Pacers eager to return home

New York Times

a day ago

Follow live as Indiana and Oklahoma City try to take the lead in the NBA Finals in Game 3 in Indianapolis Getty Images Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Indiana Pacers last hosted an NBA Finals game June 16, 2000 when they played the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 at what was then called Conseco Fieldhouse.
Coach Larry Bird, star Reggie Miller and the Pacers won 120-87 in front of a home crowd to bring the series to 3-2.
On Wednesday night, Indiana will host its first Finals game in 25 years, and Pacers players are excited to play at home, hoping the crowd energy will rival that of the fans in Oklahoma City.
'Expecting a crazy crowd, jumping out of their seat, having fun, enjoying the moment,' Andrew Nembhard said at Tuesday's media day.
Added Bennedict Mathurin: 'I'm very, very excited for what's coming (Wednesday). I think that the fans are going to be very, very important for us.'
Being at home also means rest, recovery and routine things players expect to have an impact as well.
'Just being back, it's good energy,' center Myles Turner said. 'Being back in front of our home fans is big. Stick to your regular routine, sleep on your own bed, get your own meals. All that type of stuff is a big factor. I think it's going to be important for us to protect home court.' Getty Images
Tyson T.: The Thunder have been the better team all season, and in this series, the better team for about 90 of the 96 minutes. I doubt they'll make the same mistake they made in Game 1 again - Pacers are going to need miracles to take more than two total games this series.
James R.: Despite the frantic media hype after Game 1, this is going to be a five-game series, six at the most.
Jim L.: It makes a huge difference when Alex Caruso can hit those wide open 3's. If he hadn't missed four or five of them in the 4th quarter of Game 1 we'd be looking at a 2-0 lead.
Robert N.: With his first basket at 8:24 of the first quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander went over 3,000 points for the season, counting the regular season and playoffs. He is the 12th player ever to hit that mark, joining Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Bob McAdoo, Elgin Baylor, James Harden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Rick Barry, Shaquille O'Neal and Luka Dončić. LeBron James NEVER DID THIS? that's pretty wild
There have been a few constants for the Thunder this season leading up to and including their first NBA Finals appearance since 2012. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is going to get his, their defense will be suffocating and with all their collective depth and a few role players will be ready to step up on any given night, whether that is Alex Caruso, Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins or someone else.
Less reliable for the Thunder, however, has been the shooting efficiency of Jalen Williams. The 24-year-old made his first All-Star game this season, averaging 21.6 points per game while shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 36.5 percent from deep. While he is still averaging a respectable and critical 20.2 points in the postseason, he is shooting just 44.4 percent from the field and 30.9 percent from deep across 18 games.
In the Finals specifically, Williams is shooting 33.3 percent overall and 22.2 percent from 3. Diving deeper, Williams is 6-of-12 from inside five feet and just 5-of-21 from outside of that range. At the same time, he continues to check all the other boxes, brining intensity on defense, pushing in transition and averaging 5.5 assists per game as a secondary ball handler.
The Thunder have continued to win games throughout the postseason despite Williams' fluctuations in efficiency. The question becomes, is this sustainable? Joshua Gateley / Getty Images
The Thunder seem to have conceded they can't play with as much size as they normally would against the up-tempo Pacers, but found more spots to beef up while winning Game 2.
Though Mark Daigneault stuck with Cason Wallace in the starting lineup, the coach played bigger groups throughout the rest of the game. Chet Holmgren played four more minutes than he did in Game 1, and Isaiah Hartenstein played five extra minutes off the bench. Though Holmgren and Hartenstein didn't play as much together as they normally would, they shared the frontcourt for five minutes after not playing at all alongside each other in the series opener. Maybe it's no surprise the Thunder did a much better job on the glass, holding the Pacers to seven offensive rebounds after allowing 13 offensive rebounds in Game 1.
Because of how the Pacers can tear a defense apart, Daigneault will need to keep being smart about when he plays his two best big men together. Still, the Thunder found the right spots to do it in Game 2 and should continue looking for situations to use their impressive frontcourt depth.
A back-door cut. A no-look pass from Cason Wallace. A whistle. An off-balance reverse layup. A deafening roar from the crowd.
Alex Caruso was alive. So alive.
His momentum carried him right to his bench, where he flicked his wrist in the classic and-1 gesture and chest-bumped Chet Holmgren. Caruso had missed a right-corner 3, after the Oklahoma City Thunder tracked down the rebound, smoked Indiana Pacers guard Ben Sheppard on a back-door cut, enough for Sheppard to grab Caruso as he whizzed by with hopes of slowing him down. Caruso kept going, catching Wallace's pass and scooping in a layup off the glass on the left side.
The Thunder were up by 22 with just under 10 minutes left in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. But having been burned by these Pacers before, the clear task was to step on Indiana's neck. Caruso obliged. With the free throw, he'd put the Thunder up by 25.
The shot didn't count, however. Sheppard's foul was ruled before the shot. Caruso's punctuation highlight was erased from the box score. But the visual wasn't. The moment was still illustrative of Caruso's Game 2 and his unmistakable value to the Thunder. His combination of basketball IQ and relentless hustle has come to embody the championship quality of Oklahoma City.
Read more on Caruso and the Thunder below.
GO FURTHER
Alex Caruso's energy, offense fuel Thunder in Game 2: 'We really feed off of that'
Here's one area worth watching in Game 3: How frequently can the Oklahoma City Thunder get to the free throw line? They were averaging 24.1 free-throw attempts through the first three rounds of the playoffs but have taken 57 in two games against the Pacers (and are hitting 87.7 percent of them). That's no small bump in a series where every point could matter.
It's also a way to slow down the Pacers' attack. Indiana is averaging 10.2 seconds to get a shot off when it gains possession from a missed Oklahoma City shot, according to Inpredictable, but 14.2 seconds after a made shot.
I've made up a stat for this series that explains whether or not the Pacers have a chance to win any given game. If anybody has a good idea for a name, please let me know.
It is a differential stat, and it is based on how good the Thunder's defense is. All it does is combine the differences between the teams' 3-pointers and the teams' turnovers. The thinking: Oklahoma City doesn't turn the ball over often, which is a huge advantage since their half-court defense is the biggest weapon in this series (and maybe the whole NBA). Meanwhile, Indiana's offense is best on the run. They don't need fast-break points to be hyper-efficient, but that is when they are at their most dangerous.
Meanwhile, if the Thunder's defense has a flaw, it is allowing 3s. The Pacers are going to have to shoot the hell out of the ball to have a shot at winning this series.
For 3s, it is simple enough: Every extra 3 a team hits is worth three points. With turnovers, every turnover you commit more than your opponent is worth minus-1. (i.e. if the Thunder commit nine turnovers and the Pacers commit 15, you take away six points from the Pacers). Add those two numbers up and you get the winner of that battle. Those two stats represent the Pacers' two main paths to victory.
In Game 1, the Pacers committed 25 turnovers to the Thunder's 7 (-18). However, they hit 18 3s to Oklahoma City's 11 (+21). Indiana was plus-3 for that game. I'm going to go ahead and predict we don't see even an approximation of that combination again in this series.
In Game 2, the Pacers committed 15 turnovers to the Thunder's 14 (-1). Both teams hit 14 3s, so Indiana was minus-1 for that game.
If you get the result from deep from Game 1 and the turnover result from Game 2, as the late great Carl Weathers might say, now you've got a stew going. More realistically, if the Pacers can stay within a few turnovers of the Thunder and outshoot them, that is their most likely route to taking a lead in the series.
Twenty-four hours before Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Iman Shumpert — currently working as a correspondent for ESPN — took a break from his afternoon duties to reminisce on his playing days.
On basketball's biggest stage, the former NBA champion harkened back to the battles his Cleveland Cavaliers had against Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and the Golden State Warriors. Shumpert, then regarded as one of the most physical pound-for-pound defenders in the league, said he identified with the likes of the Oklahoma City Thunder's Lu Dort and Alex Caruso, particularly with the mental requirements of defending against screen-heavy opposition — a tactical part of this current matchup between the Thunder and the Indiana Pacers.
'Aggression,' Shumpert told The Athletic , of the key to negation. 'If you go back and watch what me and J.R. (Smith) did when we got to Cleveland, there was something we used to do with the Knicks — as part of that 'Knickstape' era. We would grab each other's arm, because we wanted to be even more locked in on a string. Defensively, when we used to talk about building our shell, we would come together. If you were going to switch, you had to literally push (the opponent) to where you needed him to go and vice versa. It would end up in a closeout.
'The only thing you have to remember in switching is, 'I'm running through him if this screen looks cute.' If it looks like it could be a slip or they're just running past, we're not switching. If we are switching, it's to get a steal or jump on you to make you change hands. But there has to be a goal involved with the switch. Any switch that's not aggressive can't be mentioned in the playoffs.'
Read more on Oklahoma City's aggressive defense below.
GO FURTHER
Thunder's stay-or-switch mentality a key to slowing Pacers' high-octane offense Kyle Terada / Imagn
Even after losing Game 2, the Pacers still technically hold the upper hand with homecourt advantage. If the Thunder don't tighten up their corner 3-point defense, they could find themselves trailing in the series yet again.
Indiana's expanded offensive setup, which naturally forces Oklahoma City's defensive shell to widen, yields a number of open corner 3s. According to NBA.com tracking data, the Pacers are attempting 16.0 corner 3s per game, converting on a whopping 53.1 percent of them. These Finals have also caused the Thunder, who are known for their rapid, aggressive ball pressure, to temper their approach, exerting medium pressure on nearly half of their closeouts and moving at an average speed on more than 60 percent of those chances.
This has resulted in a Pacers team that has been able to dictate the flow of the game. They have struggled to attack the left side of the floor, where the Thunder have been able to use help defense and the sideline as an extra defender, but Indiana's halfcourt execution is crisp for the most part. The Pacers will be even more invigorated in front of their home crowd, meaning Oklahoma City will need to be dialed in from the opening tip.
There has been a steady stream of discussion regarding Mark Daigneault and the Thunder's lineup choices through the first two games of these NBA Finals. He went away from his established starting five in the opener. He played zero double big lineups in Game 1 and then went back to them only for a successful Game 2 cameo. He tried Ajay Mitchell out of nowhere in the opener. He toggled Aaron Wiggins' usage up and Isaiah Joe's down in Game 2.
The constant tinkering and experimentation may surprise some of the viewing public. But it's second nature to the players who have been doing it all season.
Jalen Williams was asked at Tuesday's media availability about being in a new lineup combination in this series, under the premise that Daigneault has used more than 700 five-man combinations this season.
"Over the course of my time here, I've had to evolve really fast," Williams said. "I think that's made me a really good player. So I've been in so many different positions on the team that it's helped me get to the point where when you say our lineup was different, I don't even really notice that."
The wide expectation is that Daigneault will stick with his smaller starting lineup as the series shifts to Indianapolis. With Cason Wallace in for Isaiah Hartenstein, the Thunder's new starting five is a modest plus-four in 25 minutes together the first two games.
Hartenstein, a plus-19 in the series, is part of three of their five best five-man combinations, but it's clear that Daigneault wants to mostly limit his minutes to when Myles Turner is off the floor. But there's no real predicting with the Thunder.
"Nobody is shocked by when Mark wants to go small, change this around or do that," Williams said. "We have a bunch of guys that have experience doing that. Over the course of time, you don't really notice it. You're more ready to play and ready when your number is called. I think that's what makes our team special."
QUESTION: If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Williams or Pascal Siakam win Finals MVP, it will be the fifth time in the last 12 years where the winner was drafted outside the top 10 picks in the NBA draft (Kawhi Leonard twice, Giannis, and Nikola Jokic). That happened just four times in the first 45 years the award was handed out. Can you name those four?
ANSWER: Dennis Johnson, Cedric Maxwell, Tony Parker and Joe Dumars
Through two games, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 14 points in the paint per game, which would tied the second-highest mark for a guard in a single NBA Finals series since 1997, when the league started play-by-play tracking.
A key to SGA's interior success has been his knack for drives. Through Games 1-2, he's shooting 48.3 percent and averaging seven made shots on drives to the basket. The Pacers? They're averaging eight such makes and shooting 42.1 percent on drives as a team.
In Games 1-2, the Pacers are minus-20 in turnover differential (39 to 19). Since the league started tracking turnovers in 1973-74, only five teams have won the championship despite a turnover margin of minus-20 or worse in the finals, with the 2019 Raptors (minus-23 vs. Warriors) being the most recent example.
In the last 30 years, the 1998 Bulls (minus-29 vs. Jazz) and 1995 Rockets (minus-24) have done what Indy may be tasked to pull off against a very active Thunder defense, which is averaging 24 defensive deflections to the Pacers' 10 so far.
Some legends are born. Some are made. Often, they are forged in the heat of battle or, in this case, forged in the heat of a 103-degree fever.
Whether it was food poisoning, as claimed in "The Last Dance" documentary, or whether it was the flu, Michael Jordan's performance on June 11, 1997 is forever cemented in his basketball legend. (Even BasketballReference.com highlights their game center page with "MJ's Flu Game.")
"Weary Jordan Wills His Team Just One Away" blared the New York Times headline the next day.
"Battling the spirit and savvy of the Utah Jazz and the nauseating symptoms of the flu," Mike Wise wrote, "Jordan tonight backpacked his team from the depths of despair. He dropped in one of the most clutch shots of his career with 25 seconds left, a 3-pointer from a few steps left of the top of the arc that sent Chicago to a stirring 90-88 victory over the Jazz in Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals."
With the chance to give the Bulls a one-point lead, Jordan missed the second of two free throws to leave the game tied at 85. But, he corralled his own miss and then drilled a 3-pointer to give the Bulls an 88-85 lead. After the Jazz and Bulls traded hoops, we got the iconic image of Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen helping Jordan to the bench during a timeout.
The win gave the Bulls a 3-2 lead in the series. They would take Game 6 at home two days later for their fifth title in seven years. But for Jordan, who had many iconic performances in college, the NBA and the Olympics, the "Flu Game" in Salt Lake City may be the one that looms largest in his legend.
June 11 remains a landmark day in Pacers history. The Pacers won ABA titles in 1970, '72 and '73. They were one of the four ABA teams (Nets, Spurs and Nuggets being the other three) to merge with the NBA in 1976. Until 1999, no ABA team had made an NBA Finals, let alone won one.
So, the San Antonio Spurs broke both streaks in '99 when they made the NBA Finals and beat an original NBA team, the New York Knicks, in five games to take their first NBA championship.
One year later, the Pacers became the second ABA team to make an NBA Finals. After dropping the first two games in Los Angeles against the Lakers, the series returned to Indianapolis for Game 3.
On June 11, 2000, the Pacers notched their first NBA Finals win 100-91 over the Lakers. The Pacers ran out to an 11-point halftime lead and were up 13 heading into the fourth as Indiana never trailed in its first finals home game in franchise history.
The Pacers' Reggie Miller had 33 to lead Indiana, Jalen Rose added 21 and Travis Best pitched in with 14.
If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Williams or Pascal Siakam win NBA Finals MVP, it will be the fifth time in the last 12 years where the winner was drafted outside the top 10 picks in the NBA Draft (Kawhi Leonard twice, Giannis and Nikola Jokić). That happened just four times in the first 45 years the award was handed out.
Can you name those four?
We'll give you the answer in just a bit.
Indiana Pacers big man Myles Turner is a free agent this summer, one who will have a very healthy market and is expected to receive a handsome raise from his current salary ($19.9 million).
Yet while that truth would typically compel a player of his caliber to be focused on his next place of employment this time of year, Turner, as it so happens, is a free-agent-to-be whose team is playing in the NBA Finals. As such, he's not in the mood to discuss what might happen after this season.
Not yet, anyways.
I spoke with Turner about this dynamic briefly on Tuesday, when he was nice enough to do a walk-and-talk between scheduled media appearances. Here is our exchange.
Q: I know it's not where your head is at, but has anybody asked you about your updated perspective on your free agency situation in light of what you all accomplished here?
A: They've tried.
Q: Ok, so what is your messaging there?
A: It's gonna be the same cookie cutter answer, Sam. I'm not going to lie to you. It's gonna be the whole 'I'm gonna focus on the Finals, and when that gets here, it gets here' (statement). So, yeah...
Q: I guess my curiosity was - and this is a really good problem to have - but you went from this time in the past when the question was, 'Is he the right fit (with the Pacers)?' to ' Oh boy, can they keep him?' And now your market elsewhere has continued to get better. I guess I'll make it more personal: Are you proud of yourself for having continued to improve, and continued to chip away to this place where you have carved out your space in this city and in this league?
A: Yeah, of course. It's a favorable position to be in. But at the same time, the future is unwritten, so I'm just taking it day by day to process, and I'm enjoying it.
Oklahoma City, amid an eight-game winning streak and having won 15 of its last 16 games, used a dominant second and third quarter — scoring 73 points — to breeze past a feisty, fast Indiana unit 132-111 on March 29. Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers with 33 points, but Oklahoma City's floor spacing was the biggest theme in this one, as the Thunder connected on 17 3s (hitting 47.2 percent of them). From an overall offensive standpoint, this was an aesthetically pleasing game; the Pacers finished with 27 assists, while the Thunder dished out 26. Oklahoma City also scored 58 points in the paint, and that inside-outside dominance gave the Thunder the edge.
Despite playing without both Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso, the Thunder made their way to Indianapolis on Dec. 16 and ended the Pacers' five-game win streak with a 120-114 comeback victory. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was spectacular with 45 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, while Tyrese Haliburton managed only four points and eight assists. Aaron Nesmith did not play for the Pacers, and that may have had something to do with Indiana's defensive struggles, as the Thunder put together a 17-7 run to close the game. While both teams posted solid shooting percentages, the Thunder ultimately took six more shots because they forced the Pacers into 11 turnovers while committing only three of their own.
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