The Indiana Pacers are headed back to the Eastern Conference finals after eliminating the top-seeded, 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers in five games. This is the second straight season that the Pacers have made the conference finals — making them the first team to do so as a No. 4 seed or lower since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 1984.
This year the Pacers were the No. 4 seed but were not expected to make this kind of run. Last season’s run was met with a pretty universal skepticism, regarded more as matchup-friendly fluke as they faced the Bucks, who were playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo for the full series and Damian Lillard for two of the final three games, in the first round before knocking out a Knicks team in the second round that was so injured by the end it could hardly put a full team on the floor.
There was some concern that the Pacers would go the way of the 2021 Hawks, another surprise conference finals qualifier that has been a perennial play-in team since. But Indiana has validated itself with this run, taking Milwaukee out in the first round and now the Cavs.
It’s true, the Bucks were not a very good team and the Cavs were missing Darius Garland for the first two games and Evan Mobley and DeAndre Hunter in Game 2. But Indiana controlled this series with, among other factors, its lights-out shooting, which has been the theme of this run as evidenced by CBS Sports research.
- Indiana is one of just six teams in history to shoot 50% from the field and 40% from 3 through its first 10 playoffs games, joining the 2014 Spurs, 2009 Nuggets, 2005 Heat, 1992 Trail Blazers and 1985 Lakers.
Indiana isn’t just shooting the cover off the ball; it’s sharing the hell out of it, too. The Pacers have assisted on 68.9% of their buckets so far, which goes down as the highest assist percentage through the first 10 games of a playoff run since the 2018 Warriors, maybe the most prolific ball-movement team ever.
These trends continued in Game 5 when the Pacers assisted on 26 of their 41 baskets, which they converted at a 43% 3-point clip (15 of 35) on 50% overall shooting.
Tyrese Haliburton, who continues to cement his name among the league’s most elite players, wound up with 31 after scoring just two in the first quarter. As most of you probably recall, Haliburton hit the game-winning shot against the Bucks in Game 5 and the Cavs in Game 2.
- For Haliburton, that makes three go-ahead shots in the final two seconds of a playoff game for his career, second only to LeBron James’ six in all of on-record NBA history. The man only has two playoff appearances in his career and he’s already a non-LeBron record holder.
But it wasn’t Haliburton. The Pacers, who were relentlessly resolute in attacking whatever mismatches the Cavs afforded them, got production from all over the roster. In fact …
- The Pacers are the first team in NBA history to have a different leading scorer in every game of at least a five-game series win.
On Tuesday, Haliburton hit six of his nine 3-pointers over the final three quarters as the Pacers erased a deficit that grew as large as 19 early in the second quarter. Indiana has made a habit of digging out of huge holes in these elimination games. In the first round, the Pacers rallied from 20 down to win the series clincher against Milwaukee.
- A team recovering from at least a 19-point deficit to win a series-clinching game has only happened five times since the play-by-play era began in 1996, and Indiana has now accounted for two of them in consecutive rounds.
And they’re doing it in the clutch. Just one point separated Indiana and Cleveland in Game 5 on Tuesday with under five minutes to go, designating it as an official clutch game (within five points inside the five-minute mark).
- Indiana is yet to lose a clutch game in these playoffs, joining the 2024 Celtics as the only teams in the play-by-play era to go 5-0 in clutch games through the first 10 games of a playoff run.
With all these close games and all these crazy comeback, Indiana is the latest example of the extreme parity that has come to define the current NBA landscape — which has gone from historically one of the most predictable postseason models to a free-for-all in which anyone can beat anyone. The No. 2 seed Celtics are down 3-1 and about to suffer the same fate against the Knicks, who, in turn, had to pull off a 21-0 run while being gifted a game by the officials to even get past the No. 6 seed Pistons in the first round.
Meanwhile in the West, the No. 6 seed Timberwolves took out the No. 3 seed Lakers and the No. 7 seed Warriors eliminated the No. 2 seed Rockets. As we speak, the top-seeded Thunder are locked up 2-2 with the No. 4 seed Nuggets. If you think you have a read on how this postseason is going to go, well, you likely thought the same thing about the NBA Draft’s lottery reveal on Tuesday when the Dallas Mavericks rode their 1.8% chance all the way to the top overall pick.
It’s all crazy. Just embrace it. The Pacers are a legit team that is red hot and they are headed to the conference finals, where they will probably play the Knicks. The collision course that everyone assumed Cleveland and Boston were on has taken a hard left, and you have to love it. It’s chaos, baby. And the best brand of it.