Once again, the Pacers showed similarities to the team that developed into a dangerous postseason squad last year, bouncing back from a 37-point drubbing to the Celtics on Friday, to finish off the C’s on Sunday, with a 123-114 win.
The resilience to absorb two consecutive rough losses, each in a different manner that could naturally surface any individual and collective doubts about what kind of team they really are, and then show up strong in the next game and stay strong to the final buzzer for a win against the defending champs shows there is a collective strength and pride among this young group. Taking a tough hit, getting knocked down only to get up take another swing and deliver is vital for a team trying to both grow and secure themselves as a playoff team throughout the 82-game NBA regular season.
Now do it, again. The Bucks are in town for a New Year’s Eve matinee and they would love nothing more than to make the Pacers test that resilience, again.
There were many quality subplots in the Pacers win, but the main story revolves around Tyrese Haliburton not being denied while continually pushing the ball to the rim and looking to finish ahead of passing. Haliburton scored 31 points, but only three of those were from behind the arc. Prior games have seen opposing defenses appear to take him out of his game as Haliburton seemed fine letting his teammates take over. The six-shot debacle in the late loss to OKC exposed the problem with that approach. When needed at crunch time, Haliburton couldn’t flip the switch.
Following the win in Boston, Haliburton talked of adjusting his mindset to attack the defense, any defense (and Boston with Jaylen Brown and Derrick White can defend) and look to score. This is a similar situation, one that reared its head a few times in the playoffs last April and May when Haliburton would have low shot, no show games followed by big games. Similar mindset comments were made.
Will the mindset we saw from Haliburton in Boston stick this time?
One difference this time around, was the pursuit of finishing at the rim and doing so quite effectively instead of just taking more threes and perimeter shots. This next game against the Bucks should be a good test of Haliburton’s mindset with Andre Jackson Jr. likely shadowing him all over the court. Still have to find a way to make it happen.
Another factor which helped Haliburton’s mindset was having his backcourt partner, Andrew Nembhard back in the mix. Nembhard has 17 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds along with a sweet block of Jayson Tatum at the rim. The man is like WD-40 for the Pacers when things get squeaky.
