The Pacers and Haliburton’s Heroics!!!

Truly unbelievable! What a gripping postseason this has been for Indiana Pacers’ fans! They must be singing Hallelujahs these days, having witnessed 3 of the most spectacular come-from-behind wins ever, all in this year’s NBA playoffs, all by their Indiana Pacers. Here’s a rundown of the 3 heart-stopping miracle games.

It’s Game 5 of the first round of the playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks lead 118-111 with 37 seconds left in overtime. It’s a 3-possession ballgame. But the Pacers are unfazed. They erase the 7-point deficit with their gutsy point guard, Tyrese Haliburton, scoring the go-ahead basket with 1.3 seconds left, to squeeze a win 119-118.

Next, in Game 2 of the 2nd round of the playoffs against the top-seed Cleveland Cavaliers, the Cavs lead 119-112 with 48 seconds left. It’s another seemingly-insurmountable 7-point deficit. Once again, the never-say-die Pacers turn it around, winning 120-119. And again, it’s Tyrese drilling a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to finally take the lead, and steal the win.

And now, in Game 1 of this Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks, the Pacers outdo themselves with another Houdini escape act. In what is now billed as the ‘Comeback of the Century’, the Knicks led by 14 points with 2-plus minutes to go. They still led by 9 with 58 seconds left, 121-112. No big deal. The Pacers promptly unleashed a barrage of 3-point bombs, with Tyrese connecting on a looping 2-pointer at the buzzer, to force an overtime 125- all. The Pacers would outlast the stunned Knicks in the overtime period 138-135.

This postseason, the Pacers have recorded 4 comeback wins from 17 points or more. They are the first team in recorded playoff history to have overcome a 14-point deficit in the final 2-plus minutes of play; and the only team (out of 1,414 recorded games) to have won coming from 9-points down with less than a minute left in the ballgame. The 3 wins from 7 points or more in less than a minute show that they have the positive attitude, the iron will and the uncanny ability to stay in games that almost everyone else would deem unwinnable. What gives for these doggedly-determined Pacers?

The Pacers are not a rated team with a bunch of superstars. In fact, they only have 2 All-stars in their roster, Tyrese Haliburton and Paskal Siakam. Both are considered ‘fringe All-Stars’. And some critics have even called Tyrese overrated. There are no scoring machines in the team; no menacing big man towering over the shaded lane; no overbearing veteran with a personality that everyone must listen to.

But it seems that this lack of a big superstar has worked wonders for the team. It has allowed other players to grow and show their true worth. It has galvanized the players to work as a team, to learn to trust one another. It has created a healthy and humble environment where everyone cheers for each other, knowing that the team’s success will come collectively from each individual’s contributions.

Hence, there’s the emergence of Aaron Nesmith. Nesmith was the main catalyst in the team’s spectacular comeback against the Knicks a few days back. To many, he was a virtual unknown. In that epic rally, Aaron scored 6 triples in the last 4 minutes of the fourth quarter, 2 in that improbable rally in the last minute. He outscored the entire Knicks team in triples for the quarter. Aaron was simply in the zone, and the team fed on this. He will be a marked man henceforth.

And then there’s the cast of characters who make up the back-up choir. Paskal Siakam is the only guy in the team with a championship experience, having been part of the Toronto Raptors’ champion team in 2019. He is a 3-time All-Star, his first with the Pacers this year. Myles Turner is the veteran big man whose name is always mentioned as a possible all-star. There’s Andrew Nembhard, whose name alone is hard enough to spell, but whose support role has been immeasurable. So with Obi Toppin, TJ McConell, Ben Sheppard and Benedict Mathurin. All these guys have been contributing valuable playing minutes for the team.

But the big unsung hero in this squad has got to be coach Rick Carlisle, one of the league’s most cerebral coaches. Coach Carlisle devised a trapping, swarming defense that has forced the opposing teams into errors in the last minute of play. A review of the 3 come-from-behind wins will show the trapping defense he deploys. They will try to deny the direct pass, so that the only available inbound pass has to be a risky lob. If the inbound pass is successful, they employ a strong double-teaming trap on whoever has the ball. It takes strong legs, and a superbly fit team to sustain the swarming defense for those last minute traps, but this team has mastered it.

As the dictum goes: Offense wins games, Defense wins championships. Without any superstars, Carlisle’s masterful coaching has whipped up a team that must rely on a strong defense. The Pacers are a young team, and Carlisle realized that their fitness must be paramount in order for them to compete. This will matter most as fatigue sets in at the last quarter, particularly the last minutes of the game. Apart from that, the team must be able to play intelligent ball, knowing when to run or not, who’s got the mismatch, which teammate needs the help-defense, etc. And Carlisle has been able to equip his players with the high level basketball IQ for that and more.

Finally, the team’s main man: Tyrese Haliburton. Tyrese is a young player who is not afraid to share the limelight, and this shows in the balanced scoring and the assists he has been notching. He is also not afraid to take the shots himself, if need be. Tyrese is an unassuming, easy-to-get-along, regular guy whose leadership in this young team is simply chill. He is an old-school point guard who loves to make all his other teammates look better. He has definitely been able to lift this team to uncharted heights. Plus, his last second winning shots are reminding us of another winning cager of a previous generation, Robert Horry.

This year, the Pacers are teaching us that games with 7 to 9 point-leads with a minute to go are no longer safe. A 3-possession ballgame, with a minute to go, can still be stolen. They have also showed us a great trapping defense that should be a basic staple for all aspiring coaches. Their last minute defense is a beauty to behold. Finally, the Pacers are showing us a pug-nosed reciliency and poise that should be a case study for all teams or organizations that are in difficult situations in their fields. The Pacers may be young, but they are showing us a refreshing stability under immense pressure. (This just in: Pacers just took a 2-0 lead despite the Knicks’ homecourt advantage. Looks like it will be a battle between 2 young teams if the OKC Thunder and the Pacers move up to the NBA Finals.)

Here’s a video courtesy of YouTube on the 3 unforgettable rallies engineered by the Pacers in this year’s playoff. Just click on the title: The Pacers Have 3 Epic Comebacks.

Cover photo courtesy of Posting and Toasting.