How can the Pacers ‘learn some things for Game 2’? Here are three adjustments

In the last minute of the fourth quarter of the Indiana Pacers’ 121-117 loss to the New York Knicks, two controversial occasions performed a major position in Game 1’s consequence.

With the recreation tied at 115 with 52.0 seconds remaining, Aaron Nesmith was whistled for a kicked ball violation, regardless of it showing as if the ball hit Nesmith’s hand as an alternative of his foot. On Tuesday, the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report confirmed the Pacers’ preliminary suspicion that it was an incorrect name, however Indiana couldn’t have carried out something about it as a result of kicked ball violations are not reviewable, a truth Pacers coach Rick Carlisle admitted he knew following the recreation.

Four possessions later, with the Pacers down one with 18.4 seconds remaining, officers referred to as an offensive foul on Myles Turner for an unlawful display in a pick-and-roll with Tyrese Haliburton. That play was reviewable, so Carlisle requested for a problem, however the NBA’s replay officers in Secaucus, N.J. confirmed the name. (The Last Two Minute Report confirmed that decision as properly on Tuesday.)

In each conditions, the Knicks made a constructive play following a controversial name.

Following the recreation, it could have been simple to recommend each moments swung the recreation in New York’s favor, however Carlisle was not eager about doing such a factor. Instead, the 22-year NBA veteran head coach, who has received 943 regular-season video games and one other 67 playoff video games, centered on what his team could have done better all through the recreation to return away with a win.

“There’s so many events in an NBA game,” Carlisle mentioned. “They’re all the time a pointy concentrate on the final minute, however there have been things that occurred with 5 or 6 minutes left that basically harm us. We had one play the place one in all our guys took a wild run to attempt to gamble and steal the ball, and it became a four-point play for them. I feel we had a five-point lead at the time, and so, it’s not simply the final minute or two. It’s a complete recreation. The complete fourth quarter.

“So this is a great experience for our guys. It comes at a cost. It’s so fun. But we’re gonna have to learn some things for Game 2.”

This was the fourth-quarter play Carlisle was emphasizing in his postgame press convention:

Josh Hart converts the powerful and-1 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/NvrE7P40El

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 7, 2024

Rather than specializing in his defensive task, Nesmith tried to sneak up on Isaiah Hartenstein and drive the Knicks middle right into a turnover as he introduced the ball up. Instead, Hartenstein noticed the lure coming and dished it again to Hart, who ran down an open lane to the rim and drew a foul on Turner.

The Pacers should still have given up a bucket on that possession if Nesmith had simply gotten again in transition and defended Hart in a half-court setting, however Nesmith’s overzealous defensive strategy created a straightforward offensive alternative for Hart.

As Carlisle emphasised in his postgame press convention, the Pacers shall be significantly better served specializing in things they can management earlier than Game 2 reasonably than complaining about officiating or losing time making an attempt to show one thing may have modified with a distinct name.

Looking at the movie from Game 1, right here are three things that stand out heading into Game 2:

The Pacers know Hart. Offensively this season, as a group they wreaked havoc on the league doing what Hart does as a person participant.

As a group that pushes the tempo in each recreation, they understand how troublesome it’s for opponents to take care of a squad that appears for transition alternatives each attainable second. While it stays to be seen if Hart goes to play all 48 minutes of every game on this sequence as he did in Game 1, the Pacers have to do a greater job remembering that he’ll push the ball as typically as attainable.

“He’s probably one of the best rebounder wings in the league, if not the best rebounding wing in the league,” Haliburton mentioned on Tuesday. “You acquired to match his depth there when he’s crashing. He was getting downhill, attending to the free throw yesterday.

“And then just in transition, when he gets the ball, I think everybody in the world knows he’s going left to right, Euro step. Still, he gets to it. I think we all do a better job of just containing them, showing bodies. Which I thought we did really well last (series), especially with Dame (Lillard) and Khris (Middleton) and those guys, is showing bodies when we can in transition, so we’ve got to do a better job and we will tomorrow.”

In Game 1, together with free throw possibilities, Hart tallied 10 of his 24 factors on transition alternatives.

Including Nesmith’s gaffe on the aforementioned fourth-quarter possession, Hart scored twice in transition following made baskets. He additionally assisted on a Donte DiVincenzo 3 instantly following Obi Toppin’s spectacular between-the-legs dunk in the third quarter.

Hart placed on an all-out assault on the rim in transition and the Pacers didn’t deal with it properly.

“We gotta do much better containing Hart in transition,” Carlisle mentioned on Tuesday. “When he gets a defensive rebound, he’s great at just taking it and knifing his way full-court to the basket. He’s a guy we gotta treat like, you know, Giannis (Antetokounmpo) and (Damian) Lillard and guys like that, that are full court high-speed attackers. He really had a high impact on the game yesterday.”

Finding a steadiness on Brunson

Knicks guard Jalen Brunson is one in all the NBA’s hardest gamers to protect. His herky-jerky recreation, replete with elite contact and lethal exterior capturing, is troublesome for any group to include, however the Pacers should do a greater job executing on protection in the moments that matter most.

“Our overall team defense has got to be better,” Carlisle mentioned. “Certainly we have to be better in all areas. Everything. Pressure on the ball, our positioning, our ability to show our hands and stay out of fouls. We got to keep Brunson off the free throw line. He’s gonna get their some. But getting there 14 times is too many. It’s too many.”

In the fourth quarter, Brunson shot eight of his 14 free throws. He shot three of them in the last 12.7 seconds, however there have been additionally two drives during which the Pacers fouled Brunson as he was trying pictures. One of these fouls got here in opposition to Nesmith with 3:29 remaining:

But the play Brunson made on the Knicks’ earlier offensive possessions exhibits why he’s such a troublesome participant to defend.

Immediately earlier than Nesmith crowded Brunson and fouled him on the reach-in, Andrew Nembhard had given him an excessive amount of house and let Brunson stand up for a 3-pointer:

First, the Pacers gave Brunson an excessive amount of house after which not sufficient. It is the cat-and-mouse recreation that Brunson can play with defenders that makes him so troublesome to restrict on any given evening and he confirmed that off all through the fourth quarter, together with on DiVincenzo’s large 3 with 40.4 seconds left.

That 3 was a defensive possession the Pacers didn’t execute properly sufficient.

The Knicks properly put DiVincenzo one cross away from Brunson, however the double-team that the Pacers despatched at Brunson didn’t trouble him in any respect. Nembhard had already allowed Brunson inside the 3-point arc earlier than he acquired bodily with the Knicks level guard. Then, with Nesmith operating towards Brunson from beneath the free-throw line, he couldn’t take away the passing lane to the excessive quadrant on the left wing. Ultimately, the Pacers let Brunson get too far inside the 3-point line with out sufficient resistance earlier than sending a late double that did little to have an effect on Brunson.

The Pacers have to proceed to provide Brunson difficult defensive seems, so throwing completely different defenders and techniques at him shall be helpful transferring ahead, however the Pacers additionally have to execute these methods. Brunson makes it extremely troublesome, however the defensive execution can be higher in Game 2.

Better clutch play from Haliburton

While some could have disagreed with the officials’ willingness to call an illegal screen in the waning moments of a recreation, it was the right name, confirmed each by the replay system and the Last Two Minute Report.

Myles Turner: “We reviewed it; they still called it an illegal screen. But it’s the playoffs, man. I feel like DiVincenzo did a good job of selling it. For the most part you can’t leave the game to be decided by the refs. So we have to take accountability as well.” pic.twitter.com/0GXYW3dZlQ

— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) May 7, 2024

Ultimately, whereas cheap individuals can debate whether or not or not they need the recreation referred to as that tightly at the finish of video games, the foul and ensuing turnover on that play don’t occur if Haliburton and Turner are on the identical web page offensively. If they are extra related, Turner is clearly set on the display and the Pacers wouldn’t have to fret about an offensive foul being referred to as.

And it’s essential to notice that Turner’s offensive foul with 18.4 seconds remaining was not the solely mistake Haliburton and Turner made collectively in the pick-and-roll late in Game 1. Three minutes earlier, Haliburton threw an off-target cross to Turner and OG Anunoby took it the different means for a dunk to provide the Knicks a two-point lead.

“I just gotta be better,” Haliburton mentioned on Tuesday. “The transferring display was on me. The turnover, he didn’t didn’t fairly roll the place I assumed he was gonna and OG acquired the steal. That was on me.

“So I think it’s less about miscommunication with Myles and more on Tyrese. I gotta be better in Game 2.”

In Game 1, Haliburton put up six factors on 2-of-6 capturing, eight assists and 4 steals in 36 minutes. It was the fewest pictures he had taken in a recreation since he put up 9 factors on 4-of-7 capturing in Game 1 in opposition to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first spherical. That first recreation in opposition to the Bucks was the solely time he took fewer than 10 pictures in a recreation in the first spherical, so possibly the identical shall be true in Game 2 in opposition to the Knicks.

No matter what occurs, the Pacers will want Haliburton to be higher on Wednesday to tie the sequence earlier than it heads to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Friday.

(Photo of Josh Hart and Tyrese Haliburton: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)