High-octane Pacers back in NBA Eastern Conference finals

NEW YORK — The Indiana Pacers are headed back to the NBA Eastern Conference finals and don’t plan to decelerate after they get there.

Not after they are so good at playing fast.

Indiana put up a few of one of the best offensive numbers in NBA history through the regular season by pushing the tempo. The pace is never as quick within the playoffs, but don’t tell the Pacers that slow and regular is the one technique to win this race.

“I believe slowly we’re changing the way in which of considering within the NBA that playoffs you could have to play slow,” point guard Tyrese Haliburton said, “and we’re capable of just proceed to be who we’re.”

They were the best-shooting team in NBA playoff history Sunday in Game 7 at Recent York, making 67.1% of their shots in a 130-109 victory over the Knicks.

READ: Pacers set NBA playoff shooting mark, torch Knicks in Game 7

That sent the Pacers to Boston to play the top-seeded Celtics. who ran away to one of the best record within the league and were expected to be playing within the conference finals.

Indiana was a surprise, the No. 6 seed within the East and a team that needed to prove the way in which it played within the regular season could possibly be effective within the postseason.

“Well, we’re the uninvited guest,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “So here we’re, OK.”

Indiana led the NBA with 123.3 points per game within the regular season, the sixth-highest average in league history, and set a record by reaching 140 points 11 times. With a bench that Haliburton calls one of the best within the league, the Pacers can keep rotating in fresh players and wear down their opponents.

That firepower helped the Pacers reach the championship game of the inaugural In-Season Tournament — they beat the Celtics within the quarterfinals — but Carlisle wasn’t convinced it could delay in a seven-game series. He made it clear to his players later in December that they needed to enhance on the opposite end of the ground.

“I just told our guys, we’re going to make a stand and we’re going to get well,” Carlisle said. “We were on a historic pace offensively, but to get where we’re at this moment and where we wish to get on this next round and in the longer term, what we were doing offensively was not sustainable. It just simply was not, not when you can’t consistently guard and rebound.”

READ: NBA: Siakam helps Pacers beat Knicks to increase series to Game 7

Even with a sizzling start Sunday, when their 39 points in the primary quarter were essentially the most in a Game 7 and their 76.3% shooting in the primary half essentially the most in any postseason game since 1997, when the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play for all 4 quarters, the Pacers needed to depend on that improved defense to place away the sport.

The Knicks had a 22-point deficit right down to 77-70 within the third quarter before the Pacers forced three straight turnovers, with Aaron Nesmith and Haliburton getting steals before Indiana forced Recent York right into a five-second violation. That led to seven straight points to push the lead back as much as 14.

Still, Indiana’s defense probably isn’t adequate to stop Boston within the series that begins Tuesday. To win, the Pacers are probably going to have their offense rolling.

Playing at their pace got the Pacers back into the postseason for the primary time since 2020, and now it’s got them to the conference finals for the primary time since 2014.

They left Madison Square Garden on Sunday with Haliburton wearing a sweatshirt with an image of Reggie Miller making a choking sign from a playoff game against the Knicks.

Haliburton’s wardrobe can have been a throwback, but his team is playing a brand new style.

“I believe it’s just the old-school way of considering that you could’t play this fast within the playoffs, but I believe opportunistically you possibly can do it,” Haliburton said. “I believe if we’re capable of get stops, in fact we will.”