Pacers break decades-old NBA drought with unselfish masterclass vs Bucks

To put into context how insane the Pacers have been, they just torched the Bucks with the most unselfish brand of basketball. In four games of the NBA Playoffs, they lead all the remaining teams in assists per game while also having the least turnovers, per StatMuse. This uniquely built Pacers squad is also the first team in 30 years that averages 30+ assists in a postseason series.

Moreover, it is not also their stars that drop dimes. Everyone is able to contribute and help when Tyrese Haliburton is not running the show. In Game 4, TJ McConnell and Andrew Nembhard were the ones that took over. The two combined for 17 assists while not committing a single turnover. Talk about impressive.

Tyrese Haliburton got to focus more on shooting for the Pacers. He still put up four assists but his biggest contribution was the 24 points that he dropped.  Scoring-wise it was the Myles Turner game. The big man was ruthless in attacking the rim and it netted him 29 points. In total,  six Pacers scored double-digit numbers. That number would have been larger had McConnell and Ben Sheppard scored one more field goal. Nonetheless, it was a great display of dominance against a Bucks team that looked lost without their leaders.

Pacers run through the Bucks

One would think that a Bucks squad that got a 51.1% field goal percentage on 90 shots would win. They would be right on any given night but the Pacers just showed why they are different. The coverages forced the Bucks to attack the rim more. This was because the third-ranked Eastern Conference squad only managed to knock down 36.4% of their outside shots. Those were shots that the Pacers were willing to stomach because they got on an absolute heater with 51.2% of their three-pointers finding the bottom of the net.

The other aspect of the Pacers’ gameplan that worked was their defense. Yes, you did not read that wrong. More than bothering the shots off the perimeter by the Bucks, they held their own. They were preventing the opponents from getting any momentum on offense. They stole the ball five times while also meeting the Bucks at the apex of their shots and deflecting them five times.

All of this proves that the Pacers are maturing as the NBA Playoffs go by. Once Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton, and Myles Turner find their groove on both ends of the floor, no team in the league can stop them. The fact that the Bucks are shorthanded is not an excuse.