Tyrese Haliburton leads Pacers over Cavs, back to ECF

For the second season in a row, the Pacers are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals

By: Samson Folk I @samfolkk

Not every game can start with a whole heap of triples, and Game 5 certainly didn’t for the Pacers. There was a change in their approach to ball pressure, and there was an inability to keep the wraps on Donovan Mitchell - especially in the open floor. The Pacers were hacking, to some degree. Mitchell and Evan Mobley combined for 12 free throw attempts in the first quarter, and obviously, a handsome amount of points. 

The Mobley stuff was more or less fine. Big, swooping isolations coming from the top aren’t going to send the Cavs to round three, but Mitchell’s aggressiveness certainly has that potential. Running loose. The Pacers had trouble moving the ball to keep up, and in general, responded poorly to the Cavaliers physicality. They trailed by 12 at the end of the first quarter. 

Nembhard, who was the Pacers best player in the opening frame, had a suggestion: “Be physical.” 

While the early portion of the second quarter didn’t go the Pacers way — the Cavs shot a little better — their willingness to pursue the rim was really important. The power forwards, who powered them forward in Game 4, rumbled toward the bucket to keep them afloat. However, the Pacers were still swimming upstream against their shot making. 

8-27 FG / 1-10 3PT / 8-13 FT from the Pacers at the 9 minute mark, and a 17 point deficit. If the Pacers were going to come back, they’d need a little more zip in their passing and decision making on offense, and a windfall of shooting. 

A triplet of triples (Haliburton, Nesmith, Nembhard) helped close the gap expeditiously. A windfall, even. A loose ball foul on Siakam sent him to the line, and suddenly, the Pacers were back within 10. Siakam threw the ball to Nembhard, Nembhard to Haliburton, blown coverage from the Cavs, bang. Lead down to seven. 

The Cavs got a couple buckets to go, but both were answered by Haliburton triples. One off of a flare from Siakam, and the other off a step back against Jarrett Allen - who the Pacers worked very hard to get on their star.

Later, Siakam bellowed out, screaming for the ball because he had Mitchell on him, and he scored within .4 seconds of the catch. Another absurd pull from Haliburton, by the way! This time over the outstretched arms of Mitchell, and into the bottom of the bucket. Insane. The searching and finding of the Cavs guards, to bully and abuse, was worth the effort. 

Hello, shot-making! Windfall! 

The Cavs did well enough to hold serve, through a shot diet of push shots and free throws, but they lost a lot of ground. The lead shrunk to four. Haliburton popped off with a 15 point quarter, to lead the charge. 56-52, with half the time to go. 

At the start of the piece, I did mention that it’s hard to lose to Mobley’s shot making, and he kept scoring, but I still believe it. The Cavs opened up strong to start the second half, but the Pacers kept their composure. They kept seeking out specific actions — less flow, more stars — and funneled the ball to Siakam and Haliburton who combined for 11 points in no time at all (8 from Siakam, 3 from Haliburton), and they took the lead, 67-64. 

Also, yes, the Pacers did run the zone buster Caitlin and I highlighted in the Game 3 podcast, and they did get a triple out of it. Nice. But, more than anything, I have to highlight that the Pacers went to a wholesale, far more specific form of attack built around Haliburton and Siakam to go on a huge run to take the lead. Huge deal. 

The two stars broke off a 15-2 run against the Cavs. The play that broke it? A runway dunk for Thomas Bryant (who also scored the next bucket, with a dunk on a tremendous pass from Haliburton) 73-65, Pacers. 

A run of, erm, runouts for the Pacers brought them to 83 points, including nine from Bryant, who had a hell of a stretch. They were pressing the Cavs in the backcourt, and it was working. The Cavs got two triples from Jerome (where have you been?) and an and-1 from Mitchell - his first made field goal since the end of the first quarter. A 45 cut for a layup for Bennedict Mathurin and a banker for Hunter took us into the final frame, with the Pacers up 9. 85-76. 

Buckle up! 

A lot of McConnell and Mathurin to start the fourth quarter. Disastrous. They lost some ground there. Haliburton and Nesmith checked in pretty quickly to sort things out, but in what was an extremely unfortunate sequence of events, the Pacers gave up an offensive rebound, followed by Siakam fouling Hunter as he made a triple, then the Cavs corralled his missed free throw and Garland made a layup. A 5-point trip, and a 1-point lead. 10-2 run. 

Five offensive rebounds for the Cavs in less than 3 minutes, by the way. SQUEEZE THE ORANGE! 

Haliburton drove a gap, used the low pickup, and dunked on the other end of it. Siakam drove his matchup, collapsed the corner man and found Nembhard for a triple. Then, he swooped to the bucket for a layup over Mobley. Mitchell canned a transition pull for his first 3 of the night. Two-point lead. Punch. Counterpunch. A Nesmith layup. Another Mitchell pull from three. Nembhard cans a triple. Haliburton with a rear-view contest block on Jerome, plus an And-1 on the other end. Punch. Counterpunch. Seven-point lead. 

Mitchell hit an absolute moonshot pull up. Then, he got fouled and goes to the line for 3 - and he missed all three. Then he canned a corner triple after that. Insanity. Nembhard drives Garland to the paint and makes the And-1. Mobley catches a lob. Turner cans a triple to put the Pacers up nine with 23 seconds left. 

Haliburton waves goodbye to the Cavs faithful. Punch. No counter. 

For the second season in a row, the Pacers are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals, and doing it as a supremely underrated team. Adaptable. Tough as nails. Extremely skilled. 

The work isn’t finished, it’s only halfway done. 

Have a blessed day.