The Pacers defense looked like OKC’s! | NBA Finals Game 6 analysis

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This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores how the Indiana Pacers defense looked like the Thunder defense in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, along with why TJ McConnell was so successful, Tyrese Haliburton’s contributions on an injured calf, and Pascal Siakam’s brilliant defense defending MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

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this series was a clash between OKC’s historically great defense and Indiana’s unique high-paced offense but after game six the Pacers defense has been a major development indiana had a good defense all year when they were healthy but they’ve almost looked like the Thunder defense at times in this series holding OKC to a seasonl low 91 offensive rating in game six and smothering them into their highest turnover rate of the season the big Pacer development this game was almost entirely eliminating their fullcourt pressure picking up at half court instead shay dribbles it off Miles Turner’s foot for the first of his eight turnovers and look at how close Turner is to this screen so there’s no space for SGA to slip through remember earlier in the series Sheay had too much space to split that screen and get downhill so the focus for Indiana is executing this technique by being within reach of the screener containing the ball if needed then once the on ball defender recovers returning to the screener and then Miles does a great job here staying square and bodying Chad Homegrren into a traveling violation this becomes a game of inches because sometimes the positioning earlier in the possession influences this miles is a touch behind here pushes the ball away from the pick and they just late switch it when Jaylen Williams opts for a step back but otherwise Turner wants to be up at the level of the screen again defends the split dribble or pocket pass and Aaron Nesmith works hard to recover and strip the ball at the rim so this coverage asks a lot of the onball defender who’s trying to stick to the dribbler like his life depends on it and Nmith’s so physical Williams dribbles it right off his foot and this sounds like a thunder game staying physical through screens and forcing endless turnovers nesmith navigates screens well and so does Andrew Nemhard who maintains contact with Shay around the pick keeps sliding his hips Lou Dort style and just rips Gilgis Alexander and this was a great wrinkle from Nemhard where Ben Mathan is a touch out of position on the screen so Sheay can get downhill but Nemhard just stays with him and nearly blocks his shot at the end and I think this catches Sheay offguard and much like the Thunder D we have four defenders in the paint daring passes to two wideopen shooters on the outside when Sheay involves a vulnerable guard like TJ McConnell Indie will jump switch to briefly slow down the ball nemhard lingers to help so when Shay passes he has to run the shooter off the line then suddenly he deflects a pass out of bounds and yes this is a thunder level peel switch from Indiana with Pascal Seakum reading the play leaving to help while Nemhard Uturns to take Seakum’s man in the corner unbelievable now here’s one in transition where Miles is slow to react but Nesmith is pulled way off Jaylen Williams so Sheay has nowhere to go then Seakum jumps out on the pass to let Nesmith recover aaron actually goes the wrong way but the Pacers are really packing the paint and shrinking the floor on this one it’s early offense and Turner’s the one pulled way off of Homegrren then he recovers out to Chad to block it and this was a big game for Miles really using his strength advantage to ragdoll Homegrren on defense and then the awesome spinning block there here it’s another screen for Chat miles switches out and smothers him then when the Thunder reset into a pick and roll there’s an extra body in the middle of the lane because Nemhard ignores Sha’s cut jdub nearly dribbles it out of bounds but the damage has been done and the possession is crushed and this one’s next level stuff with Sheay looking for a ball screen that help defender actually emergency switches to SGA to stop any advantage and the real magic here is Nemhard switching to Tophin’s man only his man cuts right through so Hallebertton takes him instead the Smith goes to Hallebertton’s man in the corner and that’s amoeba level flexibility from the Pacers before a tough foul call the third quarter the Thunder went to a breadandbut play where the player under the rim spaces to the outside during the pick and roll only again the Pacers just ignore that cut to pack the paint jdub is wide open but the pass never comes and the possession before that when they tried it it was kneemith lingering in the paint and if he had gone to the outside this pass to Homegrren is available so this coverage really demands hitting that open man early nmith is sitting on the pass and recovers as fast as the ball and that’s thunder level recovery speed from Indiana when a defense is this fast and coordinated it forces higher level reads from the offense they ignore Caruso’s cut so multiple defenders swarm Sheay in the paint caruso’s briefly open but Sheay misses it and because they’re recovering as Sheay picks it up Obie Topphen’s there on the pass and again it’s basically a triple team and then it feels like no one was ever open seakum guarded SGA that possession and he’s been awesome switching on to Shay in this series staying balanced on that move and then what an angle to completely smother that shot without fouling and he knows there are bodies behind him in the paint so he pushes Shay toward the sideline then avoids the contact as SGA picks up his dribble and this is basketball chess because his left arm is on Shay briefly that triggers Shay to foul hunt pascal feels that and gets his arms out of there and his chest up and SGA’s just stuck seakum’s been Indiana’s best player through six games in large part because of his defensive contributions he has no business being in this play nesmith has its head turn so it’s Pascal who goes full Draymond Green from the top to somehow get that here’s another one off a rebound seakum reaches perfectly to strip the ball that leads to this mad scramble where Tyrese Hallebertton jumps the pass saves it starts the Pacers break and then Nesmith drills a huge three and the best steal of the night belonged to again TJ McConnell with the no look deflection in the back court then he tracks it down and Tophin was on fire in this game again here’s McConnell using that speed to get into the paint note all the OKC defenders around him great up fake by Tophen to get some space and he poured in 20 off the bench but TJ was yet again amazing in this game and you might be wondering how he’s able to get into the paint so often against such a fast defense and he’s obviously very quick but he’s also very crafty the spin move is the highlight there but that was the second time in minutes that they faked a screen out of the corner tj went early in the other direction and that throws off the defense and that early screen on the side is something they run a ton with McConnell here it leads to a switch and the Thunder Aaron Wiggins on an island then he’s able to drive and draw help and set up easy offense but he feasted this game by faking that action and then just driving the other way into space and the Thunder have been reluctant all series to slide any help defenders toward McConnell in these situations and so finally with a switch here they sit on the edge of the paint for help but that just lets him spray to open shooters tj even got in on giving OKC a taste of its own medicine sneaking up on Sheay once and at just over six feet he had not one big offensive rebound in this game but two creeping in to tip this away from Sheay to a teammate in the second mcconnell mostly split the point guard minutes with Hallebertton who played through that calf strain and I thought Tyrese’s passing and decisions stood out in this game from inbounds passes to this tight entry pass which is hard against the Thunder and led to this jumper and some of these were subtle like a great extra touch pass in transition here to kneemith and early in the game Tyrese got out running in transition and then went with this ball fake to draw in defenders and free up another corner shooter the more obvious passes were great too like this absurd outlet the length of the floor to Ben Shepard and this vintage Harley move in the third going fake step back into the no look jumping given go for the layup these decisions helped the Pacers commit just two first half turnovers and that ball security dried up OKC’s easy offense it normally generates from its defense meanwhile the Pacers have used many of these defensive concepts throughout the series but their execution intensity and speed in this game were just on another level and the Thunder almost never made the passes they needed to make and so one of the great final series in league history is going the distance as the Indiana Pacers force a game seven and for the first time in franchise history are one win away from an NBA championship to support watching all the way to the end on this one hope you enjoyed it and that you are having a great day