How to attack a defense with no weaknesses | NBA Finals Game 3 analysis

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How did the Pacers offense attack OKC’s defense in Game 3? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores all the adjustments coach Rick Carlisle made for Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton, and to slow to down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Game of the 2025 NBA Finals.

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wow Wow Wow The Pacers did that thing again where they played at ludicrous speed Ludicrous speed And just wore down the other team by the end of the game smashing OKC by 14 points in the fourth quarter This game was the Ben Mathan game going full microwave with 27 points in 22 minutes off the bench leading the team in free throw attempts and going nine of 12 from the floor and his burst and energy were an immediate injection of life into the game as he finished plus 16 on the court in his 22 minutes This was also the TJ McConnell inbounds game as TJ had five steals in just 15 minutes including not one not two but three interceptions on inbounds passes like this Each one maybe getting better than the next And TJ’s just the third player ever to register five steals in just 15 minutes in a playoff game that he’s the first to do it in 41 years But the biggest key to this game was Rick Carile and his staff making a ton of successful adjustments to poke and prod and chip away at an Oklahoma City defense that has no clear weaknesses Right out of the gate the first adjustment was sticking Pascal Seakum at the elbow as a hub which gets Tyresese Hallebertton off ball and they end up with a foul on the switch Here it’s McConnell running point They feed Seakam and get into that threeman action again That generates the switch for Pascal to head to the post They don’t ever try the entry pass here but look at the spacing right now One big is pulled out on Mathin Miles Turner is stretching Chad Homegrren out of the paint And so when TJ drives here there are no bigs left in the lane to help It’s a great pass over a small defender for two So while they only ran this a bit it was a nice curveball from Indie to involve Seakum and Hallebertton together in actions And it also naturally brings Pascal out of the low post So instead of looking for a seal at the rim and having to deal with these swarming Thunder defenders on an entry pass they just wanted to get Seakum touches inside the ark and give him space to work with He attacks Shay early with his patented spin move because even if he catches it on the outside he can back down smaller defenders if there’s no help And that’s good defense but a comfortable look for Pascal Shay Gilus Alexander isn’t really a weak defender but he’s usually the weakest defender in their lineup and going after him will wear him down And this is also some Jedi basketball from Seakum waiting for Isaiah Hartinstein to leave lulling Shade to sleep and then attacking that vacated space This time Jaylen Williams is on Pascal He doesn’t care and goes early with that jab step The help comes on the spin So he hits Nesmith relocating back to the corner for a huge three And this was my favorite again going early off that same jab step move before getting into his bag But look at how this play materializes Seakum and Turner screen for Harley that forces a switch Hallebertton’s off ball and pulls his defender with him So when it hits Seakkum Homegrren’s really the only help defender And because of Hallebertton’s gravity Miles is a great backup option above the ark They also use Seakum as the ball handler and Hallebertton as a screener for the first time in this series And the Thunder defend the initial action well here and avoid a switch But when they manipulate the space for Pascal to attack Alex Caruso comes way off to help that gets Hallebertton downhill and space for the little floater A minute later when they run it you see the full power Hallebertton’s gravity keeps his man glued to him which gives Seakum space to attack And so another adjustment was getting Hallebertton off the ball more This can be an early offense when someone else brings it up Then when Hallebertton comes back for the ball SGA switches it That leaves Lou Dor behind the screening action Harley then has space to attack and cross over He stops on a dime and that’s a clean look They also like these three-man actions where Tyrese brings it up right before a screen arrives He gets off the ball then just chases it down And this offball screen creates a moment of confusion where SGA doesn’t think he needs to switch When he does he’s a touch behind the action that collapses the defense and leaves that original screener open And it’s a nice short mid-ranger And the exact same thing happens here with the screener defender glitching for half a second Harley makes a great skip pass to the corner and that regenerates free throws And we’ve already seen him as a screener And I just love those actions Broken play here He fakes setting the screen that gets the defense recovering And it’s another paint touch and a clean look And that screen gravity helped freeze McConnell’s defender at the end of the first half and set him up for that little pull-up of his in the paint Now during the Eastern Finals Indiana bludgeoned New York by running staggered screens at both Jaylen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns And this setup is a little tricky to defend because it asks the guard whether he’s going to switch into the action first before the ball even gets to the big And so if he does Indiana can attack the two weakest links in the chain at the same time So the Pacers started this double hunting against OKC First getting the weakest guard to switch to Hallebertton then running the pick and roll into a dropping big Plenty of space for that three there Then the Benagizer Bunny keeps it alive And on the scramble OKC’s weakest offball defender is now on Hallebertton totally misreads the play in the corner It’s a beautiful touch pass from Harley and another open three This time it’s SGA as the first link And this approach just created much better possessions for the Pacers offense compared to most of the games in OKC And I love how much space is between these screens So when they get the switch Halley can cross into daylight and it’s another silky runner Hallebertton made a personal adjustment in this game by repeatedly rejecting the screen like this And that means instead of using the pick traditionally he throws his defender off by going away from the screen Amazing rescreen by Turner there And then he’s rewarded with a nice pass for a clean jumper Here Tyrese is off ball again His man is in help position So he’s recovering on the pitch but instead of using that screen Harley rejects it again And it’s yet another paint touch and good process for the Pacers And here’s another counter from Hallebertton because he knows the Thunder like to help hard and then recover on this pass So Reese goes next level coming off the screen and ball faking to move the defender then just launching one from deep And so he’s picking up a feel for this Thunder defense understanding the corner wants to help early here so he just throws it early and that’s a ridiculous pass to get to downhill Harley was more aggressive in this game from the start looking for his shot in tighter spots and some of his transition passes were just ridiculous These are subtle hit aheads over the top that sprang Seakum into really tight windows against a recovering defense And so the Pacers found some cracks in that great transition defense The rebound chopping run on the floor inside and counted out a foul That happened so fast it’s easy to miss but Kenri Williams and Isaiah Joe don’t communicate about who has the ball Great read by Hallebertton Toppins going 100 miles an hour Turner sets an awesome screen that Matherine uses to cut behind chat And that is so good Even the Pacers defensive adjustments were big in this game The first one was a counter on Sha’s postups from game two where doubling at a different angle threw him off a bit And Hallebertton even sprang this on him when he dribbled into that position in the third That killed the action initially And on the reset the double then comes diagonally from the opposite side Hallebertton leaves to gamble but SGA misses Chad on the baseline and it’s a really tough fadeaway They also adjusted their screening coverage on Shay This was the most aggressive they’ve been with the screen defender up near the ball and so they create confusion by mixing up the coverages SGA thinks his defender is staying with him but as Tophin slides it’s a late switch And that switch allows the help defender to release back to the corner And it’s another TJ Steel And my favorite adjustment was having Turner come out in the second half and blitz Shay which caught him off guard for the jump ball here and ultimately a turnover And you see Miles coming out to the level of the screen to contain that dribble get the ball out of Sha’s hands and avoid any of those splits he had in game two That was a point of emphasis for the Pacers coming into this one after a number of breakdowns where SGA just split the screen And I think in game two specifically if you watch a lot of my coverages I did a poor job of being at the level you know I was back and then he he could come off and he had so much space and now he’s kind of manipulated me with in and out or he can just split and throw through I thought he I thought we had that was something we really had to clean up coming into into today And you just you’re consistently trying to mix things up cuz if you give any good player the same look over and over it can be really tough So um you know whatever it is to show at the level I just can’t be flat If I’m flat I there’s nothing I can do with him coming downhill So and so if you look at this play notice Turner shrinking that space so Sheay can’t squeeze through Then he pushes him toward the sideline Hallebertton’s early with the help and walks right into a pick six and a steel So this was an excellent performance from Hallebertton and Seakum both finding little counters and adjustments against the Thunder defense but they were also put in position to succeed by this master class of adjustments from the Indiana coaching staff And that created a very pacer-like feel Tons of quick flowing actions in the half court and playing at a break neck pace that potentially wore down the Thunder late in the game as Indiana continued its magical playoff run moving two games away from an NBA championship directly support this channel check out patreon.com/thinking basketball Thanks as always for all of your support and wherever you’re enjoying the finals from I hope that you are having a great day