INDIANAPOLIS (AP) 鈥 Tyrese Haliburton thought he let the Indiana Pacers down in the fourth quarter.
Turns out, he was just warming up for one of the most memorable finishes in franchise history.
Indiana forced two turnovers in the final 29 seconds of overtime, and Haliburton blew past Giannis Antetokounmpo to close an 8-0 run that sent the Pacers past the Milwaukee Bucks 119-118 on Tuesday night for a 4-1 series victory.
鈥淭his one will go down as one of the all-time great Pacers wins because of the circumstances, because of what was on the line,鈥 coach Rick Carlisle said. 鈥淭y, obviously, authored a big part of this ending. So congratulations to him.鈥
The Pacers will face top-seeded Cleveland in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Game 1 is Sunday.
Haliburton finished with 26 points and 10 assists as he improved to 9-0 in home playoff games. But after missing some open shots and a layup late in regulation, Haliburton needed his teammates’ support to help the Pacers steal another series from Milwaukee.
Antetokounmpo tried to will his short-handed Bucks to victory, finishing with 30 points, 20 rebounds and 13 assists. Gary Trent Jr. had 33 points and made four of his eight 3-pointers in overtime, but he also committed the two game-changing turnovers late in OT, and his full-court heave at the buzzer was nowhere close.
The Bucks have lost three consecutive first-round playoff series, the last two to Indiana, and this ended fittingly between the teams at midcourt. Haliburton’s father, John, sparked the fracas when he ran onto the court and started talking to Antetokounmpo.
Haliburton didn’t even realize what happened because he was celebrating on top of the scorer’s table, his arms raised, exhorting the sellout crowd wearing yellow T-shirts to scream even louder 鈥 just like former Pacers great Reggie Miller.
鈥淚 got a little down about it,鈥 Haliburton said, referring to his misses late in regulation. 鈥淏ut my teammates encouraged me to stay with it. They said we would get a chance to win at the end, they would rely on me to do that.鈥
He delivered.
But it wasn’t just Haliburton.
Andrew Nembhard set up the decisive run by making a 3-pointer to cut a seven-point deficit to 118-114 with 34.1 seconds left. Nembhard then stole Trent’s inbound pass with 29 seconds left near the sideline to set up Haliburton’s three-point play that got Indiana within 118-117.
Then, with the Pacers pressuring the ball and the Bucks scrambling, Trent fumbled a long pass out of bounds with 10.8 seconds left to set up Haliburton’s go-ahead layup.
鈥淚 thought the turnovers obviously were huge,鈥 Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. 鈥淭wo of the three were really unforced. But I thought we had two huge defensive mistakes that we made. We came out of the timeout with a foul to give. We were supposed to use it. Didn鈥檛 use it. Those are the things that just kill you.鈥
Myles Turner had 21 points and nine rebounds while Aaron Nesmith added 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Pacers.
In an effort to avoid a third straight first-round exit, Rivers plugged guards AJ Green and Kevin Porter Jr. and forward Bobby Portis Jr. into the starting lineup. The Bucks were missing , who tore his left Achilles tendon in Game 4 on Sunday night.
All five starters scored in double figures for Milwaukee.
鈥淚’m not going to do this,” Antetokounmpo said when asked if he thought he could win a second NBA title in Milwaukee. 鈥淲hatever I say, I know how it’s going to translate. I wish I was still playing. I wish I was still like competing and going back out there.鈥
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