The Pacers‘ offensive style of controlled chaos and freedom stems not only from the synergy between Tyrese Haliburton and coach Rick Carlisle, but also from the decades of experience Carlisle has coaching elite point guards, Jamal Collier and Tim MacMahon write for ESPN.com.
As a young coach with a reputation for demanding control of his team, Carlisle found himself leading a Mavericks squad in 2008 helmed by Jason Kidd, an experience that taught him a valuable lesson that he has applied to multiple other star initiators, such as Luka Doncic and now Haliburton. Kidd showed him how to introduce more flow and rhythm to the offense, and after some initial resistance, the pair grew to appreciate and get the best out of each other, eventually winning a championship together.
“It’s pretty clear, when you have a player of that kind of magnitude, that kind of presence, that kind of knowledge, vision and depth, you got to let them do what they do,” Carlisle says.
Haliburton, for his part, doesn’t take that trust for granted. Speaking about Carlisle making sure the team knew the ball was coming to Haliburton for the final play of Game 1, he said: “That was the ultimate trust that I could get from anybody, because he is such a brilliant basketball mind. He’s been around such great guards, great players. For him to give me that confidence, I think has really taken my career to another level.”
Before Haliburton’s arrival in Indiana, Carlisle was back to his roots of operating as a strict play-caller. All that changed when the Pacers traded for Haliburton. He had dinner with his new point guard the night after the trade, and the relationship blossomed from there.
“What I learned my first year in Dallas was to give J-Kidd the ball and get out of the way, let him run the show, let him run the team,” Carlisle said. “Tyrese, very similar situation, but didn’t take half a season to figure it out. The situation in Dallas with Luka was the same.”
We have more on the Pacers:
- Obi Toppin‘s impact for Indiana has gone well beyond box-score numbers, writes James Boyd of The Athletic. While it’s true that Toppin’s pivotal putback dunk and subsequent block on Jalen Williams in the fourth quarter of Game 3’s win will show up in the stat sheet, it’s his non-stop energy that has made him such a successful part of the Pacers’ balanced attack. “He continues to bring that pace to the game and he’s flying up the floor and you’re hitting him ahead (for easy buckets)… He fits so perfect with what we do,” Haliburton said. Indiana’s bench play has been a crucial part of the team’s 2-1 lead over the Thunder, as Toppin, Bennedict Mathurin, and T.J. McConnell have all proven indispensable throughout the series.
- The Pacers have a chance to be the most atypical championship team since the 2004 Pistons if they can win two more games, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. Built around great players who are not quite superstars, depth, versatility, shooting, and great coaching, Indiana has managed to defy expectations — but Jones writes that maybe that says more about those expectations than the Pacers, who went 54-22 to end the season and have few weaknesses on either end of the floor. At the end of the day, Jones says, this team deserves to be considered a juggernaut, not one that’s just happy to be here.
- Haliburton rebounding the ball is one of the best indications that the Pacers are about to score, writes The Athletic’s Fred Katz in a piece examining trends of the Finals. During the 2025 playoffs, he writes, the Pacers are scoring 160.8 points per 100 possessions on plays following a Haliburton defensive rebound. Katz also points to the speed at which the Pacers get into their offense as a key to creating even marginal advantages, as their speed forces opponents into cross-matches that can be beneficial to Indiana. Katz also points out that out of 140 players to attempt at least 40 pull-up shots this year, McConnell does so from the closest distance, to great effect. He has hit 20 of his 34 pull-ups this postseason.
PACERS win it all, they’ll mirror that glorious 2004 PISTONS team …….. they’ll also affirm that unwritten NBA rule that teams as young as OKC, Shaq’s MAGIC don’t win the Finals.
Still rooting for OKC though.
Pacers defying expectations only bc most people are casual nba fans. They watch lakers knicks warriors celtics. If a tm wins 60+ gms (with a single player at the center of the success) the media hypes them up to get clicks & attract viewers to their daily sports show. Indy dont have a donovan mitchell or a giannis or a brunson or an sga. No mvps. 1 guy who made 3rd tm nba. 1 AS this yr. People never heard of nesmith or tj or mathurin or nemhard. They are a balanced tm, not centered on 1 or 2 “stars”. Ask 10 people and 9 of them cant locate indiana on a US map. Thats modern nba. Which tm has the mvp. Which tm can score the most. Which tm has the most superstars. Indy might win & everyone will forget immediately & start talking about kevin durant & giannis & lebron. Thats all people talk about. But pacer fans & real nba fans know 1 thing. That if indy wins it all, it’ll be the most insane improbable title victory in nba history. And they r extremely fun to watch too. Just not your typical champ. Very similar to 04 pistons. That tm was defense heavy, indy is more offense. But both tms grind out games. Noone figured it out, incl okc. Indy will lose first 3 Q, then turn it up in the end and wear u out. 2 more wins lfg
Pacers are doing to OKC what OKC normally does. Defensive intensity from five guys and all helping each other out. No one gets beat because another guy is always there.
They’re wearing the thunder down, which is what OKC does. Their deep bench helps with this by playing effectively and bigger minutes. Look at Obi Toppin. Hitting big threes and just a energizer bunny out there.
Pacers look real good, which of course is the opposite of what I said a week and a half ago lol.
Toppin plays a lot of 4th quarter minutes. He brings so much force and energy, but a lot of his strength is that the opposition is worn out by the time he gets into the game. I give Rick Carlisle a lot of credit because his usage of Toppin is brilliant.
Thunder start IHart ….. Thunder inexperience has shown up. Pacers just protect your home court. Thunder have to win this game. Just manage the game and show up. Do what you been doing all year.
Stars have to step up now ——- ???? Who
Time for tge MVP to show up. …. 14 pts Q and half to go ….. you don’t want to go last min this game. Thunder have help him get off . MVP Time
Too much one on one for Thunder. …. way you attack good defense. Is by ball movement. Thunder getting outcoached. This is where you need your game manager. Pacers have Hali ….
Thunder have to move the ball. Look for good shots. and SGA, Williams, Chet get your shots off the offense. Stop this one on one.
Williams 14 fg, SGA 18 fg, Chet 7 fg. Rest of team 25 fg …..
You can’t hand chech the ball on perimeter. Furst one they call
Good Game !!!!!
Any doubt who the MVP is ….. brought the Thunder …….
The MVP was SGA’s offball hand that was throwing defenders to the ground like a champ.
No offensive fouls in the NBA anymore apparently.
Pacers should’ve taken out Turner, he was too scared to shoot.