The Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks are the consensus contenders out of the East.
The Indiana Pacers just beat them both back-to-back to reach the finals of the In-Season Tournament. Throw in tournament group play and they beat the Philadelphia 76ers, too. All of it thanks to the star turn of Tyrese Haliburton.
Thursday in Las Vegas it was Haliburton time — and he let everyone know it.
IT'S HALI'S TIME https://t.co/jxMaRG5CTu pic.twitter.com/cQVnjv5SQZ
— NBA (@NBA) December 8, 2023
Haliburton’s rapid ascension to NBA star has taken the Indiana Pacers to the Finals of the In-Season Tournament after a 128-119 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday afternoon.
Indiana advances to the Finals of the IST on Saturday against the Lakers, who thrashed the Pelicans later on Thursday.
Haliburton finished with 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting with 15 assists. More impressively, he combined for 53 points and 28 assists against the Bucks and Celtics with zero turnovers. None.
Tyrese Haliburton would NOT be denied reaching the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament Championship!
— NBA (@NBA) December 8, 2023
🔥 27 PTS
🔥 15 AST
🔥 0 TO
His 3rd game this season with 25+ PTS, 15+ AST and 0 TO. No other player has more than 1 such game in their CAREER since turnovers were first tracked… pic.twitter.com/vWndJ8WIbb
As much as Haliburton deserves his flowers, the Pacers did a lot of other things right as well to win this game.
• They closed the first half on a 40-22 run to take a dozen point lead into the half.
• The Pacers had eight offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, with their guards doing most of the heavy lifting.
• They won the bench scoring battle 43-13.
• They adjusted and found a way to win after the Bucks went to a 2-3 zone heavily in the second half and used that — and a barrage of Damian Lillard 3-pointers — to go on a 25-9 run and take the lead at the start of the third quarter. A lot of teams fold right there, the Pacers did not. Indiana started getting the ball into the free throw line and attacking the soft middle of the zone, and it worked.
While there matchup and Xs and Os that mattered, the Pacers also simply played with more energy — they run like this every night and it wears teams down.
OBI TOPPIN REVERSE LOB FROM HALF 😱
— NBA (@NBA) December 8, 2023
🏀 Pacers/Bucks on ESPN
🏆 Winner advances to Championship in Las Vegas on Saturday pic.twitter.com/5gNgv3WIMa
Myles Turner stepped up with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
The one concern for the Pacers going forward is Andrew Nembhard, who left the game in the fourth quarter after an awkward step that saw his leg hyperextend. He had played fantastic defense on Giannis Antetokounmpo for much of the night.
“The hope is that it’s not anything serious, a hyperextension. We’ll see,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, via Scott Agness of the Fieldhouse Files.
Antetokounmpo still was dominant, scoring 37 on 13-of-19 shooting with 10 rebounds. Lillard added 24 points and seven assists. Khris Middleton had 20 as the Pacers attacked with whoever Obi Toppin was guarding.
The concerns about the Bucks’ depth, when going up against the best teams, are legitimate. Milwaukee’s bench shot 33.3% as a group and that included 0-of-4 from 3. Michael Beasley had seven points on nine shots. Milwaukee needs players other than their core four to step up.
And we need to start considering the Pacers as a top team.
