How the In-Season Tournament prepped the Pacers for a deep playoff run (2024)

BOSTON – Adam Silver’s In-Season Tournament was a novelty, a fun little divergence to Las Vegas for a league that’s been looking for ways to add a little spice to its six-month, 82-game slog. As it unfolded, it became a way for the NBA to get the Lakers on national TV two more times, and to sell a bunch of tickets to the final four with Los Angeles a little more than a four-hour drive away.

No one came away from the experience last December saying, “Yep, this was a preview of just how good the Indiana Pacers are.” And yet, here they are in the Eastern Conference finals, looking like they absolutely belong and believing that their run through the IST played a part.

“Those experiences helped for sure,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said before the Pacers’ eventual overtime loss to Boston in Game 1 Tuesday night. “There were some real playoff simulations — our quarterfinal game at home, on a Monday night, against these guys (the Boston Celtics), had the feel of a conference finals-matchup atmosphere. The part about going to Vegas and playing there, that was different, but there was certainly the exposure, the stage, all that. So, all those experiences help a young team.”

The Pacers didn’t make the postseason last year, so it was somewhat of a surprise to see them tear through Silver’s first In-Season tournament with a 4-0 mark in pool play, followed by, as Carlisle mentioned, that 122-112 win over Boston on Dec. 4. They followed that by dumping the Milwaukee Bucks in a semifinal, before running out of gas against, at the time, a stout Lakers defense in a 123-109 loss in the championship.

By season’s end, the Pacers fell to sixth in the East, as some injuries and some gaping holes on defense caught up with them. They’ve also had a little luck, catching the Bucks in a first-round playoff series with Giannis Antetokounmpo (and, for a few games, Damian Lillard) unable to play, and the Knicks without Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby (for most of the series). Josh Hart was also limited by an abdominal strain in the second round.

But Indiana has also survived. Check that, they thrived in a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden – setting NBA records for offensive efficiency last Sunday in that game – and finished off the Bucks at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Game 6. Those are the pressure-packed, win-or-else moments for which the In-Season Tournament prepared the Pacers, in Carlisle’s view. He’s not necessarily wrong.

Not every team took the IST seriously. The Miami Heat, for instance, rested Jimmy Butler for at least one of the games when he wasn’t injured. Some of the veteran teams approached the IST as just another night in the NBA, with bigger goals on their minds for the spring.

For a team like the Pacers, led by Tyrese Haliburton, who had never been to the playoffs, the IST was a chance to play in meaningful games, under pressure, and see if they would thrive or buckle in those circ*mstances. Indiana has an experienced coach in Carlisle, who guided the Dallas Mavericks to the 2011 NBA championship. Center Myles Turner had played 26 playoff games prior to this run. In December, the Pacers didn’t have much postseason experience beyond him.

Any NBA veteran who’s been to the playoffs knows that no game in the regular season really compares, but the In-Season Tournament was at least a little wrinkle to help a young team learn on the fly.

“You have to try and prepare your guys with the understanding that this generation of player is not interested in hearing a bunch of stuff about the ’80s,” said Carlisle, acknowledging his own experience compared to the relative lack of it among his players. “We have a lot of experience on our staff … but you have to have the understanding that you have to go through it to really experience what it’s all about.

“We try to help prepare them for those experiences, but there’s nothing like going through Game 5 in Milwaukee, Game 5 in New York. Those are experiences where there’s an avalanche coming at you.”

They did, of course, supplement that roster with more experience, trading for Pascal Siakam, who had played 53 playoff games before this season. Indiana didn’t acquire Siakam, the difference-making, multi-skilled forward who won the 2019 championship with the Toronto Raptors, until Jan. 17 — more than a month after the IST had passed.

Siakam has been a brilliant complement to Haliburton, who flourishes running a high-paced, open-court offense and needed a bona fide scorer to feed. Siakam also would not flinch under the heat of a playoff series, though you could also say he is in a position that’s new for him too.

“He’s been there, he’s done it, but when he was on that team (the Raptors), he was the third or fourth guy,” Carlisle said before Game 1, referring to Siakam’s Toronto teammates Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry, among others. Siakam grew to be the highest-usage player in Toronto on playoff teams in 2020 and 2022, although neither of those teams reached the conference finals. “Now, he’s stepped up into a primary role.

“He and Tyrese are the two guys, so, his experience is really important to us. He has a naturally calm demeanor and a calm presence. He doesn’t get rattled. His personality stays consistent, but things get frantic in games. He’s a calming influence on our young guys.”

Things did go haywire at the end of regulation in Game 1 against Boston. The Pacers made a bunch of mistakes, including Carlisle, who owned up to putting his team in a bad position by not calling a timeout prior to a late turnover. Speaking of that turnover, it was a pass that went off of Siakam’s hands and out of bounds. And then on the ensuing play, it was Siakam who chose not to foul Jaylen Brown, who drained a 3-pointer in the corner with about six seconds left to tie the game.

So much for experience. Then again, the Pacers have, throughout the playoffs, suffered ghastly losses and rebounded to win the next game, or the series. And they got a jump on learning to play with the urgency it takes to recover from nights like Game 1 by thriving in Silver’s new tournament.

“We think it’s going to be a long series,” Siakam said.

(Top photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Joe Vardon is a senior NBA writer for The Athletic, based in Cleveland. Follow Joe on Twitter @joevardon