Tyrese Haliburton snatches victory from the jaws of defeat once again

Ahem, wins, not tragedies… anyway

By: Samson Folk I @samfolkk

Andrew Nembhard stole the tip. How does Caitlin Cooper correctly predict everything this guy does?

Jumpers went long and short, over the first handful of minutes, for the Pacers. Drives went short, and only short. A bit too passive off the bounce to begin with, and they opened up the game shooting 1-of-7 from downtown. Which, if that's the bulk of the looks? Bad news. They were down five points after seven minutes of play. 

The defense didn't look too bad, all things considered, but the Cavaliers were moving the ball a little more, and shooting a bit better. It didn't seem incredibly dangerous, though. Missing Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and De'Andre Hunter, it was no surprise that the Cavs had to look elsewhere, and change their process a bit. Jarrett Allen, in particular, did a pretty good job with the extra possessions that fell to him. 

Regardless, the Pacers were losing this one on the offensive end. Six turnovers and four made field goals for the Yes'cers almost 10 minutes into the game. Wasted transition opportunities. Passiveness and confusion in responding to the Cavs ball pressure. Credit to Cleveland for the shot making, and credit them for the extra punch they brought to the floor. 

But, woof. The Pacers played disastrously bad, and with alarmingly little poise. More than doubled up after the first frame, 32-15. 

Even as things went poorly defensively to start the 2nd quarter – shovel pass triple from Wade, endless offensive rebounds allowed, a pull-up, contested triple from Max Strus – the thing the Pacers needed most was for the ball to find Pascal Siakam more often on offense. He bent the floor, drew attention, and stood over mismatches repeatedly. Good things happened each time he touched the ball. It wasn't a long stretch, as he was subbed out early in the second quarter, but it helped calm things down. 

Haliburton and Turner took the bulk of the shot attempts over the next stretch (although Nesmith helped out) to keep pace and close the gap a little bit. Turner really deserves a lot of credit for his shot making, by the way, but the Cavs were still, really, jumping on way too many offensive rebounds, and hitting too many contested jumpers for the Pacers to bring things close to even before halftime. 

It's fine enough to lose the three-point battle by nine points, you make some, you miss some. Really though, it's inexcusable to turn the ball over 13 times (leading to 16 points), to lose the offensive rebounding battle, and to allow the other team to get up 12 more shots than you in a half. These things just have to be cleaned up. Especially considering who the Cavaliers are missing. Has to be so much better. 

Donovan Mitchell deserves a lot of credit. Sublime performance. 

First bucket of the second half came from Mitchell after the second offensive rebound of a possession. All because the Pacers wanted to slap rebounds to one another instead of grabbing them. Two early turnovers by the Pacers, by the way.

Sigh. 

Eight early points from Mitchell and a handful from Allen saw the Cavaliers grow their lead to 20 with roughly seven minutes left in the third quarter. Strus running the length of the floor and teeing off for a poster dunk. Garland and Mobley giggling on the sideline. 

Really poor form from the Pacers.

Note: Wondering where Siakam fits into all of this. Thought he was ignored a bit by the Pacers early on despite having advantages, but his defensive energy has been pretty bad in this one. Offensively, he's gotten a couple touches, probably not enough, but he's not up screening as often. He's moving corner to corner kind of listlessly. The Cavs definitely care, a lot, about taking away his touches, but would like to see more aggression from him. Not to mention, the energy on the glass really is not where it needs to be. He's not a black hole or some big negative, but he's a certain caliber of player, and it's not really acceptable. Obviously something Rick Carlise and the coaching staff are seeing as well, because he's getting an earlier hook. Anyways. 

We got a fun run of play from Bennedict Mathurin, we really did, but it was answered, expeditiously, by Mitchell on the other side. Everything Cavaliers. Even when Mitchell missed a free throw, there was a lane violation on the Pacers. They closed out the quarter with a made triple from Nesmith that closed the gap to 14. The third quarter was supposed to be an opportunity to chip away at the lead, and to set the stage for a great fourth, but the Pacers left their work, and lots of it, for later in the game. 

The front half of the fourth quarter was a mad dash. Lots of fouls for the Pacers, lots of pressure, lots of dives to the bucket. They put the Cavs in the bonus in half the time. Scrapping, clawing, wriggling their way back into the game. The Cavaliers lost a lot of ground with Mitchell out of the game – Jerome had an absolute shocker in this one – and once he checked back in they could at least begin to target the Pacers via the high pick-and-roll. Still, behind the strength of Haliburton's pushes forward, and a great turn of play from Mathurin, the Pacers found themselves within six, with five and a half minutes to play. 104-98, Cavs. 

I said they left their work for themselves. And lots of it. Well, the work is never done. 

The last five minutes are a fever dream. And especially the last few seconds. What I can tell you, is that this Pacers team seems to be blessed by some higher power. I don’t know how Aaron Nesmith always manages to be controlled, perfect chaos in how he creates turnovers or jumps on scoring opportunities. I don’t know how Tyrese Haliburton continues to hit these shots. 

Down by two with hardly any time left on the clock, and he dribbles out beyond the 3-point line and simply hits the game winner. He does the big balls dance on the way back down the court. 

How could this man ever be called a frontrunner, when he is so, almost without comparison, elite at stealing victory from the jaws of defeat. 

I can’t wait to discuss this with Caitlin. Holy Moly. 

Have a blessed day.