by Wheat Hotchkiss
It was only fitting that Reggie Miller was on the mic on Thursday night in Las Vegas, when Tyrese Haliburton continued his meteoric rise to superstardom. The Pacers’ All-Star guard did Miller proud, coming through in winning time with a game-sealing three in the final minute to seal a 128-119 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in the In-Season Tournament Semifinal.
The victory continued a magical run for the Pacers (12-8), who are a perfect 6-0 in the inaugural In-Season Tournament and advanced to Saturday’s Championship game against either the Lakers, who rolled to a 133-89 win over New Orleans in Thursday’s other Semifinal.
Indiana moved in front on Bruce Brown’s jumper with 6:15 remaining and clung to a narrow lead for the next several minutes. They led by just one at 113-112 following two Damian Lillard free throws with 2:40 remaining.
On the other end, Brown missed a layup, but Myles Turner was there to tip in the rebound. Then, Brown intercepted a Khris Middleton pass and streaked down the floor. Lillard hustled back to contest Brown’s layup attempt on the break and force a miss, but Buddy Hield was trailing and put the ball back up and in to make it a five-point game with two minutes to play.
Giannis Antetokounmpo quickly scored a layup on the other end, but Haliburton took over from there. He ran down the shot clock, then blew by Brook Lopez at the top of the key and went up and under Malik Beasley to convert a layup.
After Lopez missed a three on the other end, Haliburton took a 30-footer. He missed, but he followed the shot and got his own rebound, bringing the ball back to the top of the key to reset. He dribbled down the shot clock, then weaved his way to the left wing, drilling a step-back trey with 49.5 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
Pacers legend Miller, who was calling the game for ESPN as part of a talent crossover with Turner, proclaimed on the TV broadcast, “We are witnessing a superstar in the making.”
After the three, Haliburton pointed to his wrist, mimicking Lillard’s famous “Dame Time” celebration. It seemed he was saying it was “his time,” but he clarified the celebration slightly afterwards.
“It’s not mine, it’s ours,” he told ESPN’s Lisa Salters after the win. “It’s ours for the taking. We’re not supposed to be here. The expectations aren’t there. We just keep shocking the world.”
The Pacers’ All-Star guard finished with a team-high 27 points, 15 assists, seven rebounds, and zero turnovers. He went 11-for-19 from the field and 3-for-9 from 3-point range, in a memorable follow-up to his first career triple-double in Monday’s Quarterfinal win over the Celtics at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Over the past two games, Haliburton had a total of 28 assists and no turnovers. After hearing MVP chants in his home arena on Monday, Haliburton is all but a lock to win In-Season Tournament MVP honors if the Pacers can win one more game on Saturday.
“Yeah, it’s cool,” Haliburton said of the attention. “It feels like 2K sometimes. It feels really good for me. But at the end of the day, I’ve spoken on this since the start of the season, I just want to win…We’ve got a lot of guys that want to compete for something and play for something bigger than ourselves.
“This is the start of that, playing for something real. We’ve got a chance to win a championship. It doesn’t matter the prize or anything like that. We’ve got a chance to win a championship. So that means a lot to us, and we’re not taking that lightly.
We’re going to be prepared on Saturday.”
Turner — the longest tenured Pacer in his ninth season in Indiana — added 26 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks to help lead Indiana to the Championship game.
“It feels damn good,” Turner said. “I’m not going to lie. It’s been a long time coming because I know what this organization is capable of, and just to have Indy to have their guy (in Haliburton) and just have a great bench and great depth, I couldn’t be happier.”
The Blue & Gold withstood a 37-point, 10-rebound performance from two-time MVP Antetokounmpo and a 20-point second half from Lillard as they knocked off another of the NBA’s top teams. The Pacers have now defeated Milwaukee, Boston, Philadelphia, and Cleveland — the four top seeds in the Eastern Conference last season — over the course of the In-Season Tournament.
The Bucks (15-7) got off to a fast start on Thursday, hitting seven for their first 11 shots, with Antetokounmpo scoring eight points and Lopez adding two threes, to propel Milwaukee to a 19-12 lead at the first timeout.
The Blue & Gold responded with an 11-4 run featuring six points from Turner to tie the game at 23. Turner scored 10 of Indiana’s first 20 points. The Bucks surged back ahead after the Pacers tied it but led just 29-27 after the opening frame.
T.J. McConnell provided a big spark early in the second quarter. He scored five points in the first three minutes, including back-to-back buckets to move Indiana in front. The crafty veteran followed those up with two steals and two assists to extend the lead to 40-34.
The Blue & Gold continued to add to their lead after the starters checked back in. Haliburton provided one of the highlights of the first half, when he drove to the rim and leaped up, only to throw a pass that seemingly defied physics to Toppin in the left corner for a wide-open three. The Pacers pushed the lead to 12 points on three different occasions and took a 63-51 lead into halftime.
The Bucks came storming back out of the intermission, however. Lillard struggled in the first half, managing just four points on 2-of-10 shooting, but he found his rhythm in the third quarter.
The seven-time All-Star hit a three on his first attempt of the second half. Khris Middleton then added back-to-back treys on Milwaukee’s next two possessions. Another Lillard three at 8:21 followed by an Antetokounmpo basket 42 seconds later capped a 17-4 Bucks run to open the half. Just like that, the Pacers’ lead was gone.
Haliburton hit a mid-range jumper and a deep three on Indiana’s next two possessions, but Lillard was feeling it on the other end, converting his third and fourth 3-pointers of the quarter in quick succession to keep the Bucks in front.
The Pacers briefly tied the game at 78 thanks to a 6-0 run, only for Milwaukee to quickly push lead back to six. Antetokounmpo scored 11 points in the frame, all of them coming at either the rim or the free throw line to keep the Bucks in front. A three from Aaron Nesmith just before the third quarter buzzer trimmed Indiana’s deficit to 94-91 entering the fourth.
The Blue & Gold’s second unit mounted another charge early in the final frame. McConnell crashed the boards for an unexpected tip-in to give the Pacers a 95-94 lead a little over a minute into the fourth. Then, after a MarJon Beauchamp free throw tied the game, Nesmith drove and converted a basket through contact from Brook Lopez. Bucks guard Cameron Payne was assessed a technical foul for arguing the call and the Pacers made two free throws to open up a four-point advantage.
They couldn’t create more separation and the two teams traded the lead six more times before the midway point of the quarter, but the Pacers never relinquished the lead over the final 6:15.
“I feel like since we’re such a young team, we’re growing, we’re learning together,” Toppin said. “I feel like everybody wants to see each other succeed, players and
coaches, front office, as well. Everybody here just wants to see everybody win.
“We go out there, play for each other and we lock in to what the coaches (say).”
Toppin finished with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and pulled down six rebounds in the victory. Isaiah Jackson finished with 11 points and six boards off the bench, while Brown added 10.
The normally sharpshooting Hield struggled with his shot, going 3-for-11 from the field and 0-for-6 from 3-point range, but still managed to add eight points and a season-high 11 rebounds to help contribute to the victory.
Middleton finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, and four assists for the Bucks, while Lopez added 18 points, six boards, and four blocks.
All eyes will be on the Pacers once again on Saturday, when they face the NBA’s all-time leading scorer LeBron James and the Lakers on ABC at 8:30 PM ET.
“Look, we’re a disruptor,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said after the win. “A lot of people didn’t want us here. We don’t care about that. We earned our way here.
“We earned our way to three additional national TV games, so people are going to find out about the Pacers and who we are and how we play.”
Inside the Numbers
Haliburton has recorded a double-double in 14 of 17 games this season, including all six In-Season Tournament games. He is averaging 27.8 points, 13.7 assists, and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 52 percent from the field and 45 percent from 3-point range in In-Season Tournament play.
Turner has registered seven double-doubles on the season, including three in a row.
The Pacers’ bench outscored the Bucks’ reserves 43-13 on Thursday. McConnell tallied nine points, four assists, and three steals in 11:28. Mathurin had nine points, six rebounds, and a block. Nembhard tallied eight points on 4-of-5 shooting. And Nesmith contributed six points and took on the task of guarding Antetokounmpo for most of the night.
Indiana found a way to still be productive even on a night when shots weren’t falling. The Pacers were just 7-for-33 (21.2 percent) from 3-point range, but they outscored Milwaukee 72-60 in points in the paint and 23-16 in second-chance points.
The Bucks outscored Indiana 43-28 in the third quarter to erase a double-digit deficit and take the lead, but the Pacers won the fourth quarter, 37-25.
The Pacers committed just 10 turnovers and outscored the Bucks 20-16 in points off turnovers, including a 13-2 advantage in the first half.
You Can Quote Me On That
“Tyrese is certainly our leader, no question about that. I thought he was spectacular. 27 and 15 these days are kind of like average numbers for him. But he drove the bus when the game counted, particularly down the stretch. He’s a great closer. He’s becoming an even better closer.” -Carlisle on Haliburton
“He’s definitely the best passer in the game right now. 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.” -Toppin on Haliburton
“My teammates just put me in a great position to make the right play. Sometimes I make some wild passes and things like that, guys cover it up and make me look a lot better than I am…I’m always just trying to make the right play. I think as long as us as a team, we take care of the ball, we’re going to get enough good looks that we’re going to be in every game. The games that we take care of the ball we’re really hard to beat because we’re going to get enough good looks and more times than not we’re going to make enough good looks.” -Haliburton on having 28 assists and no turnovers over the last two In-Season Tournament games
“Myles Turner has been around nine years, but he’s still 27 years old. He’s still a young player…Myles was here when some of the veteran teams were in the Playoffs. He got a taste of it. He’s really longed for this kind of feeling, this kind of meaningful games.” -Carlisle on Turner
“I feel like I just stayed down, man. It’s one of those things where I could have quit. I could have just bailed out a couple years ago…But I never stopped working. I just had trust in myself, had trust in the ones around me. I think the front office did an amazing job these past couple of years to bring in some great pieces.” -Turner on being a part of a successful team again in Indiana
“Our bench really was the difference in today’s game. If you look at the plus-minus, it’s pretty obvious that those guys played a major role. T.J. just inspires me, he inspires his teammates with the way he plays, his passion. He’s a little unconventional with his style of play, but he’s very difficult to deal with. He was great in the first half and made huge plays in the second half. I thought his tip-in was one of the highlights of the season.” -Carlisle on the contributions from the Pacers’ reserves
“I know a lot of people don’t watch us play all the time, but we truly have one of
the best benches in the NBA, if not the best bench in the NBA. I think local media in Indy, all we talked about was the depth of our group and the competition that was going into training camp and how guys are really competing for minutes…We’re a really deep team with a lot of different guys who can contribute.” -Haliburton on Indiana’s bench
“I think a lot of guys just made some shots. I think we got Bruce in the middle. You guys know for the last few years, his bread and butter has been his two-foot floater, and he was able to get to that. Drew was really big in that third quarter, making some really tough shots in the mid-range and stuff like that. This guy dominated the paint for us offensively.” -Haliburton on how Indiana overcame Milwaukee’s zone defense in the second half
“We’re just looking to get better. We’re looking to get better. We have a goal. We have a dream as an organization to be an NBA championship organization. They won three ABA titles, and that’s a big deal. Winning an NBA title is a dream that’s reachable, but it’s got to be a dream where people can focus on how it’s reachable, and we’re showing signs of that. We’re not there yet. We’re showing signs, and we’re a dangerous team.” -Carlisle on the Pacers’ aspirations
Stat of the Night
There have been 17 games in NBA history where a player has 25+ points, 15+ assists, and zero turnovers. No one has accomplished the feat more than once except for Haliburton, who has done it three times since Nov. 12.
Noteworthy
- The Pacers are 2-0 on the season against the Bucks, having also beat Milwaukee 126-124 on Nov. 9 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Prior to this season, Indiana had dropped 11 of its last 12 and 15 of its last 17 contests against the Bucks.
- Nembhard exited midway through the fourth quarter after injuring his knee on a fastbreak. He was taken to the locker room and diagnosed with a sore right knee. He returned to the bench with his knee iced and was ruled out for the rest of the game.
- Pacers big man Jalen Smith was inactive for the fourth straight game with a left knee bone bruise and left heel contusion. The Bucks were without guard Pat Connaughton (right ankle sprain) and forward Jae Crowder (left adductor surgery).
Up Next
The Pacers will face LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the inaugural In-Season Tournament Championship in Las Vegas on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 8:30 PM ET.
Tickets
The Pacers return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to host Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, Dec. 18 at 7:00 PM ET.
Originally posted on pacers.com