On the heroics of Tyrese Haliburton's game-winner

And the value of coaching by not coaching.

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

The back-and-forth between Tyrese Haliburton and Patrick Beverley, in which the former took to Twitter to troll the latter, punctuating his latest game-winner with receipts from comments that were made by Beverley after the Pacers surrendered a 15-point lead to the Los Angeles Lakers last month, drew attention away from another compelling late-game, dynamic -- being that of player and coach.

To understand the significance, think back to what was said last season following the trade deadline, just prior to when Malcolm Brogdon returned to action.

"Really with those two guys and their knowledge of the game, feel for the game, I should never have to call a play," said head coach Rick Carlisle, referencing the potential of playing two point guards together at the same time. "That's the kind of belief and trust I have in those guys and their understanding of the NBA game."

Turns out, while the belief may have been there, the trust wasn't always apparent, as Carlisle, in keeping with his reputation, could still routinely be seen signaling for plays from the sidelines. At times, doing so in bulk at the end of games, including during an overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, which now provides clarity as to some of the hand gestures that reappeared yet again, with greater meaning, during Sunday's win over the Chicago Bulls.

For example, look at how Haliburton is looking at Carlisle, who is tapping his head, as he walks the ball up the floor.

Here's what happened next: high middle pick-and-roll, designed for the five to pop.

For the sake of double-checking, that's also what was triggered from that same signal earlier in the season, long before Haliburton was acquired.

Well, as it just so happens, Carlisle was also tapping his head on the possession prior to Haliburton's game-winner.

But, whoa there! That's not high middle pick-and-roll with Turner popping. It's wide-reject-stack, meaning that Turner is setting an away screen, which Hield intentionally rejects to become the back-screener in stack action. Here, with the corner left empty and maximum stress put on the stack-screen defender (yes, this was written about from the game against San Antonio!), Hield leaks ball-side, drilling the three to put the Pacers up 122-120 with 34.1 seconds to play.

Overall, by virtue of the fact that the Pacers ran something different from that which was signaled, it's probably safe to assume that Haliburton made the call to nix the call, which he confirmed occurred on the play leading to his game-winner.

"He wanted a different set," Haliburton said during his sideline interview with Jeremiah Johnson. "But like I've said all year, he's put so much trust in me. I just told him, 'Run something else, I've got it.' He trusted my play-call, and it worked for the best. So, I appreciate him."

On the ensuing defensive possession, when Zach LaVine went two of three at the line, tying the score at 122-122, Carlisle could be seen shouting instructions about not taking a timeout, before listening to feedback from Haliburton.

Ahh, yes, there's the trust, in addition to the belief. And, here's the thing: With Carlisle willfully standing down, Haliburton wanted that same play again -- and again, last season might provide some insight as to why.

Sometimes, there can be some benefit to alerting an opponent as to what's coming. For example, when Carlisle audibly yells for "wide-stack" (the same play!), notice how Haliburton makes Trae Young pay for being overeager, rejecting the screen hard to his left and pulling-up for three.

Looks familiar, right? In that regard, equally as notable as flipping the expectations of what Trae overheard against him, is how comfortable Haliburton is at going away from that action to his left. At least, when he can immediately stop and pop.

To that point, there is still some merit to shading Haliburton to his left as a driver in late-game situations. Granted, the Pacers got the win over the Mavericks last week, with Haliburton amassing 32 points, but they also quietly went 0-of-5 from the field with two turnovers over the final six minutes of the fourth quarter. This, for example, was the result when Dallas started defending him with weak-to-switch, meaning they were preventing him from using screens on his right and then switching. An added benefit of this coverage against Haliburton, who relies heavily on runners and and floaters, is that it allows the on-ball defender to contest those looks with their dominant hand when he raises up to shoot, like so:

Hmm, when viewed through that lens, it bears to reason why Haliburton may have been skittish about sticking with the previous call for Turner to pop out of the high middle ball screen -- especially since Beverley got the memo on forcing him left.

As was the case against Trae, though, his decision to immediately fire after creating a sliver of separation in combination with the potential confusion caused by the stack screen makes a (literal) splash of difference.

All of which is to say that, Haliburton's late-game triple didn't just expose Patrick Beverley's comments in the afterglow; it illuminated the change in his coach to acquiesce to him as the coach on the floor.