Hoops Tonight - How Haliburton, McConnell & Mathurin ENERGIZED Pacers in NBA Finals Game 3 win vs. SGA & Thunder

going to carry their team to the chip? Try placing a bet on your personal MVP to drop thirty, forty or maybe even over fifty. Ready to place your own bet, download the DraftKings sports Book app, lock in your bets and finish the season as a winner. Here's something special for first timers. New DraftKings customers. Bet five dollars to get three hundred dollars in bonus bets if your bet wins. Don't miss your last chance to bet on the NBA

this season. Download the DraftKings sports Book app and use code hoops that's hoop. That's code hoops for new customers to get three hundred dollars in bonus bets if your bet wins. When you bet five bucks only on DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem called one hundred gambler In New York call eight seven seven eight hope and why, or text hope and why to four six seven three sixty nine and Connecticut help is available for problem gambling.

Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction void in Ontario. Bet must win to receive reward. Minimum minus five hundred odds required. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKG dot

co slash audio. Well, hoops tonight, you're at the volume heavy Thursday. Every buddy, hope all of you guys are having a great week. Well, we went with Colly Coward last night. I wanted to take the time today to kind of dig a little bit further into the x's and o's and talk about some of the stuff that I learned from watching some more film this morning. As those of you guys who followed us over to playback,

we rewatched the fourth quarter last night. I dug into some other portions of the game a little deeper, specifically the run in the early second quarter as well. I wanted to dive into just how the Pacers pulled off that big win last night, and then after that looking forward in the series, what we can expect as we move forward for both of these teams now that we only have a few games left in the matchup. You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to

Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guys don't miss ShW announcements. Don't forget our podcast feet wherever we get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if we leave a rating in a review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on our social

media feeds Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there and the last but not least, if you want any questions into our mail bags, member, we're doing them at the tail end of our live shows, So show up for the live show and then just drop your questions in the chat and then we hit them in the mail bag at the tail end. We will definitely be doing a mail bag at the tail end of tomorrow night's show.

to you by Microsoft. Just like star players and teams navigating performance hurdles, business decision makers today are under immense pressure to get things right. They must rise to the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft empowers these visionaries with AI solutions, simplified cloud and data management, and trustworthy responsible AI. And when you're in the NBA, you have your own hurdles

to face. In this segment, we will highlight the player every week that has risen to the occasion when his team needed him whatever challenge you're facing, micro Soft empowers you with the expertise to say, bring it on. This week's Players of the Week are TJ McConnell and Ben Mathron. University of Arizona A lumps. For those of you guys who forget, I'm from Tucson, Arizona, still currently live there.

Big Arizona fan here. I used to be a bigger fan of the UVA before excuse me, bigger fan of college basketball in general, before I started working in this business. I was lamenting that to a buddy of mine at the gym the other day. Like ever since I got into the NBA and it's become my profession, I have had way less time to watch college hoops, which has been something that's made me a little sad. Maybe I'll be able to find some more balance with that over the years.

this story on the show before. It's been a very long time, but TJ and I I played pick up with and against him at various points at the u of A. And my first time meeting TJ in person, I was this young, just asshole, for lack of a better word, and I was playing in a game against TJ and some U of A guys, and I was bringing this like crazy competitive energy to the game because I was like viewing it as an opportunity to try to like test myself, you know that sort of thing.

And I was just being a dumb young basketball player. But I vividly remember in that environment a lot of the guys kind of playing the too cool for school, like whatever, we're just out here messing around kind of thing. And there was one guy on the other team that had no desire to things that way and that wanted to win that game at all costs. And I saw the competitive fire in TJ's eyes in that game when we were playing against each other and he was talking

shit to me and all that kind of stuff. Totally was like an exposure to the fact that, like TJ is one of the APEX competitors that you'll meet, he is a guy that that regardless. I always have thought that a guy who approaches a random pickup game with an insane amount of competitive energy even though he is a pro, even though he is a guy that has played at in the college level, at the overseas level, in the NBA level, like that, to me is an indicator of a guy that has a competitive motor that

is there regardless of surrounding circumstances. And I just remember, like I remember being struck by TJ the first time I met him, just by how intense he was. And I do think that that has been a huge driving force behind what has made him a ten year NBA pro and has just been one of my favorite players

to root for over the years. But I've been fortunate to see a bunch of u A guys come through Tucson, and it was obviously a lot of fun last night to watch TJ and Ben to uf alums put a huge mark on an NBA Finals game that the Pacers

basically won that game with two runs. There was a twenty five to ten run in the early second quarter that took them from down eight to up seven, and then there was a twenty three to eleven run in the early fourth quarter that put them from down five to up seven, and those were really the stretches that swung this game back towards Endy. The early second quarter

run was mostly TJ McConnell. Again, We've talked about this a lot in the series preview, but he has one of like TJ is actually one of the better athletes in the league when it comes to getting straight line

speed and changing direction. At straight line speed, he can bring the ball out the floor with pace and he just kind of sets it up for a strong right hand drive and he counters it with a right to left crossover and then he spins, he gets cut off, and he just brings a lot of downhill power in those drives and it just makes him very, very difficult to guard and like, there were a lot of plays like there was one where he dropped off the ball

to Pascal Siakam for an easy layup. During that run where he just was staring down Cason Wallace like head to head and just got into the lane. And that ultimately is the thing that breaks down any defense is the ability to beat your primary defender and to draw and help. And on this play he beat Cason Wallace and drew and Alex Caruso, which opened up a little drop off to Pascal Siakam and he got an easy layup.

And there were a lot of opportunities for guy like he had a big transition drive where he drew a foul. He had another drive out of pick and roll where he beat Caseon Wallace towards the baseline. He just was consistently getting past his man, which was making all of these positive trickle down effects. And guys were getting open on cuts I talked about Siakam, Ben Mathern got open on a cut, Obie Toppen got open running his lane and transition on the left side of the floor. That

was when TJ got one of his inbound steals. If you remember, he stole the inbound pass immediately after scoring like TJ was just all over the place in that early second quarter run and brought the life back into the arena after Oklahoma City threw a hell of a punch in the first quarter and left Indiana just a tiny bit shook at that point, but TJ dug him out of it and got him.

didn't work. They switched the two man game at the top of the key and forced Chat into a tough fade away that he missed. It was just in general a cold spell for Oklahoma City. Indiana jumped and took the lead there and then in the early fourth quarter it was Ben Matherin again a twenty three to eleven run that took them from down five to put him

up seven. Ben Matherin, we talked about him before the series, is another one of those guys that has that size and athleticism to get to his spots against this Oklahoma City defense. I talked about this a little bit last night with Colin and we talked about it on playback.

But the if you look at Nie Smith, Neie Smith is a very good athlete, but he doesn't handle the ball like TJ or Ben, not close right, And Nemhard is a great ball handler, but he's not not anywhere near the athlete that TJ McConnell and Ben Mathern are. And so TJ and Ben bring that combination of like kind of apex athletic traits and also the ability to handle the basketball that brings a real problem for Oklahoma

City to be able to handle. And like I know, a TJ doesn't really have the reputation of being that type of athlete.

of him and got an and one floater. He had this ridiculous shot and drop coverage where he like softly fed a left handed layup up off the glass. That was just a remarkable piece of shot making. That's a shot that the vast majority of even NBA players are going to overcook off the glass and probably end up missing, and Ben mather and made it. He had a pull up three versus drop coverage along the right side of

the floor. He had several pull up jump shots in the game, and if you watch him, he just gets such great lift and that's really the thing for him, Like if he can just get to his spot and rise up, these thunder players literally aren't big enough to really get a great contest on him there, and he was able to get some really good pull up jump

shot looks in this game. And then TJ had another stretch in that in that run where he he had a driving layup where he ran like kind of a decoy ballscreen on the left side and got Casen to think he was gonna switch. Instead he just hit the Jets with one of those right handed drives and got a layup. Immediately stole the inbounds pass and got another layup. Like, those guys were just massive in this game. Ten points,

five assists and five steals for TJ. McConnell, twenty seven points in an NBA Finals game on just twelve shots for Ben mathurin just huge NBA Finals moments for those two guys. And if they win the title, obviously as a local Tucson guys in Arizona guy, it will be a game that I look back on very fondly. That's it for this week's course correction. Remember Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to take bold steps and make informed decisions,

sparking new ideas to help drive your business forward. With Microsoft as your trusted partner, you can navigate your journey with confidence, finding innovative solutions, and reaching new possibilities. Visit Microsoft dot com Slash Challengers to learn more. It's worth mentioning that in the fourth quarter that during that run their defense was incredible as well. The big thing that really started to have some effect was just overall ball denials.

There was a possession where Nemard had a quality denial of Shay on a sideline out of bounds where he was trying to get a post up and because they didn't throw it to him and ended up getting worked around to j Dubb for a miss.

fourth quarter runs as well. Now down the stretch once again, in classic Pacers fashion, a little bit of everybody right Tyres Halliburton, who all night long started just taking the I thought he came out the first couple minutes a little passive, but hit the jets there in the middle of that first quarter, and just did a great job all night of just taking the conceited coverage beating looks that he wasn't taking for the first three quarters of

Game two. It's not on every possession. Sometimes they beat him over the top of the screen. He wasn't able to get some clean looks. But all throughout this series, again in the drop coverage, he's had mildly contested pull up jump shots coming off of ball screens and mildly contested floaters going downhill in ball screens. All against variations of drop coverage. Those shots have been there for him, and he just didn't take them for the first three

quarters of Game two. Did a much better job tonight of taking them, and he was making them tonight, So not only was he keeping himself in a rhythm, but he was actually providing some real scoring pop for his team. But in the fourth quarter, hit a huge three at the top of the key that broke a tie that put them up by three. Late in the game, he had a beautiful skip pass and pick and roll that led to an Aaron Nee Smith three in the right corner.

Nie Smith hit a couple of massive threes in the second half of this game, despite having we talk all the time about just find a way to make a play when you're having a rough night. And Nie Smith was getting cooked by J. Dubb in io and in ball screens all night long. He was missing shots. It was like a really rough Nie Smith game. And he just hit a couple of huge threes late and he got a couple of big stops on Jdublade and who

the hell cares what happened before that. Pacers got the win right, but really nice skip pass from Haliburton there. I thought he actually missed another one that could have gotten to Siakam three in the left corner where he forced the ball to Turner instead, but Halliburton did a really nice job down the stretch.

over Chet. He had another one and dropped coverage. That was a big shot in crunch time, Miles Turner, after having a brutally bad game for three quarters, just getting absolutely fried in is at the level coverage and missing shots all over the floor, he Chet on a pocket pass where he caught the ball and just got downhill and then just bumped Chet off and Chet went flying and he got a little easy layup. He blocked Chet three times in the fourth quarter, twice at the rim

in another play at the three point line. Once again, rough game for Miles for three quarters. Just find a way to make a play. Now, we will remember Game three as a game where Miles Turner made huge plays and helped his team win, and no one's gonna care

about what happened in the first three quarters. It's such as these were such classic examples of like, for you young basketball players out there, no matter what happens in the first quarter, no matter what happens in the second quarter, no matter what happens in the third, no matter what happens in the first half of the fourth quarter, Like, just find a way to make a play and do something to put your team in position to win, and no one's gonna give a shit about what happened during

the remainder of that game.

for the corner. That opens up a runway for Obi Toppen to just shoot down that right wing lane line and he just gets up and throws down a massive two handed dunk. They go down to the other end down the stretch. The pacers were way way better with their at the level coverages with their forwards. He at the level coverage with Turner doesn't work. It's causing all sorts of problems. We're going to talk about that in

a minute. But with Siakamen Topping in particular, they got multiple stops on switches in actions that looked to attack them with either JDub or Shay And the big part of it was One of the problems they were having in those hedges or in those switches with those forwards is one either the on ball guy would lose contain and share or JDub would just reject the screen, at which case would be an automatic four on three, or they would go off the screen and then just immediately

top In or split Siakam and get right downhill and

suddenly it would be another four on three. Those four on threes have been a major issue for Indiana's defense over the course of the last two games, but in the fourth quarter, one of the things they were doing the on ball guy was more strongly overplaying towards the screen to make it so that Shay or Jadubb could not reject the screen, Almost like an ice coverage where you're like forcing him to go a certain way, except for instead of in an ice coverage, you forced the

guard to go away from the screen. In this case, they were overplaying him to the screen, and then the guy Siakam or Topping weren't getting split Toppin was meeting him a little further back. Siakam same thing, using his length to contest. After the tip dunk, Toppin switched on to j Dubb, slid his feet, kept his chest in front of that shoulder, met Jdubb at the rim and swatted his ass. Huge play down the stretch of that

game and then their defense. We talked a little bit about it earlier, but after really struggling to guard Oklahoma City for basically seven quarters row, they got the stops they needed in that fourth quarter again Siakam in top in those switches. Siakam locked up SGA and ISO twice, once got him to pass out of a little step back three attempt, another one where he contested a really like a really nice contested ISO, like eighteen foot off

of the left elbow where he got to stop. He also had a really sharp close out on Cruso on a play where he had a foot in the paint, passed went out to Cruso.

on that SGA backscreen action. We talked about this in game In game one, they had Shay backscreen for Cason Wallace. Caseon Wallace got a wide open layup because Nemhar didn't want to help off of SGA on screens. They ran it again early in the fourth quarter tonight for Chet SGA screen for him. Nemhar didn't want to help. Chet got an easy layup out of it. They ran it again in crunch time, and finally the Pacers snuffed it out. Nemhard slid over and showed while it was one of

the biggs. I think it was Siakam, it might have been Turner. I think it was Turner. Actually, Turner lingered for just a second on Shay while Nemhard lingered for just a second showing on the Chet backcut, and then they recovered to each other's man shut down the action again. That's what happens in these playoff series. As things progress, you see things enough times, you start to kind of

snuff out the actions. You know what you're looking for, what you're waiting for, and it all of a sudden becomes a little bit more about getting one on one buckets or where you can create an advantage because the actions aren't working as well. And then in general ball pressure and fatigue. You'll notice I've been pretty critical of the Turner at the level coverages, especially in this series, but I haven't been too worried about the ball pressure.

There's been some downsides where they've given up dribble penetration. But the big difference between this team and Jaden McDaniels is when Jada McDaniels would get beat, he's not as quick footed to get back into the play. Nie Smith, Nemhar tj. These guys are so quick footed that even when they give up dribble penetration in their ball pressure, they can pressure from behind and rush the ball handler into making mistakes. I'm advocating with Turner for a deeper drop coverage.

huge fatigue element to ball pressure in denials. And I thought Oklahoma City looked tired down the stretch Shae in particular, hands on knees, not fighting for loose balls like Shaye looked really tired down the stretch of this game. That is a cumulative wear and tear effect that comes from that ball pressure. But once again for the Pacers, everybody made plays and that continues to be the story for this Pacers team. They have seven guys averaging double figures

for them in this series. Nobody's averaging twenty, but seven dudes are averaging at least ten. Juxtaposed with a Thunder team that has two dudes averaging twenty in five dudes total averaging ten. They are just a They are just a cumulative force of nature. On any given night, it's somebody different doing something different. But they're just a remarkably balanced basketball team. They as a team, forced a bunch

of turnovers, blocked a bunch of shots. They continue to be one of my favorite playoff teams that I've ever watched. I actually thought it was funny. I saw a comment from you guys after last night's show where there are a lot of Pacers fans that think that, like I want the Thunder to win, that's not true. Like I think the Thunder are going to win. I picked them to win the series because you'd be foolish not to given what we knew about the two teams coming in.

But like I find the Pacers to be a more likable basketball team than the Thunder, I find the Pacers to be a funner team to watch than the Thunder. Me and my basketball pick is not the same as what my basketball heart believes, so to speak, And I will flatly say that the Pacers are one of my favorite teams that I've ever watched, and I'll just freely admit I have been rooting for them in this series. It's just an authentic basketball feeling that I have when

I'm watching this team. I'm watching them and I want them to win. So like that is that I believe in the Thunder and I have so much respect for the Thunder. And we're going to talk about the specific reasons why I think they still deserve to be favored in the series. But yeah, Like I'm sitting on the couch and I find myself rooting for the Pacers because they're just such an unbelievably likable basketball team that plays

such a beautiful brand of basketball. You've got a couple of U of A guys on the roster that's obviously gonna appeal to me in my sentimentality a certain amount, right, So, like this is they They've just I think they've been such such an excellent showcase for the next generation of basketball fans to see what the best version of modern basketball looks like. And I just really enjoyed watching them

in this playoff run on the Oklahoma City front. They look to be in a really strong position for three quarters. After Jadubb hit that little side step three at the top of the key at the end of the third quarter that put them up five, I thought they were gonna pull that game out. It mostly came down to turnovers. Their half court offensive rating wasn't good. I think it was like a ninety three if I remember correctly, But

they were they were efficient in their specific actions. When they didn't turn the ball over, they got good looks and I'm sure that's what deag Naught will be talking about when he watches the film and he talks to his guys. He's gonna be like, look, when we don't take when we don't turn the basketball over and we get the ball through their defense, we get quality looks.

Oklahoma City shot the ball really well last night. Like that's the other thing too, Like, if you're a Pacers fan, you're looking for another upside, Like you won Game one despite the insane amount of turnovers.

in Game two and three. I should say Oklahoma City has been very, very efficient attacking and pick and roll. They have a lot of upside that they've been able to identify through three games. They just can't turn the ball over as much as they did. They they did get away from their pet action like it's funny. Every team has to have a pet action that they trust

in order to have success later in playoff series. And I think the Shai Gilles Alexander ball screens where they're attacking Miles Turner in space are really really good and they're getting great stuff out of them. Even in the fourth quarter, they got a wide open three for lou Dort out of the left corner and out of that action, and they should have got another wide open three for lou Dort, but Chet missed a read off of a

short roll a catch. But like they consistently get four on threes out of it because either the guy shows too high and Shaye dumps it over the top and that guy gets a four on three on the roll, or Shay's just beating that that at the level show from Turner because he's too slow to keep him in front in space, or Shay's rejecting the screen and now Turner is on the wrong side of the screen and

he's getting four on three. Anyway, they get a lot of really good stuff out of that, but they didn't spam it enough, like classic example, the one that Dort missed, like Shaye runs the ball screen with chet top of the key. They get a wide open three for lou Dort out of it. So like textbook process and lou Dort's been shooting the shit out of the basketball in

this series. Dort misses the three. So instead of being like, we ran good process, got a great shot, let's go back to it, they went right down the floor on the next possession, shade it and see the ball they went through. They went through Jadub and it's like, I get it, Like Jadub was having success. He was attacking

knees Smith and having some success. But like, by far the most reliable action for the Thunder in the series has been Shaye attacking turner and ball screens at the level they get great stuff out of it every single time. And I didn't think they ran it nearly enough in the fourth quarter. And that's the thing with young basketball players. They struggle to identify what's working and replicate it, and identify what's not working and get away from it. And so I do think there was a little bit of

an execution misstep in that fourth quarter. Looking forward in the series, again, as we talk about as series progress, the low hanging fruit stuff becomes harder and harder to come by, you know, unless you're playing the Knicks and suddenly they play their worst transition defense and overall details game in game six.

And I think Oklahoma City has a really reliable action that they can go to to generate a good shot, and it's that Shay high ballscreen with Miles Turner where they're just consistently getting four on threes out of it. I'm not sure Indy has established any one single action that reliable. It's been kind of different stuff in every different part of the game. It's very much like a flow in a rhythm that Indiana gets that involves everybody.

So I still would make Oklahoma City a favorite to win the series at this point, but to be clear, we have officially entered into the Pacers have a great chance to win this series territory. That's where we're at now. You know, we always talk about like you got to take it one game at a time, all the stuff that you hear in press conferences when teams are just saying all the meaningless platitudes that we hear.

All of a sudden. I think I'd make you a favorite if you win on Friday. So it is incredibly achievable. You did the job. You did the job to this point. You stole home court advantage and you won one of your home games. It's win two home games and the trophy is yours. It is right there for the taking.

But as you know that expression that, like in baseball, that momentum is only as strong as your next night starting pitcher, the point being like, doesn't matter if you won five games in a row or four games in a row, doesn't matter, you know what positive momentum you've

built up. If the next dude who comes to town has like a one hundred and two mile an hour two seemer that he keeps down in the zone and no one can hit, and he counters it with a slider that everyone's swinging out of their shoes even though it lands, you know, eighteen inches outside of the strike zone. Like, if that is what's happening, and your dudes are all swinging out of their shoes and they can't make contact,

no one cares about your momentum. No one cares about what kind of like like vibe you've got going in the dugout right. Similarly, in the NBA, momentum is only as strong as, like, can you score against Oklahoma City's defense when they really really tighten the screws, And as we saw in the third quarter in particular, they can tighten the screws on this Pacers team and cause problems

for him. I think they only had twenty points in that quarter, and it was a lot of the same stuff we saw in Game two, like super intense closeouts that were kind of shaking Indiana spot up shooters.

so it's gonna be tough. That's the challenge that Game four is going to be the toughest game of the series by far for the Pacers. I absolutely think they can win it. I absolutely think they have a great

chance to win this series. But at this point, I think Oklahoma City's defense at its ceiling has proven to be a little bit better than Indiana's, and I think they have a reliable action that they can go to I think Oklahoma City is going to win Game four, win Game five, and then win one of the next two games. So I'm gonna stick with Oklahoma City in six or seven. But the Pacers have done exactly what

we hoped they would do. They have put themselves in a position to win this series coming into the series despite it being one of the most substantial favorites in recent NBA history. So shout out to the Pacers for making this an entertaining series. One last note on that action we talked about that high ball screen attacking turner in space. I want to dive into this action just a tiny bit further for just a couple minutes, and then we'll be done. So why would you bring a big.

that they can't curl the screen and get going. They curl the screen and run into somebody before they can get their momentum, and so it like stops them from giving dribble penetration right or three to blitz get the ball out of their hands.

the role man's getting past him. The ball is getting past Turner almost every time when he gets up to the level, and so that literally defeats the purpose if you're that defeats the purpose unless you're consistently getting the ball out of Shay's hands. But Shae himself is dribbling past Turner much of the time. Like there were a couple plays in the second half where they were more blitzy with Turner and he was super aggressive and he

forced Hey to get rid of the basketball. That's fine, at the very least, you're forcing them to play four on three without Shae in the action, but like, there's way too many examples of Turner coming up to the level and Shae's dribbling right around him, and so my thing is keep pressure in him. But if Shay's gonna get past him, if the ball's gonna get past him, no matter what, you might as well have him at

the rim or closer to the rim. And so all I'm advocating for is just running a deeper drop coverage with Turner. Well, that have its issues, of course, Now all of a sudden he's gonna have to deal with someone coming downhill at him, but at least he's got

length to bother at the rim. Now you're gonna concede a lot of pull up mid range jump shots in drop coverage around the elbows, Okay, but I'd rather give that up than some of the stuff they're getting out of these four on threes, especially when Shay himself beats the at the level coverage. And so my thing is like, don't bring Turner up to the level unless he can either contain the ball or force Shay to get rid of it, and he hasn't been able to do that

in this series. So I would have him in more of a deeper drop, or at least you're making his length a factor at the rim, because again, like that is the action they're gonna have to find a way to guard. If they're gonna win this series, They're gonna have to find a way to guard that SGA ballscreen that attacks Miles Turner in space. All right, guys, It's all I have for today is always to sincerely appreciate

you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We will be back tomorrow night after the final buzzer of Game four of the NBA Finals. I'm incredibly excited. It'll be just me that night, me and Jackson. We're breaking it down. We'll have a mail bag. We'll also head over to playback and take questions and watch some film. Really looking forward to Game four. I will see you guys then. But some guys, as always, im preciate you

for listening to and supporting Hoops tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review.