How The Pacers Stole Game 1 Of The NBA Finals

How The Pacers Stole Game 1 Of The NBA Finals

the Pacers have pulled off yet another impossible comeback win This time on the NBA’s biggest stage against the NBA’s best team So what was it that put them in a hole to begin with And how did they climb out of it to steal game one For the first time in these playoffs OKC went away from the double big lineup and moved chat to the five And this gives them the option to crossmatch everything Instead of trying to get the correct matchups while the Pacers push whoever’s closest to each player is just going to take that assignment which is made possible by their historic personnel As Hallebertton dribbles down the court Shay is the closest defender so he’s going to turn to stop the ball Then you end up with Joe on Seakkum and he’s going to aggressively front the post while Caruso stays close enough to deny the touch Then from there everyone else fills out to not leave anyone open In addition to the cross matches they switched everything to perfection When Hallebertton gets around Sheay Dor immediately picks him up on a peel switch And that leaves Shay on Seakum who’s going to look to post up So they scram switch to get iHeart on him And just like that the offense resets with no advantage The only guys who weren’t going to switch onto the ball were OKC’s bigs If C got put in action he was looking to play the ball in drop coverage before recovering to his man on a pop This entire strategy was all about eliminating dribble penetration Jdub’s the closest to the ball so he picks up Then when they go to an empty side pick and roll Chad drops back to protect the paint forcing Hallebertton into a tough floater Taking away dribble penetration is also why they aggressively switched everything between their wings When Seakum uses a screen Sheay jumps out to the ball Then when it’s handed off to Hallebertton he holds his position at the point of attack Seakkum versus Wallace isn’t a mismatch on the perimeter especially with all of OKC’s aggressive help It felt like the only way they’d be able to get a paint touch is if they got Chad to defend on the three-point line And this time they’re able to do that with a flare screen forcing Chad to close on a shooter In the event that Chad found himself in space that’s when the Thunder would send the low man over to the big then have the initial defender fill in for the corner again completely taking away any numbers advantage When Tophin checked in OKC switched up their approach though Now instead of getting into the action they’re going to have C pre- switch so that he can stay on the baseline as a ror That of course creates a mismatch in the post and not only does Wallace front the pass while JDub gets ready to help As soon as the ball gets to the corner and top and drives Chat and Wallace are going to peel switch to perfection And just like that the offense is out of options The Pacers had a counter for this though Turner’s going to start at the top of the key lifting Chat while Tophin runs from corner to corner with no other defender close enough to pull off a pre-witch Now you’re able to get Chat back in that drop coverage and Turner ends up with a great look from three although he isn’t able to hit All that’s to say Chad was going to be in the action if Indiana wanted him to be Like I said they had him dropping back But I should also mention that if the big was rolling to the side of a spotted up wing they’d come with aggressive help to take away the middle of the floor It was the exact same thing against perimeter isolations Seakum looks to play one-on-one and Jdub forces into the middle where Wallace is waiting to help at the nail He’s able to take away a drive while still getting back to contest a three This aggressive help further unlocks the ability to switch everything Caruso is able to pretty easily cut off Seiakum’s drive Then when they set up a handoff he jumps out to pick up TJ The ball gets to Matan who’s able to get around Wiggins only for Caruso and iHeart to swarm him at the rim The only real downside to all of this switching is that if Siakum finds a way to get the ball in the post pretty much every one of those wings is a mismatch for him Of course they’re looking to deny the pass but the Pacers not only space the floor better than any team in the league Seiakum’s a guy who can do his damage from as far as 16 ft out because for him post up scoring is less about power and more about the ability to turn and shoot When Thomas Bryant checked in though that’s when OKC went to his own Caruso was the guy in the middle So he’s the one picking up any attempt at dribble penetration Then because of that switchability every action’s just getting handed off to the next wing defender and Indiana’s essentially forced to live on the three-point line It’s unbelievable how well they rotated out of this zone Seiakum sets up on the block So iHeart picks him up while Caruso drops to take position in the middle where he not only takes away a pass to Bryant he steps over to take away a baseline drive Indiana’s counter was to simply go small They took Bryant out went with a front court of Siakamin and that way they had a little bit more offensive skill on the floor to attack the aggressive paint defense Then OKC countered by going even smaller They put Kenrich Williams at the five in this sort of death lineup And if you thought they were a fast aggressive switchable defense before now we’re talking about a unit that took these qualities to an entirely different level And with that the first quarter is over The Pacers turned the ball over nine times scored just 20 points and found themselves down by nine It was clear that the Pacers had to find a way to create any sort of advantages going towards the basket And typically they’re a team that wants to run three or four actions in the same possession to create an opening On this one it starts with a dribble handoff which iHeart plays in a drop Then it turns into a guardto guard ball screen which Caruso goes right under Still no advantage So the third attempt is a spread pick and roll between TJ and Seakum which again leads to nothing and results in a contested three at the end of the clock If they’re not running multiple actions chances are they’re looking to exploit even the slightest mismatch With all of that switching you’ll occasionally find a wing on a big And even if they’re able to get that low post touch Chad’s immediately coming over from the baseline to help as they again just wouldn’t let the Pacers near the basket Speaking of Chad although he’s looking to drop against pick and roll if needed they could have him switch onto the ball Of course that’s when the Pacers are either looking to isolate from the perimeter or get turner a post touch The only problem is that they could not get the ball through any gaps in OKC’s defense It became apparent pretty quickly that post-ups for Turner weren’t really going to be a counter as Wings consistently fought and won the battle for position And for that reason the Thunder were comfortable going back to that small lineup this time with JDub at the five Remember what I said about multiple actions First you’re going to see Hallebertton run off a couple pin downs to which Caruso just switches Then Matan’s going to try to isolate Wallace Gets immediately bottled up And so the Pacers reset for an empty side pick and roll between Hallebertton and Aniakkum Dort stays glued to the ball while Jdub stays glued to the pop And with no advantage the result is a smothered long two that eventually leads to a shot clock violation Also I want you to keep in mind that throughout this entire stretch the Pacers still weren’t getting anything in the open floor Between the cross matching some aggressive ball pressure and occasionally even a trap Indiana looked as uncomfortable as I’ve ever seen them And it was around this three minute mark in the second quarter when the turnovers really started to pile up for them They’re a team that wants to play fast In the first half it felt like they were rushed and they were playing fast but it was on OKC’s terms as they were the ones dictating the pace That was one of the few reasons why they only put up 45 points in the first half despite shooting 42% from three and it was the main reason why they turned the ball over 19 times which is the most by any team in one half of a playoff game since they started tracking it back in 1997 Still though because they showed up defensively they were only down 12 at the half which we all know too well is more than doable for this Pacers team To start the third Indiana had a predicament They needed to find a way to create advantages without putting themselves at risk of turning the ball over And the way they did that was pretty opposite of what they typically like to do running less action They simplified the offense going to one quick action and looking for the first opportunity to get a decent shot up Typically that meant a high ball screen between Hallebertton and Turner This time Chad’s going to switch And of course they’re looking to post up Turner but instead of moving the ball around to find an entry they want him making that pass Nothing was forced though Here’s another one where Chad switches and instead of hunting for an entry pass to Turner they just swing the ball around the perimeter Right here is typically where Nesmith would look to make the entry and they’d rather him get up a semi-contested three It’s hard to overstate the value of just simply getting a shot attempt up Here’s one where they pre- switch to keep Chat on the baseline and instead of looking for every way to pull him into the action they stick with getting Seiaka switch onto a smaller wing Again there’s no forced entry though Take what the defense is giving you And if you’re able to touch the paint you know Chad’s going to be helping from the baseline which is how you’ll start to get some quality corner threes or potentially put backs By utilizing one action and going quick the Pacers were able to get some of their transition offense back Early ball screens are a staple for them and Hallebertton really started to find his groove It’s the same thing when Nemhardt initiates Turner sets a high ball screen chats back and drop and he turns the corner to attack open space on a drive You’ll notice that on these plays they’re making a deliberate effort to empty the opposite wing This not only leaves Hallebertton with more room to attack the middle of the floor off of screens it creates space on an empty side to get into some offball action such as on this play The handoff up top is actually a decoy to clear the top of the key for Matin to come off a down screen and attack the paint where he draws help and drops it off to Bryant for a big time dunk This time around they were playing fast on their own terms Like I said instead of trying to force paint touches they accepted OKC’s defensive brilliance and looked for any quick shot Then it essentially becomes a shootout And luckily for the Pacers they were hitting their shots Over the entire game they shot 18 of 39 or 46% from three which was pretty easily their biggest advantage For all of the simplifying and shotmaking though more than anything it was about good decisions Caruso and Shay mess up a pre-switch and TJ wastes no time skipping it to Seakkum in the corner That takes us to the end of the third The Pacers are still down nine but they figured some things out and put up 31 points And as we all know if this Pacers team is within single digits entering the fourth good luck closing out the game OKC tried to make them uncomfortable by upping their pressure to 94 ft But the Pacers have a ton of different ball handlers and they’ll counter by starting their actions from as far out as half court This time it’s an empty side pick and roll and Matin has space to get to the rim Next time down their one action is actually going to be a flare screen for Seiakum to catch the ball with space to attack baseline He’s unable to convert on an awkward floater Then Matan’s unable to take advantage of a second chance But the point is that they’re getting layups One thing to keep in mind is that they’re constantly mixing up the actions First it was a pick and roll then it was a flare Now it’s going to be double drag OKC completely bottles it up only for Nemhard to win the one-on-one battle with Caruso on his way to two points plus a foul Nemhard was at the center of everything in the fourth This time they go to an early give and go for him to build ahead of steam And once he touches the paint the entire defense collapses So he’s got multiple options and Indiana’s got multiple shooters This next play starts with Tophin bringing the ball up and it looks like they might get into some offball action But it actually just turns into a spread pick and roll If we pause right here you’ll notice that a pass to Tophin is probably available Remember though that’s when OKC starts rotating jumping lanes forcing turnovers and by hitting Turner for a quick trigger from three you avoid all of it I want to be clear in saying that I don’t think OKC’s defense looked any worse than it did in the first half They went to the same tactics had the same execution The difference was that the Pacers accepted that they weren’t going to be able to break it down through isolation post-up play or multiple actions They simplified their approach looked for other avenues and couldn’t miss a shot Then when Turner hit this sideep three all of a sudden we were looking at a four-point game Like I mentioned earlier though the bulk of Indiana’s offense came from those high ball screens with the initiator going towards an empty wing Without nail help Chad has to play the ball and drop then Turner’s got room to step into a jumper Another key difference in this second half was that it felt like Hallebertton was a lot more aggressive attacking those cross matches When Sheay picks up the ball he wastes no time getting into an attack which again gets some of that transition offense going Even in the half court though they looked for Shay on switches quite a few times Notice how they stack the weak side to keep that empty wing look so that there’s no nail help And when Caruso steps up from the baseline that leaves nobody to keep Siakum off the glass With that said though they still couldn’t really cut into the lead After a couple of free throws from Sheay it was a nine-point game with less than 3 minutes to go This is the point where both teams have shown their cards and it’s just going to come down to execution And it also happens to be the point where the Pacers turn the game sliders up to 100 You’ve got Andrew Nemhard isolating Shay from the top of the key and hitting prime James Harden combos to get to a step back three Just insane stuff Down the stretch though I’d say their lateg game execution was more about the way they defended or maybe even OKC’s complete lack of offense After letting Sheay play in space for most of the game they decided to start selling out to make anybody else beat them That means hedging against ball screens to get it out of his hands and letting it get to a guy like Dort who’d been hot throughout the game but can’t capitalize on this one That defense goes both ways though because while we’re talking about Dort I should probably mention his otherworldly vertical contest on Nmith at the rim which then turned into transition offense going the other way with a tough finish from Sheay putting them back up by five Still though the Thunder could not score in the half court You’re going to see Hallebertton jump out in an early hedge to not let Shay turn the corner And even when he does find his way to the paint Seakum’s waiting under the basket to contest This time they’re going to clear out for a top of the key isolation And when Shay works his way inside the ark Nesmith comes with aggressive nail help to make him think twice Then Jub has to create with the shot clock running down And this play encapsulates the struggles he had all night long to create more space for Sheay Instead of isolating from up top they start him more on the wing while emptying the middle He uses that space to get near the paint and he actually creates a great look but it misses We all know what happens next No timeout Hallebertton pushing in transition One action one shot ball game The Pacers led for 3/10en of a second in game one and they walked out of OKC with homecourt advantage This really was a tale of two games for Indiana After turning the ball over 19 times in the first half they only turned it over five times in the second half while grabbing nine offensive rebounds So they actually won the possession game The difference is even more extreme if we look at their offensive rating by quarter though For reference they had a 119 offensive rating in the 16 games leading up to the finals In the first half of game one they had an offensive rating of just 83.3 In the second half they had a scorching 137.5 offensive rating as they just torched OKC with their shotmaking It’s easy to say that they won’t get this hot from three again but that’s exactly what they’ve done all playoffs There’s something to be said about the value of just simplifying your approach OKC set defense is nearly impossible to break but by taking what they’re giving you playing deliberate and not forcing any decisions they were able to get back to their own pace and ride the coattails of their shotmaking to yet another comeback win As far as game two goes we’ll have to see if OKC has some counters up their sleeve for this second half offense More importantly though we’ll have to see if they have some offensive adjustments to get anybody outside of Shay going because when they forced 19 first half turnovers and held the Pacers to 45 points the game should not have been within reach Either one of JDub or Chat is going to have to perform like an all-star alongside Shay if they’re going to win game two and if they’re going to gain an advantage in the series If you enjoyed this breakdown make sure to drop a like subscribe and turn my post notifications on to be first on more content If you’re interested in my more in-depth research make sure to check out the Hoop Venue podcast and my social media profiles You can find those links in the description Feel free to let me know down in the comments what you think is going to happen in this series As always I hope you all have a great day and I’ll catch you guys in the next one [Music]

The Pacers have pulled off yet another impossible comeback win vs. OKC in the NBA Finals… but how did they do it?

► Podcast: https://youtube.com/@UCWgmbxQAwa93RxnxaeWJCHw
► Website: https://www.hoopvenue.com/
► Twitter: https://twitter.com/hoopvenue_
► Instagram: https://instagram.com/hoopvenue_
► Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PSsJBUt7g6