Everything went to hell for the Indiana Pacers in just more than a quarter’s worth of time in Game 2. The length and ferocity of the 42-24 run by the Oklahoma City Thunder was both troubling in the host team’s dominance, as it was the Pacers’ own ineptitude to stop it.
Indiana led 20-17 with 2:43 in the first quarter and about a minute later Tyrese Haliburton left the game with the Pacers down one. When he came back halfway through the second quarter, most of the damage was already done. Indiana trailed now by 12, and then by 18 before all the starters returned to the game. The Pacers were outscored 30-9 in a nine-minute stretch, though the starters gave away five more points before they put on a 10-0 run to stop the bleeding.
“Felt like we really let the rope slip there in the second quarter,” Haliburton said after the game. “… I think our processes need to be a lot better for us to be successful here.”
Indiana had played the Thunder evenly otherwise, but a quarter’s worth of basketball translated to an 18-point deficit going into the halftime break.
Who, or what, is to blame?
Yes, the bench hemorrhaged points, but for the roughly seven and a half minutes Haliurton was in the game during the second quarter, he had zero points and zero assists. He did not meet the Moment this time around.
Blaming one player is lazy and doesn’t fully explain the issues the Pacers collectively had, but Indiana is going to have a difficult time in this series if their offensive engine can’t put his stamp on these games offensively. There were, however, plenty of other issues in this one.
One of the most obvious issues for Indiana was the paint. A quick glance at the stats shows that the Pacers got roughly 30% of their points there in both games. However, the real issue was not generating passes and open shots from the paint either. Solving the Thunder defense is the great challenge of this NBA Finals.
Game 1 saw plenty of assists where Haliburton, Nembhard, or others drove to collapse the defense and then kick it out. If it wasn’t in the paint or around the nail, it still had the same effect.
Game 2, however, saw the physical Thunder defense on display and the paint being a no-go zone for Indiana.
“They are a team, like you said, that really takes away the paint. Does a great job of swarming the ball,” Haliburton said after Game 2. “Feels like there’s five guys around you every time you’re in the paint. But we have to do a better job of getting threes our way.”
OKC has perfected the ability to poke, prod, and occasionally just pummel opponents to create turnovers and make the game a trying experience. The Pacers had some luck on passes across the court to weakside shooters, but nothing worked consistently.
On the other side of the ball, we saw Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dial back the one-on-ones and let his teammates take more engaging roles. Chet Holmgren was an afterthought in Game 1 but went 4 of 6 during the 13 minutes of hell, while causing havoc defensively, mostly without Myles Turner on the floor. Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso were also part of the reason why the Thunder didn’t need SGA to do everything. Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, and Williams all scored nine points each during the run. The surprise, though, was Aaron Wiggins popping off a pair of three-pointers as part of his 8-point contribution in the deciding stretch.
Perhaps also worth noting, Pascal Siakam looked lost defensively at times and frustrated on offense with his teammates unable to find him in advantageous positions. His 3 of 11 shooting performance was felt as he had the second-worst plus-minus of the game at -15, followed by Andrew Nembhard at -17.
Tyrese Haliburton must do… something
It’s oversimplifying the Pacers’ problems by saying Haliburton needs to be more aggressive. However, it’s also foolish to ignore how much of what makes Indiana’s style work is due to Haliburton’s effectiveness.
The Pacers were humming along smoothly early, but the Thunder kept forcing Tyrese further back to the point he was starting actions from the digitally placed Larry O’Brien Trophies and he even stepped on the half-court line for a violation at one point.
It’s hard not to see a 2 of 7 shooting performance through three quarters, coupled with 4 assists and 3 turnovers for Haliburton, and not ask why he isn’t finding a way to be more involved. The long scoreless and assistless stretch during the 13 minutes of death was the most troubling.
I’m not wise enough to know if his floater is the key to unlocking the Thunder’s defense, but I do wonder if Haliburton needs a comfort stop other than a pull-up or step-back three that he can use to plant seeds of doubt in Oklahoma City’s defenders.
Haliburton is 3 of 5 on floaters through two games, a shot that he is 19 of 38 (50%) throughout the playoffs.
The double-edged sword of Haliburton’s playmaking style is that he often will continue to make the right play and defer to teammates in an effort to get them going, but when nothing is falling, that can feel less like an egalitarian view of stardom and more that he doesn’t have ‘something’ in him.
Haliburton clearly isn’t scared of the moment, as seen time and time again in these playoffs. But sometimes it feels like I’m watching the final fight in The Rundown and waiting for Beck to finally pick up a gun and save everyone, but something is holding him back.
The problem becomes often when Tyrese has one of these kind of games the ending of the movie isn’t the same. Instead of the Rock saving the day, Sean William Scott dies in a fiery blaze while terrible things await Rosario Dawson and the people of the small Brazilian mining town. Does this make Mark Daigneault this analogy’s Cornelius Hatcher? Who is playing SGA’s role? I don’t know, but let’s get back on track.
What frustrates Pacers fandom and gives Haliburton’s critics their ammo are these situations like Game 2. Yes, the game was effectively lost with Haliburton off the court. However, it never felt like Hali tried to take over the game on his own. He only took a trio of shots in the second and third quarters and had two turnovers to one assist. By the time he got going in the fourth quarter, it was too late. He admitted post-game that he has to find a way to get going earlier in these games.
“Defensively, they have a lot of different guys who can guard the ball, fly around,” Haliburton said when asked about the Thunder defense slowing him down. “They are really physical, force the officials to let us play a little bit more. So just go to do a better job of playing to their—I think I’ve had two really poor first halves. I just have to figure out how to be better earlier in games. But kudos to them, they are a great defensive team but I’ll watch the film and see where I can get better.”
There was no going down in a blaze of glory for Haliburton and the Pacers, just a deficit they never really threatened to erase. There was no hero this time, Haliburton or otherwise.
The majority of the time, the Pacers need Haliburton’s unselfish style because it’s what creates so much of their run-and-gun style that feeds into a balanced ecosystem. Smart passes lead to great shots for others, which leads to less pressure on Haliburton, which leads to clutch buckets when they’re needed.
But sometimes, Indiana’s star just needs to find some shots he feels comfortable with, regardless of the results.
Hali, grab your gun.
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