It’s been 12 years since the Indiana Pacers were this close to the NBA Finals. Paul George, Lance Stephenson and Roy Hibbert took the Big Three Miami Heat to seven games and gave the reigning champs everything they could handle. Ultimately, though, the Heat’s talent dragged them over the finish line.
The Pacers returned to the Eastern Conference finals the next season but were dispatched in six games by Miami. It took them 10 years to get back to the conference finals, but they were swept by the Boston Celtics. They were the clear underdog in the series and lost like one.
At long last, these Pacers are no longer underdogs nor upstarts. After Tuesday night’s win over the New York Knicks, the Pacers are one win away from their first Finals appearance since 2000. Despite their dramatic and improbable comeback win in Game 1, they have been the better team on balance for the series.
The Pacers have outscored the Knicks by 11 points through four games. Their offensive rating of 121.1 would have ranked first in the league in the regular season. They’re deeper than the Knicks and make fewer mistakes. Most importantly, they’ve had the best player in the series.
Haliburton has led the Pacers to within one win of the Finals
Tyrese Haliburton finished Game 4 with 32 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds, four steals and zero turnovers. It was a virtuoso performance that gave his team a chance to score on nearly every possession. He started the game attacking Mitchell Robinson in drop, then toggled between scoring and playmaking modes. He pushed off rebounds, hunted switches and delivered his patented jump passes to teammates over New York’s defense.
In his second Eastern Conference finals in two years, Haliburton looks comfortable on the stage. If the importance of the moment for the Pacers franchise is weighing on him, he’s not showing it. If anything, he’s cemented his status as one of the league’s elite players and, more importantly, has become a card-carrying member of the Playoff Risers club.
In doing so, Haliburton assembled a box score that only Oscar Robertson and Nikola Jokic have ever matched. He’s doing things Reggie Miller has never done in Pacers franchise history. Haliburton became the first player in playoff history to tally at least 30 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds without a turnover since turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78, according to ESPN’s research.
"It's pretty remarkable, but this has become his thing," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. "There will be a new statistical category, perhaps, named after him somewhere down the line.
On April 29th, The Athletic published a player poll that named Haliburton as the league’s most overrated player. The headline was catchy, but if you break down the poll, it reflects the votes of only 13 of the league’s 450-plus players.
Still, the toothpaste was out of the tube and it became a national talking point. The night the poll was published, Haliburton’s Pacers eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in a dramatic Game 5 in which they outscored the Bucks 8-0 in the final 40 seconds of overtime. Haliburton had 26 points, nine assists, three steals and three blocks in 42 minutes. After the game, Haliburton posted two words on X: “Overrate THAT.”
There is no room for overrating or underrating anymore. Not for Haliburton and not for these Pacers. That’s the respect that they’ve earned, and in 48 more minutes of game time, they may earn a chance to compete for a new label: Champion.
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NBA news roundup
- Russell Westbrook underwent surgery on his right hand to repair multiple ligament tears, the team announced Tuesday evening. Westbrook said the surgery was to fix “two breaks that happened during the season” and that “I can't wait to be back out there at 100% soon.”
- ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday that there was “mutual interest” between Kevin Durant and the San Antonio Spurs before February’s trade deadline, and that the Spurs could explore a Durant trade again this summer.
Best winning box scores
There have been eight triple-doubles in these playoffs. Haliburton’s on Tuesday night was only the fourth that came in a win, and the only one in which the player scored more than 24 points.
Here are the five best single-game performances of the playoffs that resulted in a win for their team, according to Basketball-Reference’s Game Score.
- Jamal Murray (April 29 vs LA): 43 points, five rebounds, seven assists, three steals, one block
- Anthony Edwards (April 27 vs Los Angeles): 43 points, nine rebounds, six assists
- Kawhi Leonard (April 21 at Denver): 39 points (79% shooting), three rebounds, five assists, two steals, one block
- Nikola Jokic (April 26 at LA): 36 points, 21 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, one block
- Haliburton (May 27 vs New York): 32 points, 12 rebounds, 15 assists, four steals