Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle did something at the end of last night’s NBA Finals Game 1 that reminded me of how Tony Bennett would have played things.
With a timeout in his pocket, Carlisle let his team play after a miss from Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 11 seconds left, leaving the door open for the Pacers, down 110-109 at the time.
Most coaches try to justify the millions they’re paid by calling a timeout to draw up a play, which of course allows the coach on the other sideline to set his defense.
Carlisle, a 1984 UVA alum, smart guy, used a replay review of an out-of-bounds play to talk through how he wanted the final 22.1 seconds to play out.
“We talked about it, but we still don’t know the outcome of the challenge yet. We said if it is their ball, let’s get the stop. There’s going to be a difference in the shot clock and the game clock and if we get a stop and get the rebound, we’re going to go. Hopefully get the ball in Tyrese’s hands and look to make a play,” Carlisle said.
OKC, predictably, got the ball into the hands of Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2025 NBA MVP, who had scored 38 points on the night, though he’d needed 29 shots to get them.
Defensive stopper Andrew Nembhardt bodied up to SGA as he backed his way into the midrange, and forced a miss that Aaron Nesmith was able to snare for the rebound.
The ball did end up in the hands of Tyrese Haliburton, who at this point had had a quiet night – 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting.
Haliburton got the ball at midcourt, and worked his way into the frontcourt against tough man defense from Cason Wallace.
Nothing fancy to what happened here – no screens to free him up, no real x’s and o’s.
Just Halliburton, who’s hit big shots at the end of games before, pulling up from just inside the three-point line.
“We got the stop, and Coach trusts us in those moments to not call timeouts,” Haliburton said. “He trusts me in those moments, the guys trust me, and I was just trying to make a play.”
The ball went through the net with three-tenths of a second left on the clock.
The 111-110 lead was the first of the game for the Pacers, who’d trailed by 12 at halftime, 15 two minutes into the fourth quarter, and nine with 2:38 left.
“They went up 15, and we just said, Hey, let’s just keep chipping away at the rock, keep pounding the rock, just chip away and hang in,” Carlisle said. “We had a lot of experience in these kinds of games. Our guys have a real good feel for what it’s all about, giving ourselves a chance, and we got fortunate, but made plays.”
Game 2 of the NBA Finals is Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET (ABC).
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Chris Graham
