How do the Pacers keep doing this?! | Inside the comeback

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What happened at the end of Game 1 of the NBA Finals? In this detailed video and scouting report, we examine the Indiana Pacers late game offense, whether they were lucky or if something changed, Tyrese Haliburton’s aggressiveness, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s defense and more.

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The Pacers have done it again. I am here in Oklahoma City and my microphone is broke. But we power on because for the fourth straight series, a magical comeback. This time from down 15 in the fourth quarter in a game where they committed 19 turnovers in the first half and trailed wire towire. In the first twothirds of this game, the Thunder speed, switching, and historically great hands flustered Indiana’s free flowing offense, forcing a turnover on an incredible 31% of their possessions. And then, like so many Pacers games, things just happened. With OKC in control, Lou Dort harassed the ball handler that pushed Tyrese Hallebertton’s catch into the back court and left a ton of space the back court and left a ton of space for this little pin down in the corner for Ben Mathan, who attacks with a great pocket pass and dunk. And this is available because Isaiah Hartinstein’s the defender, which means there’s no switch and just enough space for Thomas Bryant to finish. A minute later, Matine goes after Hartinstein in pick and roll. And that’s a reach-in foul for free throws. And he had a ton of space to throws. And he had a ton of space to work with there because OKC is just glued to Hallebertton. After an Isaiah Joe 3, we get vintage Pacers with TJ McConnell pushing pace, flying under the hoop with that Nash dribble, and then suddenly Bryant finds himself open for a corner three. And as TJ comes flying around the bend here, normally iHeart would come help and Joe would zone up so would come help and Joe would zone up so he could just chase any pass into the corner. But as we discussed last video, instead of the screener rolling baseline here, Indiana’s players fly across the free throw line area that confuses Kase and Wallace. So when Matine cuts, Joe has to do a ton of extra processing and has to do a ton of extra processing and Brian’s free in the corner. On the final trip of the quarter, it’s a rare Thunder mistake. They want to bring Sheay Gildas Alexander into the screening action. Alex Caruso sees this and wants to pre-witch, but Sheay misses the memo and that leaves Pascal Seakum. And this Pacers bench flurry is exactly what LeBron James mentioned on the last Mind the Game podcast. And the minutes that you thought you were winning, you could win with Harley on the bench. you end up win with Harley on the bench. you end up losing those minutes 8-2, 74, you know, 93 and those are huge minutes. In the fourth, the Thunder continued to execute offensively, pushing their lead right back to 12. And then it’s more beautiful Indiana movement. Caruso is denying the catch. Matine backd doors and Jaylen Williams can’t save it without fouling. And then on the next trip, Matine comes right back again. Beautiful hesitation move and he slips by Caruso to finish. And Indie was going after Hartinstein here in space. And that little hesitation gets Isaiah retreating and is also just enough room to squeak by Caruso. The Pacers actually had good chances against iHeart earlier in this game. He ends up switched onto the speedy McConnell here and doesn’t want to come way off the screener. So they rotate behind the play as Hardenstein recovers and this is open but the pass can’t get there and it’s nearly a turnover before it’s an actual turnover. But iHeart did not want to give Miles Turner easy pick and pop looks. So he doesn’t stray too far from the screen before recovering on a play where someone needed to help. And at the end of the quarter, there’s some confusion about the coverage here, and that leaves Obie Topphen wide open for a three. This play also stood out compared to the Thunder’s quicker lineups. He wants to stay closer to the basket, but the Pacers naturally cut a player to the opposite side in that spot. So, that leaves iHeart alone on that side, and he’s a step behind. And it’s a clean look for the guard. Back in the fourth, Andrew Nemhard initiates offense and goes right after Hartinstein. This time, everyone helps on the ball. That leaves Tophin wide open at the top. And ironically, they have JDub on Turner here to keep iHeart out of the pick and here to keep iHeart out of the pick and pop. The rest of the floor is beautifully spaced. And these are really good possessions. OKC then goes back to the traditional matchups with Hartinstein on Turner. They get Hallebertton back on the ball. Simple pick and roll game. iHeart goes to help off the corner. A quick pass to Turner. And again, there’s too much space and the lead’s down to eight. Just under 2 minutes earlier, it was a 15-point game. After yet another forced turnover and run out for the Thunder, but out of the run out for the Thunder, but out of the timeout, they once again stuck Hallebertton in the corner to occupy a defender. Demhart attacked off some screens with a smashing Euroep and that stopped the bleeding. So Hallebertton really helped their spacing when he was off ball. Here it’s his screen gravity freeing Miles who goes with the up fake and Nicks fans hide the Pacers voodoo is in the building. The play before that Chad Homegrred had replaced Hartinstein as the Thunder big. They end up with this Dort three and because Turner closed out he ends up with a mismatch and runs right to the front of the rim. and runs right to the front of the rim. Williams scram switches door out so he can contest that three but that leaves Miles in perfect position and it’s a foul on the floor and on the next possession Hallebertton goes right after Homegrren Chat recovers on the pick and pop but they just flow into Nemhard hunting him and Turner takes the little mid-range this time with a six-point lead. The Thunder miss at the rim which springs Indiana. Hallebertton sees SGA in front of him in space and the hesitation gets him by for the scoop layup. And there was yet another crossmatch there with Homegrren switch to the corner on a guard. And note that to the corner on a guard. And note that Seaka removes a possible help defender by cutting to the other side, leaving Shay on an island. Late in this game, SGA really struggled defensively, miscommunicating with JDub in transition here. So they both take the ball which frees N Smith to drive down into the paint and there’s probably one too many defenders in there for a little too long and it ends up with another top in triple. The Thunder had a ton of success without any bigs earlier in this game. So they tried that late and Howie was like bring me the MVP. Then he again uses the hesitation to collapse the defense. And anytime a super small lineup has to help like that, rebounding opportunities are there and it’s free throws. And and then a huge development, a lane violation on Seakkum’s hitchy free throw attempt. So Indiana picks up an extra point. I wonder if that will matter later. Uh anyway, OKC continued to score well, pushing it to nine inside 3 minutes. And there’s nothing tactical or sexy about this pure chaos. And oh look, it’s Aaron Nesmith pulling a rabbit out of his hat. Then Nemhard takes a turn going after SGA. And again, this is just some stone cold isolation nonsense to cut it to three. And on the nonsense to cut it to three. And on the other end, the Pacers trap Gilas Alexander to get it out of his hands. And it’s yet another missed three. A quick note on these late threes. When you have a lead, you don’t want to try a you have a lead, you don’t want to try a higher variance strategy, and that’s what these 30 or 40ome percent threes are. They’re worth more in the long run, but you want a free throw or something to set your defense like a 50% too. And to set your defense like a 50% too. And the Thunder are built this way outside of Gildas Alexander, who by the way scored a ton down the stretch in this game for them. But a play like this with game for them. But a play like this with Jaylen Williams, even taking a 50% pull up two is a higher win probability than the quote unquote more valuable three. Anyway, back to Dort’s miss. Hallelbertton races into the front court and as he slows down, SGA’s late on another switch. Niss free and wa Dort with an incredible vertical play for a guard. This looked textbook with his body and then all ball with that long wingspan and it got Sheay out in transition and pushed the OKC lead back to five. Obviously the Pacers are excited by this development and push the ball immediately. I think Shay’s exhausted because he sort of ball watches this as a cutter runs free behind him. Caruso gamles to help and that’s a critical foul and they’re in the bonus from all those earlier offensive rebounds. Now remember, it’s small ball everywhere. SGA’s been hunting Hallebertton all night. And then out of nowhere, Seakum times this block perfectly. And so when the Pacers bust out of there like it’s a the Pacers bust out of there like it’s a bank robbery, SGA’s behind the play and ends up crossmatched with Pascal, which is huge because when Nemhar doesn’t get the switch, he goes back into his ISO bag for round two. Shay’s just watching it all and Seakum flies in to steal the it all and Seakum flies in to steal the rebound and cut it to one. After an out- rebound and cut it to one. After an out- of-bounds review that was upheld, Shay just tries to isolate against Nemhard. Nesmith slides way over to help. And it’s a good look for SGA, but he’s off. it’s a good look for SGA, but he’s off. And what a rebound by Nesmith from that help position. And because it’s Indiana, there is no timeout. They don’t even get a screen. Hallebertton’s just going to shoot it. Jump shot. It’s gone. Oh, that did not just happen again. That is their first lead of the game. And four times in four series, the Indiana Pacers have absolutely pulled off a miracle. No playoff team had ever won a game by committing 15 more turnovers than its opponent. And the Pacers won with 18 more. They turned it over on 31% of their possessions over the first 33 minutes. Their high for a game this year was 21% and they had just a 92 offensive was 21% and they had just a 92 offensive rating in that stretch. But in the final 14 plus minutes, they turned it over just three times and posted a 155 offensive rating for yet another I I can’t believe I’m saying this improbable magical comeback to steel game one of the NBA finals. If you want to work in to directly support this channel, check