‘Oh my God’: Pacers’ record-setting shooting wins Game 7 in New York; Celtics next

But the Pacers shot entirely too well to be defeated, making 67.1% of their field goals to narrowly eclipse the previous NBA playoff record of 67.0% set by the Celtics in April of 1990. The Pacers’ .763 field goal percentage in the first half was also the best clip for a playoff half in the last 25 years. They finished 53 of 79 from the floor, 13 of 24 from 3-point range, 26 of 37 in the paint and posted a gaudy efficiency figure of 1.40 points per possession. In a season in which they not only led the league in scoring with 123.3 points per game but posted the sixth-best scoring average of all-time and the best since 1984, it was fitting that the Pacers’ offense dazzled in the World’s Most Famous Arena well enough for a team that was in the lottery a year ago to reach the NBA’s final four.

“It’s a testament to our coaching staff and our offense,” center Myles Turner said in the Pacers’ post-game press-conference with Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam sitting next to him. “We have a historic offense obviously, but this guy (Haliburton) got things rolling and everybody just followed suit. To do that on the road when you’re in the Garden in a Game 7 obviously is phenomenal. This is what we’ve been doing all season long and it showed on a big stage.”

Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam discuss Game 7.

Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam scored a combined 63 points to lead the Pacers to a 130-109 win over the Pacers in Game 7.

It did start with Haliburton, the Pacers’ All-Star point guard who has spent this series underneath perhaps the most intense microscope of his career. He faced questions about his aggression after he scored just six points on six field goal attempts in the Pacers’ Game 1 loss, then again after he was held to 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting in Game 5. He responded by saying that he doesn’t measure aggression by field goal attempts, but rather by the number of possessions in which he gets two feet in the paint because that allows him to either create for himself or others. Those games were sub-par by that metic as well, but he also averaged 26.0 points per game in Games 2, 3, 4 and 6.

And then in Game 7, he scored more points in the first quarter than he did in all of Game 5. Like Reggie Miller before him, he got into a verbal back and forth with a fan sitting in the front row at the Garden — this fan wasn’t as famous as Spike Lee — which seemed to energize him. He scored 14 first-quarter points on 5 of 7 shooting including 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

“He was just talking with me before the game,” said Haliburton who wore a hooded sweatshirt to the post-game press conference with a picture of Miller in his famous pose making the choke sign in Madison Square Garden. “It seemed like whoever was sitting in that seat all series had something to say to me. I knew I was going to have to pick somebody today to get me going, it just happened to be him. He got me going in the first quarter and it just continued on.”

Haliburton finished with 26 points on 10 of 17 shooting, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range to go with six assists.

“Today he knew that we needed some special shot-making,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “There were shades of Reggie Miller running around in that first quarter.”

Rick Carlisle discusses the Pacers’ Game 7 win over the Knicks

Rick Carlisle’s Pacers shot an NBA playoff record 67.1% from the floor to beat Knicks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

But Haliburton only got the Pacers started. All five of the Pacers’ starters scored at least 17 points and McConnell gave them six in double figures.

All-Star forward Pascal Siakam took advantage of his friend and former Raptors teammate OG Anunoby, who tried to play on a strained left hamstring after missing the last four games. He made two early shots including a three-pointer, but it was clear he couldn’t move well enough to defend anyone much less a two-time All-NBA pick. Siakam made his first four field goal attempts and Anunoby was pulled after four minutes and 41 seconds, never to return.

Turner was solid with 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting including 2 of 3 3-pointers. Forward Aaron Nesmith and guard Andrew Nembhard — the 24-year-olds charged with taking on the top defensive assignments on a nightly basis — were nearly flawless offensively. Nesmith, who entered the game shooting under 39% from the floor and under 28% from 3-point range during the playoffs, was a perfect 8 of 8 from the floor and 2 of 2 from 3-point range. Nembhard scored 20 points on 8 of 10 shooting to go with six assists, and each of his shots seemed to come at a time when the Knicks were starting a comeback. McConnell scored 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting to go with seven assists.

The Pacers made 10 of their first 11 shots and 16 of 21 in the first quarter to post 1.86 points per possession in the period. They didn’t shoot worse than 58% from the field in any of the three periods. They shot 70.3% from the paint, 54.2% from 3-point range and 77.8% (14 of 18) in the space between.

But Carlisle made a point to say that Sunday’s win wasn’t just about shooting and scoring, because it can never be just about shooting and scoring. For the Pacers to play with pace and tempo, they have to get stops and face defenses that aren’t set, and on Sunday they did.

The Knicks never scored more than 29 points in a quarter, shooting 42.4% from the floor and posting 1.11 points per possession. Sharp-shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo went off for 39 points, making nine 3-pointers, and reserve wing Alec Burks scored 26 points but no one else cracked 20 and just two others — Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart — cracked double figures. With Nesmith, Nembhard and McConnell all chipping in on the assignment, Brunson made just 6 of 17 field goals to finish his remarkable 2024 playoff run with just 17 points, sitting out the entire fourth quarter with his broken hand.

The Pacers won the rebounding battle 33-28. They gave up nine offensive rebounds to their seven and 14 second-chance points to their six, but that gap wasn’t nearly enough to be consequential.

For a team that allowed the fourth-most points of any team in the regular season and has allowed the fourth-most per game in the playoffs, it constituted a winning performance.

“I know we shot well, but we beat them on the boards and at halftime we had one more loose ball than they did,” Carlisle said. “This team was very, very much maligned for its defense early in the year. They have flipped the script. They won this series with grit and guts and physical play. Pressing 94 feet. That’s how we beat Milwaukee too. You have to give these guys a lot of credit for not a total change, but a very significant change in the attitude toward defense, the defiance about, the importance of defense, and what they did today.”

What they did Sunday was take a step further with this season than anyone could have predicted they would. As Haliburton mentioned in the press conference, the Pacers set the playoffs as a goal at the beginning of the season. Predictions at the time for whether or not they could make it were mixed, and they won some believers with their run to the In-Season Tournament finals. But even when the playoffs arrived they were not a team many expected to be one of the last two standing with the mighty Celtics.

Now, just two years after they won 25 games and entered into a roster overhaul, they are four wins away from the NBA Finals.

“Obviously it’s been a long time coming, but I’m just proud of this group,” Turner said. “It’s the most special group I’ve been around since I’ve been here.”