake or a bad shot, so they let it go, efficiency be damned.
Tyrese Haliburton, welcome to the NBA finals. He was a special guest star in Oklahoma City, but now he’s a regular cast member. He refused to wait for the Thunder’s defenders to pile on him, and for once, he took the game to them while still playing tough defence.
“This is a defence that you can’t consistently give them the same look,” Haliburton claimed. “If you try to keep the ball and call for screens, they will crawl inside you and pack the paint. It is not easy. It’s challenging. That is why they are such a remarkable defence. They do an excellent job at that. You have to keep giving them as many diverse appearances as possible.”
Haliburton came close to a triple-double with 22 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds, but his impact went much beyond the numbers. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle bristles at the idea that Haliburton should become an unabashed chucker, most likely because he knows so many people are watching his team closely for the first time all year, and he will remind anyone, at any time, that its depth is as crucial as one star.
“I thought his approach tonight was exactly what it needed to be,” Carlisle told me. “A combination of spatial awareness and aggression, and, you know, a real good feel for aggression to score along with getting his teammates involved at the right times.”
Haliburton was assisting in the pursuit of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, to whom the Pacers paid far too much respect in Oklahoma City. They defended him as if breathing near him would result in a foul, and they weren’t wrong.
But they at least forced him to think about the repercussions, such as Thomas Bryant receiving a real foul for grabbing his arm when the MVP caught him in one of those dangerous positions that led to nasty shouts and visits to the foul line.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s six turnovers included a travelling penalty and some unusual wayward passes, which hasn’t happened frequently in his stellar playoff campaign. The Pacers must win on terms that begin with physicality and end with speed.
They were on the verge of letting this game, this series, slip away so many times when a defibrillator would shock the system: T.J. McConnell doing his best Matthew Dellavedova impression from ten years ago, minus the driving-at-legs part, with steals in the backcourt and passes knocked away from unsuspecting Thunder players.
“You guys know he’s a crowd favourite,” Haliburton explained. “I make jokes with him. I nicknamed him the ‘Great White Hope.’ He does an excellent job of putting energy into this structure. And people feed off of it.
“We need all of our guys to bring whatever is their thing to our thing and have it be part of our thing, you know,” says Carlisle. “But [McConnell] is a guy who inspires a lot of people.” “He is a huge inspiration to our team.”
Then there’s Benedict Mathurin, who’s having the time of his life and doesn’t seem surprised. In Game 1, he was pulled after an early turnover during the Pacers’ sluggish first half (19 turnovers). In Game 3, he was decisive, and if you allowed him any space, he would shoot a midrange jumper.
The Pacers prove once again how they get it done
In the Western Conference finals, the Thunder appeared to have an infinite supply of good players, productive ones who would spring up and make an impact at any given moment. But for some reason, even in a track meet, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault only used seven players for the majority of the night, with regular starter Isaiah Hartenstein playing only 18 minutes.
Think about how many Pacers survived this one. The Thunder are off to a 15-6 start, which has quieted the audience. Starting centre Myles Turner was under the weather, which was not revealed until after the game, but something was clear in seeing Chet Holmgren smash him up and down the court for points in the first few minutes.
Jalen Williams finally had a game after a rough start, scoring 26 points and dominating opponents along the way. OKC’s Big Three showed up and combined for 70 points, but it didn’t matter after 48 minutes.
The Pacers’ slender halftime lead, established by their bench, evaporated in 90 seconds. They lost the lead they had restored and ended the quarter down by five points.
Make no mistake: this was Indiana’s series. Losing this in front of this raucous home crowd would have dashed all hopes for Friday’s Game 4, and everything would have been lost.
“These guys see where important things are important and where hard things are hard,” Carlisle added, employing a phrase that has become his credo.
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