The Pacers are showing who they really are — and that they're for real

New York Times

a day ago

INDIANAPOLIS — Their superstar has a crooked jump shot and disappears too often, stirring nonsensical chatter on the debate shows about whether he's even a superstar in the first place.
'I couldn't care less' was Tyrese Haliburton's response late Wednesday night, fresh off another sterling playoff performance that will quiet his critics for at least another 48 hours.
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Their biggest spark stands 6-foot-1 but plays like he's 5-10. Speaking of jump shots, T.J. McConnell owns one that's even uglier. The 10-year veteran has probably lasted nine years longer in the league than anyone ever thought he would. He also happens to embody everything the Indiana Pacers are about.
'The great White hope,' Haliburton calls him.
Their O.G. has been fighting a cold for days, couldn't buy a bucket for stretches Wednesday night and probably won't be able to practice with the team Thursday. No matter. Myles Turner made no mention of it. There wasn't a chance the longest-tenured Pacer was going to miss the first NBA Finals game the franchise has hosted in a quarter-century.
This team can be both electrifying and exasperating, an endless fastbreak that's been known to fall asleep on defense a little too often (see: a 140-110 loss to the Spurs in January). They're stubborn about their style, refusing to slow the speed and find the perfect shot and protect possessions at all costs. The rotation isn't going to shrink — this team goes 10 deep whether it's a five-day road trip in February or the championship round in June.
They're going to wear you down, with their pace and their depth and their grit.
They're going to share the ball and stretch your defense.
'That's one of the things that attracted me to this place,' Pascal Siakam said. 'And since I got here, that's who we've been.'
They're going to cripple your spirit, no matter the odds, whether it's a seven-point deficit to the Bucks with 35 seconds left in Round 1, a seven-point deficit to the Cavs with 44 seconds left in Round 2, a 14-point deficit to the Knicks with 2:41 left in the Eastern Conference finals or a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter of Game 1 against the Thunder in the NBA Finals.
This is who the Pacers are.
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And this is where the Pacers are, 12 days into June: two wins from the franchise's first NBA championship.
If their stunning Game 1 comeback last week spoke to this team's late-game guile — a recurring theme amid this magical playoff run — Wednesday's 116-107 victory in Game 3 revealed what the Pacers look like at their best. Dogged. Determined. And dominant when it matters most.
'This is how we gotta do it,' coach Rick Carlisle offered after his team jumped to a 2-1 lead in the series. 'We gotta do it as a team. And we gotta make it as hard as possible on them.'
Carlisle's team is now 14-0 when they score 110 points or more in the postseason. They're 14-0 when the shoot 46 percent or better from the field. They're 14-0 when they make 40 field goals or more.
They have a formula. It works.
'Hard things are hard' is a phrase Carlisle likes to lean on with his players. Over the last two years, he convinced his team this was how they had to play: full throttle, no brakes. It was difficult and demanding and maddening at times. But it's also changed the trajectory of a franchise that's on the doorstep of a title.
'Things that make sense aren't a hard sell for our guys,' the coach added. 'It's a difficult system, and it just requires a lot of sacrifice. But when you execute it the right way, whether it's two years ago in some game that doesn't seem very meaningful in mid-January or Game 3 of the finals, these guys see where important things are important.
'Our guys have made the investment. It's like a Greek marriage. It's a lot work.'
That was the Pacers Wednesday night. They absorbed the Thunder's early punch, then kept swinging for three full quarters. OKC never had enough to respond and never found an answer. McConnell (10 points, five assists, five steals) was too much of a menace. Turner (five blocks) was too resilient. Haliburton (one rebound shy of a triple-double) was too damn good.
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There was more, as there always is with this team. Siakam's 21 points. Obi Toppin's juice off the bench. (Indiana's reserves outscored Oklahoma City's 49-18.) Andrew Nembhard's stingy defense. Aaron Nesmith's big 3 late in the fourth. And Bennedict Mathurin — who spent last year's playoff run sidelined with a labrum injury, counting the days until he could return to the court— erupting for a game-high 27 off the bench.
All night long, the Pacers met the moment. And for a city and state that's craved a championship run like this for years — decades, even — this team's arrived at the perfect time. Mathurin, the lone top-1o pick by the Pacers on this roster, said he's never heard the Fieldhouse as loud as it was Wednesday.
The fans are hungry. The team keeps delivering.
'The state of Indiana is about basketball, and that was the first time I really felt it,' Mathurin said. 'As much as this is a dream right now, I'm not trying to (soak) in the present. I'm trying to make sure the dream ends well.'
Reggie Miller sat courtside, next to another Indiana icon, Oscar Robertson. Edgerrin James was on hand. So was Caitlin Clark. And same as he did in the Knicks series, Pat McAfee revved the crowd into a frenzy late in the contest — his trademark profanity included. At that moment, it felt like the arena was about to explode.
It wasn't just loud on Wednesday night; it was RCA Dome-loud. Hoosiers old enough to remember those days know what I'm talking about.
'They were everything we hoped for,' Carlisle said, a few days after challenging Pacers fans to be as boisterous as the Thunder fans had been in Oklahoma City. 'Especially in the fourth quarter. They just went up a few decibels.'
This isn't your typical championship contender, led by an all-world talent picked at the top of the draft or lured to town via free agency. The small-market knocks have dogged the Pacers for years. This team was built the old-fashioned way, then made the climb from perennial also-ran into powerhouse. Indiana was 25th in the league in payroll last season. This year, they're 22nd.
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More than anyone else on the roster, Haliburton hears it. The critics. The doubts. The nonbelievers. He's become somewhat of a lightning rod of late, praised one minute for his late-game heroics, then criticized the next when he has an off night. It comes with the territory. He's the face of the franchise, one that's worked its way into the spotlight.
'The commentary is what it is at this point,' he said late Wednesday, putting a bow on the nonsense before reminding the room what's really at stake.
'It doesn't matter,' he added. 'We're two wins from an NBA championship.'
(Photo of Tyrese Haliburton and Reggie Miller:)