How the Pacers bulked up to win Game 3

And found another way to win 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

In protecting homecourt with a 121-118 win in overtime over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Indiana Pacers attempted 105 shots, marking a franchise record for a playoff game, while reloading for 22 shots on 19 offensive rebounds for 32 second-chance points. Put simply, that's a lot of shots, and they needed a lot of shots, because after racking up 39 points in the first quarter and leading by as many as 19 points, the Pacers got outscored 98-82 for the rest of the game, as they went on to shoot just 8-of-32 from deep. During the regular season, the Pacers posted a record of 11-32 when they shot below 35 percent from three, with five of those wins coming during March and April. In that regard, Tyrese Haliburton's late-season shooting slump that, at times, extended throughout the rest of the team was, perhaps, somewhat of a blessing in disguise, given that Indiana had to find other ways to win -- not only to make it into the playoffs, but also as a test-run for the playoffs.

For an in-depth discussion on how the Pacers won with quantity, bulking up on the glass, Samson Folk is back to chat about the connection between rebounding and the changes the Bucks made on defense, as well as the "moment" that was Tyrese Haliburton's game-winner.

Here are the relevant timestamps:

0:00 - Introductions

3:03 - Rebounding as more than just effort (but also, there was a lot of effort)

4:21 - Changes from the Bucks creating holes on the glass

8:36 - Tyrese took 22 shots!

14:09 - Tyrese taking the shot the defense didn't want him to take for the game-winner

16:11 - Samson finds a way to bring up Dune

18:35 - Why the Pacers need more activity in the gaps and around Siakam in the post

27:19 - Overall impact of the match-up changes from the Bucks

33:14 - What happened to hot girl basketball after the first quarter?

36:04 - Will the Bucks play more zone in Game 4?

43:53 - Why didn't the Pacers foul when they were up three?

50:40 - What was the final possession of regulation supposed to be?

53:18 - Andrew Nembhard's winning plays (shameless article plug)

1:01:01 - Should the Pacers consider swapping assignments on defense?

1:06:01 - Numbers update on short-roll versus rim-roll

1:11:20 - Considering whether to make an "agrarian buckets" t-shirt

1:12:04 - Thank you and Goodbye