In the television debate and internal group chats, the question has been asked repeatedly since Wednesday night: where were the demonstration of 17 points of the Indiana Pacers in the fourth quarter to steal game 1 of the finals of the Eastern Conference of the Knicks was between the revenues of the playoffs of all the NBA time?
However, more revealing about Indian Only the last five weeks.
In that period, Indiana has produced returns that challenge the precedents to ensure a first round series against Milwaukee and knocked out to Cleveland in the second round and now, in the eastern New York finals, to become the best restless opponent.
“It is a muscle, the more you exercise it, the stronger it will be,” said the coach of the Pacers, Rick Carlisle. “It’s not easy.”
Since the NBA began keeping the game data per game 28 years ago, the teams of more than seven points in the last 50 seconds of the fourth quarter or extra time are 4-1,702, and the Pacers are responsible for three of the victories, all since mid-April.
“It’s the grain,” said the Myles Turner center, “where I’m used to it.”
Judging by history, Wednesday’s victory, in which Indiana followed 17 points with 6:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, 14 with 2:51 remaining and nine with 58 seconds to play, was the most unlikely.
“I think it’s part of our identity,” said star guard Tyrese Haliburton. “Can we use in equipment for 48 minutes?”
The great man of the Knicks, Karl-Anthony Towns, said: “We play 46 good minutes. Those two minutes is where we lost the game.”
Pacers are not infallible; They simply look like this when the game is at stake.
In the playoffs, there are 6-0 in the games that meet the definition of the NBA of “clutch”, when the score is within the five points in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or extra time, by scoring at an almost unfathomable rate of 160 points per 100 possessions, the record of a single season of the NBA, established last season by the Celics of Boston, is 123.2 only 56.
“You can never lower your guard against them,” said the Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. “No lead is safe.”
Indiana has done it unlocking a ruthlessly efficient formula of gaining additional possessions and then turning them into points.
In 22 minutes of “clutch” in 22 minutes in this postseason, it has seven offensive rebounds, seven robberies and only two ball losses while shooting 54% in general and 50% in triples. And his greatest strength has been a cold confidence that has allowed him to execute that formula even in the most stressful situations in ignoring the apparently insurmountable deficits and instead decomposing them in their components.
When the star guard of the Knicks, Jalen Brunson, visited his fifth foul with 10:05 remaining in the last quarter and New York scored the next 14 points to open an advantage of 106-92 with 8:01 to play in game 1, “we were staggering a lot on the edge,” said Carlisle. “We talked in the group about ‘continues to work the game, keep trying to make it difficult for these boys. Find a good appearance.’ I mean, they had their best defenders during much of that section, and it was really difficult.”
To begin the great return of Wednesday, Turner said, the center of the Pacers, Indiana, focused specifically on small areas of improvement. New York built his leadership partly through indisputable offenses from Indiana; The Pacers wanted to improve in defense without dirty while they grabbed more rebounds.
In the last 6:26 of the last quarter, Indiana did not turn the ball, compared to the two New York ball losses. The Pacers also made 10 of their 11 shots in that period, including seven of their eight triples, with the Aaron Nesmith guard responsible for six of them.
“Every shot he did continue to give us more confidence that we could really win this game,” said Haliburton.
Turner said that Indiana “cannot depend on having to make hellace shots for three minutes in a row for the rest of the series, but I think we did a good job when appearing.”
Only Cleveland, Houston and Golden State produced more “clutch” victories during the regular season than the 24 of Indiana, and only Boston, Cleveland and Oklahoma City had greater winning percentages in such scenarios. Multiple pacemakers said those repetitions had “tested the battle,” as Turner said, the team approach when it is behind.
“‘We go to 10, let’s reach five,” Haliburton said on Indiana’s approach at the end of the fourth quarter. “There is no 17 -point shot. I think we did a great job when stopping to bite, scare away, scare away and spend good things for us.”
The last shot of Haliburton on Wednesday that forced extra time, after first bounced on the edge of the nucleus, then fell along the network, joined two other winners of the instant -class game that this postseason had made to overcome Milwaukee and Cleveland.
Haliburton said that when the ball was still at the top of his rebound, still to enter, he knew he would fall into the network.
Turner said: “He is delivered again and again. He is on a mission at this time. We are all.”
