The Ascension of the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference
The Indiana Pacers are champions of the Eastern Conference after a 125-108 victory at home against the Knicks on May 31st to take the conference finals in six games. The Pacers phoned in their Game 5 effort on Thursday. After taking a 3-1 lead in this series on Tuesday with a 130-121 victory on their home court, the Pacers were flat in Game 5 in a 111-94 loss at Madison Square Garden. Indiana missed 20 of their 30 shots from 3-point land, and they only shot 40.5% from the field. Tyrese Haliburton only scored eight points on 2 of 7 shooting and he missed both his shots from 3-point land. That disappointing effort came off one of the best performances in NBA history when Haliburton scored 32 points in Game 4 in 38 minutes with 15 assists, 12 rebounds, four steals, and zero turnovers. Asking Haliburton to repeat those numbers will be too much, yet he should play much better than he did on Thursday. He has been a better player at home where he averages 20.4 points per game this season on 50.0% shooting and a 41.5% clip from 3-point range. He averages 10.0 assists per game at home. On the road, Haliburton averages 16.7 points per game on 43.8% shooting and a 34.9% clip from 3-point land. His assists average drops to 8.0 assists per game on the road this year. Indiana had covered the point spread in nineteen of their last twenty-eight games when playing with revenge from a loss to their opponent in their previous game against each other. They had covered the point spread in eleven of their last sixteen games at home when the oddsmakers installed them as a favorite of six points or less. The Pacers had covered the point spread in six of their last nine games in the Eastern Conference finals with Rick Carlisle as their head coach.New York kept this series alive by shooting 49.4% from the field in their best shooting performance since Game 1 of this series. Yet the Knicks had covered the point spread in four of their last eleven games on the road after winning at home in their previous game. They had covered the point spread just twice in their last eight games on the road after playing a game where they did not allow more than 100 points. Karl-Anthony Towns was a game-time decision with a knee injury, yet he was excellent by making 10 of 20 shots for 24 points, and he added another 13 rebounds. Yet if this injury that had him limping badly in the final moments of Game 4 lingers and he is not 100%, the Knicks are in deep trouble. The road team had only covered the point spread (or won) once in the last nine playoff games between these two rivals in Game 4, 5, or 6. New York had covered the point spread three times in their last eleven games on the road when the oddsmakers installed them as an underdog of 3.5 to 9.5 points. Haliburton bounced back in Game 5 by scoring 21 points on 9 of 17 shooting. He added 13 assists. Pascal Siakam scored 31 points for Indiana. Towns scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, yet the Knicks got outscored by 17 points when he was on the court. The Pacers shot 54% from the field and made 17 of their 33 shots from 3-point land for a 52% clip. New York made 48% of their shots yet missed 23 of 32 shots from the 3-point line for a 28% shooting percentage from 3-point range. When Indiana got swept by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals last year, it was easy to conclude that the Pacers were simply also-rans and a tier below the Celtics in a conference Boston dominated. Yet a year later, maybe more credit should have been given to Indiana (and head coach Rick Carlisle) as being close to taking the next step to become a real threat to win an NBA title. Game 1 of that series went to overtime before the Pacers lost Games 3 and 4 by just three points in both games. Indiana will be the underdog against Oklahoma City when the NBA finals begin next week. Yet after the Thunder only advanced to the Western Conference semifinals last year (before losing to Dallas), it will be the Pacers with more recent playoff experience. Good luck - TDG.
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