What the HALI ?!

What the HALI?!

Moral of the story: Tyrese Haliburton.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals was nothing short of exciting. With 6:30 left in the 4th quarter, the Indiana Pacers were down 17 points with a score of 94-111. Even though his foot was on the 3pt line for the final game-tying shot of regulation, which essentially forced the game into OT instead of it being a game winner, Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers willed their way back from 17 points down and kept their chances alive. After a back-and-forth OT, the Pacers stole Game 1 in the Garden from the Knicks to make the series 1-0. I know Spike Lee and Timothée Chalamet didn’t enjoy that outcome.

After the 1st quarter, it wasn’t hard to tell that this was going to be an interesting game and start to the series. These are two teams that are capable of putting up points quickly and in large quantities. Both teams shot >50% and played very efficient basketball. Even though he had 7 turnovers, Jalen Brunson was able to put up 43 points along with Karl-Anthony Towns’ 35 points. Haliburton and Aaron Nesmith were the offensive stars for the Pacers scoring 31 and 30, respectively. Nesmith, with his Steph Curry-esque performance, went 8-9 from the perimeter. Although Nesmith shot incredible and the Pacers played an efficient brand of ball for Game 1, there was nothing more exciting than Haliburton hitting a step-back buzzer beater to send the game to OT and immediately giving the Reggie Miller choke signal to the Knicks and their fans. However, Rick Carlisle was not a fan of the gesture.

With the Pacers taking Game 1 from the Knicks, I expect this to be a brawl of a conference finals between two teams that most didn't even expect to make it this far in the postseason. This matchup has "7-game series" written all over it. I fully expect Jalen Brunson to continue to execute on the offensive side of the ball. As long as KAT can show up and continue to do his part, along with the Knicks finding a way to slow down Haliburton and cast, I would like to think they can make this a tit-for-tat matchup. That's definitely what New York needs if they want to get a win at home before taking a road trip down to Indiana.