Indiana Pacers ahead Pascal Siakam (43) and guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) rejoice following Sport 7 in an NBA basketball second-round playoff collection in opposition to the New York Knicks, Sunday, Could 19, 2024, in New York. (AP Photograph/Julia Nikhinson)
NEW YORK — The Indiana Pacers are headed again to the NBA Japanese Convention finals and don’t plan to decelerate after they get there.
Not when they’re so good at enjoying quick.
Indiana put up a few of the finest offensive numbers in NBA historical past in the course of the common season by pushing the tempo. The tempo is never as fast within the playoffs, however don’t inform the Pacers that sluggish and regular is the one method to win this race.
“I believe slowly we’re altering the mind-set within the NBA that playoffs it’s a must to play sluggish,” level guard Tyrese Haliburton mentioned, “and we’re capable of simply proceed to be who we’re.”
They have been the best-shooting crew in NBA playoff historical past Sunday in Sport 7 at New York, making 67.1% of their photographs in a 130-109 victory over the Knicks.
READ: Pacers set NBA playoff capturing mark, torch Knicks in Sport 7
That despatched the Pacers to Boston to play the top-seeded Celtics. who ran away to the very best file within the league and have been anticipated to be enjoying within the convention finals.
Indiana was a shock, the No. 6 seed within the East and a crew that wanted to show the way in which it performed within the common season might be efficient within the postseason.
“Effectively, we’re the uninvited visitor,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle mentioned. “So right here we’re, OK.”
Indiana led the NBA with 123.3 factors per sport within the common season, the sixth-highest common in league historical past, and set a file by reaching 140 factors 11 occasions. With a bench that Haliburton calls the very best within the league, the Pacers can maintain rotating in contemporary gamers and put on down their opponents.
That firepower helped the Pacers attain the championship sport of the inaugural In-Season Event — they beat the Celtics within the quarterfinals — however Carlisle wasn’t satisfied it will maintain up in a seven-game collection. He made it clear to his gamers later in December that they wanted to enhance on the opposite finish of the ground.
“I simply informed our guys, we’re going to make a stand and we’re going to get higher,” Carlisle mentioned. “We have been on a historic tempo offensively, however to get the place we’re at this second and the place we wish to get on this subsequent spherical and sooner or later, what we have been doing offensively was not sustainable. It simply merely was not, not if you happen to can’t constantly guard and rebound.”
READ: NBA: Siakam helps Pacers beat Knicks to increase collection to Sport 7
Even with a scorching begin Sunday, when their 39 factors within the first quarter have been probably the most in a Sport 7 and their 76.3% capturing within the first half probably the most in any postseason sport since 1997, when the NBA started holding detailed play-by-play for all 4 quarters, the Pacers needed to depend on that improved protection to place away the sport.
The Knicks had a 22-point deficit all the way down to 77-70 within the third quarter earlier than the Pacers compelled three straight turnovers, with Aaron Nesmith and Haliburton getting steals earlier than Indiana compelled New York right into a five-second violation. That led to seven straight factors to push the lead again as much as 14.
Nonetheless, Indiana’s protection most likely isn’t adequate to cease Boston within the collection that begins Tuesday. To win, the Pacers are most likely going to have their offense rolling.
Enjoying at their tempo acquired the Pacers again into the postseason for the primary time since 2020, and now it’s acquired them to the convention finals for the primary time since 2014.
They left Madison Sq. Backyard on Sunday with Haliburton sporting a sweatshirt with an image of Reggie Miller making a choking signal from a playoff sport in opposition to the Knicks.
Haliburton’s wardrobe might have been a throwback, however his crew is enjoying a brand new type.
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“I believe it’s simply the old-school mind-set which you can’t play this quick within the playoffs, however I believe opportunistically you are able to do it,” Haliburton mentioned. “I believe if we’re capable of get stops, after all we are able to.”
