It felt like the two most important seconds of the Pacers season.
Especially after what happened the year before. Losing to the Celtics like that in the conference finals. All that to get swept? What a pity.
After starting starting 10-15. After finally breaking even in January, and charging to a 50-win season, the tide had turned.
Indiana wasn’t to be taken lightly. There’s no Giannis, no Jokic, no Anthony Edwards. There’s a system and there’s a cohesion within it that turned water to wine.
The sommelier was Tyrese Haliburton, a taste-maker and table-setter that has supercharged the Pacers to offensive heights they hadn’t seen in [three decades](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-points-in-a-single-season-pacers).
Haliburton’s joy and creativity was spread throughout the team with each pass. His pace set the tone — and defenses wore down trying to stay in front of him.
It’s a style that doesn’t work without total buy-in. If screens aren’t set, if rolls aren’t made, if cuts aren’t decisive, that supernatural feeling fades.
For those two seconds, something inside of you knew what would happen next. When a team works this well together, fights night in and night out to gain an edge where they can, you are due for a payoff.
The ball dropped. In Madison Square Garden, too. It was quiet, but in Indiana, living rooms everywhere were filled with screams.
There was something in the air. It didn’t make sense that it was happening, but it didn’t feel fake, either. There was divine intervention.
And who better to carry that than Tyrese Haliburton, an ethical hooper with a personality that lights up a room. In Indiana, that matters more than anywhere.
It’s a charm that fades once the shoes are laced up, dropping the nice-guy demeanor and going into killer mode. He talks trash and backs it up.
He’s a radiator of good vibes. When the radiator goes down, though, the whole damn thing burns to the ground.
Like a blowout in Turn 4, Indiana had little chance of crossing that finish line first once Haliburton went down. Depth was the team’s strength, but in Game 7, you need your closer.
And to start this new season without him, the Pacers have won once in 13 tries.
What else is there to blame but the absence of that spirit? The instant Finals rematch to start the season was proof that this team still had the talent to keep up. But without the spirit, there’s no way to fend off the injury bug.
Outside of that one magical win vs. Golden State, Indiana has been outmatched by good and bad teams alike. The only starter from last season to not miss time is Pascal Siakam, Indiana’s strongest rock. But during an avalanche, even the most stable forces join in on the freefall.
Eventually, the Pacers will be healthy again. But until Haliburton is on the floor once again, Indiana is going to have to find a new way to create the magic.
\-#31-