The Pacers and Hawks Played One Of The Greatest Games In NBA History
Going into last night’s In-Season Tournament action it was likely the least exciting night we were going to have so far, but there was one game I knew was a can’t miss: the Indiana Pacers versus the Atlanta Hawks.
Hawks-Pacers had the highest over/under in over 28 years at 252.5 and it was absolutely reasonable. These are two of the truly premier offenses in basketball, both top 3 in pace due to the high tempo their elite playmaking point guards thrive in, but on the other side of the ball these franchises put out some of the worst excuses for a defense I have ever seen. While it was certain that this game would have old heads seething at the fact that all these two teams do is shoot threes and put in no defensive effort, it was even more certain that we were in for utter fireworks in this match up.
At halftime I was a bit deflated as though we got the offensive output as expected, Atlanta found themselves largely in control, even getting up to a 20 point lead. The Hawks were shooting over 60% from the field and 50% from outside, with Bogdan Bogdanovic coming in and being a complete flame thrower off the bench, notching 22 points in the first half. While the story of the first half was mainly about their opposition, the Pacers also were able to put up 73 points which somehow seemed measly considering they allowed 86. Obi Toppin also got maybe the best poster all year as he yammed all over a great defensive big in Onyeka Okongwu.
In the 3rd quarter the Pacers stormed back into this game backed by Tyrese Haliburton’s 26 point quarter, one of the single most impressive quarters we have witnessed yet in the year. Missing just 6 shots in these 12 minutes Indiana played with the thrilling style that had me tab them as “The Most Exciting Team In Basketball”. It was a true pleasure to just sit back as a neutral fan and watch Haliburton go to work, especially when considering it was against a fellow elite point guard out East.
After the explosion from Haliburton and the Pacers going into the final stretch we had ourselves a game. Just under 4 minutes into the quarter the teams had eclipsed the unbelievably high over/under as seemingly no one could miss a shot. Each team were truly throwing haymakers until the very end as the Hawks backcourt were making contested pullup after contested pullup and on the other end Buddy Hield would make an improbable outside jumper then Bennedict Mathurin would attack with an acrobatic finish around the rim. The hawks did a phenomenal job of locking in on Tyrese Haliburton as he scored no points in the final period but that also came at the expense of them throwing so much defensive attention towards him that allowed his supporting cast to eat. That being said the Hawks were doing so well offensively that after Trae Young had stripped Tyrese they had the ball with just under 10 seconds left with a chance to tie the game but a miss on the drive from Dejounte Murray would allow Indiana to narrowly escape this bloodbath of a game. A combined 65% percentage shooting in the last quarter was truly a fitting end of a game that may have been the biggest gap between offensive and defensive output I have ever witnessed.
48 minutes and 309 points later, we got to watch one of the greatest regulation games that has ever been played in the regular season. While it’s hard to believe in the Pacers making any serious noise in the playoffs with this current formula, having Tyrese Haliburton at the helm playing the way he is alongside the snipers they have on the wing and the crazy athleticism with their bigs, they will continue to put on the most exciting displays of offense we have seen in a long time.
