There’s no secret to how the Pacers play. They give the impression of being to strain ball-handlers with full-court presses for 48 minutes. In return, opposing offenses begin their possessions later within the shot clock and at instances cough up the ball, which ends up in factors on the opposite finish.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle sustains this tiring play fashion by deploying a 10-man rotation, permitting his gamers to remain contemporary all through high-intensity video games. Its afforded them a commanding 3-1 sequence lead getting into Madison Sq. Backyard on Thursday evening.
The key for Recreation 5, although, was the Knicks had been those to execute that precise gameplan. They usually did it higher than the Pacers did, resulting in series-worst performances by Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam in Thursday’s 111-94 Recreation 5 loss.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau beat Carlisle at his personal sport. And it saved the Knicks’ season.
“There were some different things they did defensively, but for the most part I think their base stuff was the same,” stated Haliburton, who acquired the brunt of the Knicks’ full-court strain for almost all of his 32 minutes in Recreation 5. “They picked up the pressure a little bit more. Tried to apply more as the game went on.”
Just like the Pacers have carried out all season, the Knicks picked up the primary ball-handler — Haliburton — 94 ft on Thursday. The star guard was principally met by two of the Knicks’ higher defenders — OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges — holding him to his worst sport of the sequence: eight factors on 2-of-7 capturing and a -23 plus-minus.
“Just picking him up, trying to be physical with him,” Josh Hart stated of the workforce’s effort on Haliburton. “[Bridges] did an amazing job. We’re asking so much from [Bridges]. He’s selecting him up, working round with him. Tyrese is somebody who by no means actually stops transferring. He’ll carry the ball down, he’ll hit, he’ll run off of it, he’ll get the hand again, he’ll throw it again to the massive, he’ll run again.
“[Bridges] did a great job today trying to be physical, trying to be on his body and not give him anything easy. I think we didn’t have any plays where we had a miscommunication or left him open for three, which I feel like we did a couple times last game. He’s a hell of a player and sometimes you’ve got to tip his cap to him. [Bridges] did a great job today.”
The adjustment slowed down the workforce’s general tempo and restricted Haliburton from getting downhill.
It affected his teammates’ manufacturing as nicely.
Haliburton was stored to a series-low in assists (six) whereas nobody within the Pacers beginning lineup scored greater than Siakam’s 15 factors (5-of-13 capturing). And solely three Pacers scored in double figures.
Recreation 5 was a exact opposite of Siakam’s Recreation 2 success: a playoff career-high 39 factors. Haliburton couldn’t get him the house run passes that led to straightforward seems to be on the rim. And with out the star guard getting in entrance of defenders, the Knicks did much less scrambling which restricted teammates — primarily Siakam — to get open photographs on the perimeter like in earlier video games.
Haliburton couldn’t get in entrance of defenders and the house run passes in transition had been restricted. The Knicks received the turnover battle, 20-15, whereas scoring one much less fastbreak level (16-15) in Recreation 5.
“They played harder than us,” Siakam stated. “I think they played harder than us. Loose balls, rebounds, like all that. We gotta be able to win that battle.”
Thibodeau went all in on the scheme. And he did the unthinkable: deploy a 10-man rotation in significant minutes to maintain up with the pacy Indiana squad. The change is uncommon contemplating the coach’s fixed use of a seven- or eight-man rotation within the postseason.
“I think they did a good job applying pressure,” Haliburton stated. “Just did a better job defensively than they did last game. [They] switched some things up. We saw some blitzes. Brunson shows were a little harder. They switched a little bit more down the line. They mixed things up as the game went on.”
Haliburton stated it wasn’t a shock the Knicks threw the kitchen sink at him, contemplating the workforce had their backs in opposition to the wall in an elimination sport. The query now’s what changes will Thibodeau make to pressure a do-or-die Recreation 7.
That is still to be seen.
“I mean, we’re up 3-1 [and] their season was on the line today,” Haliburton stated. “So understand they were gonna come out and play hard, increase the pressure, do whatever they gotta do to win and they did a great job of that. Now it’s on us to respond in in Game 6. I think when you get here at this point, there’s no such thing as surprises. You got to be prepared for whatever is to come. Kudos to them. They played better than us today. We gotta be prepared for Game 6.”
