Basketball, She Wrote

How the Pacers blitzed the blitz to score 150 -- again

Added 2024-01-06 14:30:22 +0000 UTC

High scoring is commonplace for the Pacers, but it certainly isn't ho-hum

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

The Pacers scored a 150 points, again -- marking the third time they have done so this season, with two of those outings coming against the Atlanta Hawks. This says a lot about the Hawks, but also something about the Pacers, who tallied a franchise record of 50 assists on 60 made field goals. For a team that blitzes more picks per 100 possessions than any other team in the league, Atlanta tried five different pick-and-roll coverages against Tyrese Haliburton, mostly to no avail. As such, the coverage that slowed the Pacers down in the finals of the In-Season Tournament, not only got picked apart; it was a huge part of the problem that just kept getting solved -- no matter how Indiana (literally) sliced it.

To understand how the Pacers blitzed the blitz, and why cutting in and around the pick-and-roll was effective in this particular match-up, let's return to the film room, shall we?

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introductions

0:40 - What you need to know about Atlanta's defense

3:35 - To tag up or not to tag up (what are the Hawks doing?)

4:03 - A blast from Myles Turner's past

5:44 - Atlanta tries going under and over with soft coverage

8:11 - Atlanta tries switch-to-blitz

10:00 - Atlanta tries to just plain switch

10:39 - Atlanta tries to veer-back switch

13:00 - What will Boston try?

14:04 - Thank you and Goodbye