New York – “Shit, what a game F — ING”, said Tyrese Haliburton on Wednesday in the visitors to Madison Square Garden. Then, the star of the Indiana Pacers caught a slice of pineapple from the post-match propagation.
Haliburton looked like not not to believe what had just happened, Just like the rest of us. The Pacers dragged the 14 -point New York Knicks with less than three minutes to do in the fourth quarter. Just to force overtime, the Indiana Aaron Nesmith wing had to get on an airplane higher than Crunch Time and Haliburton had to do a game game, beating the buzzer, the foot on line 2 at the end of the regulation. The shot struck the back of the rim, rebounded straight and dropped through the net.
“It must be the shoes, guy,” Haliburton told anyone in particular after the victory of 138-135 in overtime in match 1 of the final of the Eastern Conference. “Go get them. On sale now.”
Tyrese Haliburton is the perfect NBA villain, and Knicks fans have obtained a first row seat at his last show
Sam Quinn
The Haliburton Pumas, who do not seem to be on sale, are not the main reason for the shocking victory of the Pacers in victory. Three times in the playoffs, Haliburton and his team made the (apparently) impossible: match 5 of match 5 against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and the match 2 against the Cleveland horsemen in the second round, who ended with the match owners Haliburton, and now.
The more they give their finger to their probability of victory at the end of the game, the more difficult it is to explain.
Before these playoffs Only one team In the era of play per game (that is to say since 1995-1996) never returned from a seven -point deficit in the last minute fourth quarter or overtime in an eliminatory match. Indiana did this three times in 23 days. And his latest ridiculous rally was even more improbable than the two who preceded it: before Wednesday, the teams that led by 14 and more in the 2:45 am of the fourth quarter of the game by play were 994-0, according to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press.
A possible explanation for the apparent superpower of the Pacers: each return makes the following more realistic. According to the Thomas Bryant reserve center, they did not directly discuss their recent heroism after the Knicks made a sequence of 14-0 in the fourth quarter. “We try not to do it,” he said, “because it’s very difficult to do every time.” They did not have to reference these victories against Milwaukee and Cleveland, for being helped by them.
“We choose not to be in these positions,” said Bryant. But they knew “that we are here before, and we can somehow get out of it”.
To train Rick Carlisle, Indiana’s ability to perform well at the end of the matches amounts to obtaining regular season representatives. No team had a better point differential in the clutch in 2024-25.
“Many games early when we have trouble were matches that we had to withdraw,” said Carlisle. “They were clutch games when we didn’t play particularly well. And it’s a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it is.”
Haliburton, who finished match 1 with 31 points and 11 assists in 42 minutes, returned even further. He said that he had crossed a “baptism by fire” after the Pacers had exchanged for him on the deadline of 2022.
“We would be in these moments when I should take these photos,” said Haliburton. “And I would miss it, and no one would care. Pace fans would do it, but we were not very good, so that didn’t matter, we were not a eliminatory team or anything.”
Experience, said Haliburton, is the best teacher. Myles Turner described the team as “tested in combat”. We can’t exactly to wait for A team to do historic shopping all the time, but he stopped being surprised by that.
“It’s to the point that I’m just used to it,” said Turner. “I have so much confidence in this group.”
Another possible explanation: the Indiana game style is conducive to returns. Instead of accepting the cliché that the game slows in times of crisis, the Pacers continue to play in their own way: put pressure on the ball in its own right, run the marks and miss them and cause as much confusion as possible in the half-terrain. Their opponent, meanwhile, could work on smoke, like everything Indiana is designed to tire the other team over time.
“It is difficult for me to discredit and say that the rescue effect not There, “said Haliburton.” I think that of everything you see, that is part of it, and I think that is part of our identity: how can we wear teams for 48 minutes? Obviously, collect the full terrain, as well as our offensive pressure, the descent, move, play quickly. I thought we had done a good job offensively to play our style. “”
Indiana was exceeded in match 1, but that did not let the knicks grab offensive boards at the end of the fourth quarter and found a couple themselves in OT. Haliburton also noted that New York “had missed a few free throws there in the section, there were a few short failed at the end of the match”.
Partly because of their physically demanding style, the Pacers look at their depth. Before Nesmith broke out for 20 of his 30 points – including six consecutive games – in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, he had been replaced twice during the period. Ben Sheppard, who did not play at all during the first three quarters, recorded seven minutes in fourth, which “allowed Aaron to rest a little,” said Carlisle. “So he returned to the fresh game and he had his legs.”
Another possible explanation: in difficult situations, Indiana is able to stay together because it has remained together. Haliburton pulled a straight line from the Front Office which maintains the list of last year at the team’s resilience.
“We are only a group that has spent a lot of time with each other,” said Haliburton. He added that they had crossed large sequences in both directions and that they all trust each other. “We have the impression of knowing where everyone is going to be,” he said. “We have high expectations for each other, but I think we are also responsible at the same time.”
Haliburton said his confidence had just known that his teammates and coaches wanted him to take shots from the last second, just like fans of the Pacers. “I think everyone lives and dies with it at that time,” he said. During the waiting times for the fourth quarter, the Pacers showed “a great contagious emotion for each other,” said Bryant, even when they were broken by 16 points (with 7:22 on the left) and 14 points (with 3:44 on the left). They “applaud” and “spoke each other, trusting,” said Bryant.
“We talked in the group,” keep working on the game. Keep trying to make the guys for these guys. Find the right appearance, “said Carlisle.
Indiana was “very shocking at the limit,” said Carlisle, but it managed to keep the course. After continuing the radiator of a life, Nesmith said: “I didn’t really know what I was doing for the moment, I was just trying to win the basketball match.” In other words, he was in a state of flow, unconscious. The last three minutes have been “a kind of blur, to be honest with you,” he said. “Just fight, delete for each loose ball, box, make shots, play games and do everything we can to win.”
CBS Sports
Initially, the Pacers thought that the Haliburton buzzer drummer was a 3. Otherwise, they would not have jumped on him in jubilation and he certainly would not have channeled the celebration of the strangle of Reggie Miller. After discovering that they had to play five more minutes, they had to “grasp everyone by their jersey, their neck, their arms, anyway,” said Turner. “Put them in the group, tell them:” Let’s go, guy. It’s not over. We gave ourselves a chance. “”
The plan in the future is not not to count on the “hellish shot for three minutes in a row the rest of the series,” said Turner. Indiana will win victories, but this can get them, however, and if it finds itself faced with another intimidating deficit in times of crisis, it will continue to play its game. If the previous returns of the Pacers had not already been clearly clearly shown, the opening of the series at MSG has shown that it can be paid spectacularly.
“Instant classic,” said Turner.
