The Indiana Pacers undefeated run through the NBA’s In-Season Tournament continued with another upset victory on Thursday with a 128-119 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. They’ll face the Los Angeles Lakers for the first IST Championship in NBA Histort on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
The Pacers won despite making only 21.2% of their 3-point attempts, normally a recipe for defeat for the upstart offensive juggernaut that struggles to defend and rebound. But the Pacers shot 62.3% on their 2-point shot attempts, won the rebounding battle 51-46, held the Bucks to 44.8% shooting, and the bench dominated the opposing second unit, outscoring the Bucks reserves 43-9.
The Pacers took the Bucks best punch in the third quarter when they quickly erased a 12-point halftime lead behind a barrage of 3-pointers from Damian Lillard, who struggled in the first half with just 4 points on 2-of-10 shooting. 25-9 in six minutes as the Bucks got hot and the Pacers continued their cold shooting. The Bucks tried to break their rhythm with a zone defense and while it worked in that the Pacers continued to miss most of their 3-pointers, they eventually did enough by working the middle of the zone, especially with Andrew Nembhard.There were contributions from everyone who played for the Pacers in this game. Each of the 10 guys had their moments in a tough win. Let’s dive into the grades and add a gif that best sums up that player’s performance.
There aren’t enough words, gifs, emojis, pictographs, musical notes, smoke signals, and whatever other modes of communication in the world to adequately describe the meteoric rise Tyrese Haliburton has been on during this tournament. It’s historic. It’s incredible to watch. Somehow as the best passer in the league, he still manages to surprise with his unbelievable processing, decision making, and sheer skill.
How does a guy that makes the pass above and the pass below also have zero turnovers? It does not compute that a player that plays with such pizazz and flash with high-risk passes also takes perfect care of the basketball on so many nights.
“He’s definitely the best passer in the game right now,” Obi Toppin said. “Having the opportunity to play with him is amazing because like I said, he wants to see everybody win. He’s going to get his, obviously, but he wants to see other guys on his team win, as well, and that’s what makes us so special.”
Leave a Reply