Tyrese Haliburton outpaces Knicks, pushes (Pace)rs up 3-1 in series

Indiana is on the brink of the NBA Finals

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

In what was a 130-121 win for the Indiana Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton didn't let the pressure get to him. Not only, figuratively, in rebounding from the 20-point lead that was squandered in Game 3, but also literally, as his persistence to rebound ignited the offense in transition, with him amassing 32 points, 12 rebounds, 15 assists, four steals, and zero turnovers to outpace both the Knicks and history to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.

En route to notching the first triple-double in NBA playoff history in which a player had at least 30 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds without committing a turnover, Haliburton tied his season-high for transitions from rebounds as the bring-up ball-handler with seven possessions, while also generating 1.313 points per chance out of 55 picks as the pick-and-roll ball-handler, which set the standard for volume and very nearly also efficiency (second-best) during this playoff run.

Needless to say, his nose for the ball played a part in why he was able to keep the ball in his hands, dictating pace as lead initiator to outscore the Knicks 22-9 in fast-break points while also repeatedly dribbling off double ball-screens with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns in sequential order as screener defenders.

To be fair, the team arguably reached critical mass on that action midway through the fourth quarter, when Rick Carlisle took his "use it or lost it" timeout to call a different play after the Knicks had made a coverage tweak; however, with Brunson switching less frequently than ever in this series, Mikal Bridges had to climb over multiple picks over and over again in order to contain with Towns as the ball-side anchor. As such, while those plays were very nearly spammed too often, there was likely a wearing effect as Haliburton flatly refused to be denied from handling at a downhill angle.

Meanwhile, Siakam put together a 30-point outing of his own, Bennedict Mathurin had a breakout performance off the bench, and the Pacers made some necessary adjustments with whom and how they were guarding Karl-Anthony Towns. Once again, joining me to talk about all of those topics, involving the nitty gritty of how the Pacers positioned themselves on the court to put themselves in position to potentially advance to the NBA Finals in Game 5, is Samson Folk.

Here are the relevant timestamps:

0:00 - Introductions

2:15 - Tyrese Haliburton "handling" the pressure (and igniting the offense) by pulling down rebounds

8:48 - Haliburton racking up a season-high for picks as the ball-handler, with the Pacers spamming "77" actions involving Brunson & KAT

18:33 - The telling timing of Rick Carlisle's fourth-quarter timeout

22:10 - Haliburton also doing the little things

27:43 - Bennedict Mathurin's breakthrough performance off the bench (making multiple reads out of the same play!)

36:11 - Highlighting Pascal Siakam's defensive communication

39:56 - Coverage changes against KAT in the Brunson-less minutes

48:28 - SLOB/BLOB efficiency

53:18 - Revisiting Caitlin's sudden twang emergence

55:01 - Our favorite video games + other assorted topics

1:02:40 - Thank you & Goodbye