May 20, 2024, 08:00 am ET
After the Indiana Pacers put together the best shooting performance in NBA playoff history to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, Tyrese Haliburton wanted to set the record straight about his team’s status as the surprise of the playoffs. of 2024.
“It’s not a fluke,” the All-Star guard said Sunday after Indiana captured Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. “We expected this from our group, and then once we brought (Pascal Siakam) in, we knew we could really take off.
Celtics (1) vs. Pacers (6)
bos | INDIANA | |
---|---|---|
Record | 64-18 | 47-35 |
Point difference. | 11.4 (1st) | 3.1 (8th) |
Off. classification | 122.2 (1st) | 120.5 (2nd) |
Def. classification | 110.6 (2nd) | 117.6 (24) |
Net rating | 11.7 (1st) | 2.9 (tenth) |
PPG leader | Tatum (26.9) | Siakam (21.3) |
Series Odds | -1000 | +600 |
NBA Title Odds | -155 | +2500 |
Odds courtesy of Keynote USA BET |
“It doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks except the people in our traveling party. Because I don’t think anyone here picked the Pacers to win the series.”
After their victory in Game 7, things won’t get any easier for the Pacers, who before this season had not won a playoff series since reaching the conference finals in 2014. The next challenge: defeating the Boston Celtics, who won 64. who are in the East finals for the sixth time in eight seasons.
Ahead of Game 1 on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET on Keynote USA and Keynote USA2), here’s a look at the factors that will determine which contender advances to next month’s NBA Finals.
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How the Celtics and Pacers got here
Boston has comfortably advanced through the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Celtics dispatched the Miami Heat in five games when Jimmy Butler missed the series with a knee injury, as only a historic shooting performance by Miami in Game 2 prevented a sweep.
The Celtics lost another Game 2 at home to Cleveland, but Donovan Mitchell’s departure with a calf injury after Game 3 turned that series into another five-game win.
Indiana, for its part, has gotten to this point with a dizzying offensive pace led by Haliburton. But there’s a lot more to the league’s second-ranked offense. Siakam attacks relentlessly and gives the young club some much-needed playoff experience at the top of the rotation, while backup point guard TJ McConnell is an integral part of arguably the best bench in the NBA due to his underrated jumper. mid-range and his ability to harass opposing players for 94 minutes. feet.
Pundits will inevitably point to Indiana’s first two playoff opponents, citing injuries to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks and Julius Randle and OG Anunoby of the New York Knicks, among others. But the Pacers have enough young talent, especially on offense, to become a perennial player in the East playoff picture.
Porzingis’ availability is Boston’s biggest unknown
The 7-foot-3 center, who the Celtics acquired during the offseason to give them a different look against defensive changes in the playoffs, has been out with a calf injury since Game 5 against Miami. He has slowly begun to increase his activity in recent weeks, but he is expected to miss at least the first two games of this series, sources told Keynote USA’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday.
Porzingis is an elite rim protector and 3-point shooter who posted career highs in field goal percentage (52%) and effective field goal percentage (59%) this season, while allowing just 44.3% of shots in the paint, second best among players so far. contest at least 300 shots this season, according to tracking data from Second Spectrum.
Can Indiana’s defense afford to double up on Tatum or Brown?
By not seeing the Bucks or Knicks at full strength, Indiana was generally able to avoid having to defend multiple stars at once. Because of that, the Pacers were able to throw multiple defenders at Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, just like they were able to throw swarms at Lillard in the first round.
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The question now is whether Indiana can defend the powerful Celtics well enough. If the Pacers attempt easy coverage against Boston’s superstars, the Celtics could dominate the free throw battle. No team in the league sent opponents to the line at a higher rate than Indiana this season.
Doubling up could be just as risky. The Celtics shot and made more three-pointers than any other team. However, the Pacers allowed fewer attempts and hits than any team in the league during the regular season.
Matchup to watch: Haliburton vs. Boston’s stingy backcourt
To have a chance in this series, Indiana will need elite offensive production from its star point guard against arguably the league’s best defense in Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.
The Pacers turned in such a performance during their season tournament victory against Boston on Dec. 4, when Haliburton scored 26 points with five 3-pointers, 13 assists and 10 rebounds to advance to the IST semifinals in Las Vegas.
Holiday and White, however, are long and varied enough to cause Haliburton a lot of problems throughout the series. The Boston duo is coming off a Game 5 win in which they helped hold Cleveland guards Darius Garland and Max Strus to a combined 23 points on 7-of-27 shooting.
Indiana’s turbo offense relies on Haliburton’s scoring and playmaking. Holiday and White present their toughest challenge yet.
Series Wild Card: The Battle of the Rebounds
If the Pacers’ defense is spread too thin (either because Indiana opts to double-team or because of Boston’s ability to space the floor with shooters), the rebounding issue could be critical, just as it was in the semifinals of conference between New York and Indiana.
In Game 5 of that series, during which the Knicks started 6-foot-1 guard Miles McBride over 6-foot-8 forward Precious Achiuwa, Indiana had trouble defending Brunson. When they ran toward him, he threw the ball to McBride, who served as a blocker and safety valve on offense.
Boston will have similar counterattacks, potentially more efficient than New York’s. The Pacers, who at times had great difficulty keeping the Knicks off the offensive glass, may also have that problem against the Celtics. Indiana ranked 26th in defensive rebounding rate during the regular season. At halftime of that Game 5, the Knicks had more offensive rebounds than the Pacers had total rebounds.
Statistic that could define the series: Points!
The Celtics and Pacers ranked first and second in offensive efficiency this season, but each East finalist got there in dramatically different ways: Boston led the NBA in 3-pointers made, while Indiana led the league in paint points.
This is the sixth playoff series since 1998 to feature the best team in three-pointers against the best team in paint points, and the first in a conference final or later since the 2000 Finals between the Pacers and Los Angeles Lakers. In the last five such meetings, the team that led the league in paint points has won three of them.
Matt Williams of Keynote USA Stats & Information contributed to this story.
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