During a replay review with 22.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the stage was set for Tyrese Haliburton`s eventual game-winning shot. The Pacers were waiting for the result of a challenge initiated by coach Rick Carlisle. Indiana trailed by a single point, and Carlisle wanted his team ready for either scenario. If the review was successful, the Pacers would regain possession. If unsuccessful, he instructed his players to play defense, secure a stop without fouling, and transition quickly. With only about eight seconds separating the shot and game clocks, the message was clear: there would be no more timeouts. Get the rebound and go.
“Get the ball in Tyrese`s hands,” Carlisle said after the game that evening. “And look to make a play.”
The Pacers executed the plan perfectly. They got the stop, no easy feat against the reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed a contested fadeaway defended closely by Andrew Nembhard. Aaron Nesmith grabbed a tough rebound over Lu Dort in traffic. Nesmith quickly moved the ball to Pascal Siakam, who found Obi Toppin, who then swung it to Haliburton, giving him possession just before half court with six seconds left on the clock.
What followed was one of the most clutch shots in NBA Finals history. Haliburton dribbled and jab-stepped along the sideline before curling back inside the arc and rising for the game-winning basket – a 21-foot jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining, allowing the Pacers to steal Game 1 in Oklahoma City.
Trusting Haliburton in such a moment might seem straightforward, especially given the emerging star`s knack for hitting big shots (Game 1 was his fourth game-winning or game-tying shot in the final seconds of these playoffs). However, such faith was cultivated over years. The offensive freedom the Pacers play with is a product of the relationship between Carlisle and Haliburton, a bond that began the night after Indiana acquired Haliburton in February 2022. Yet, the foundation also dates back to Carlisle`s tenure with the Dallas Mavericks, starting with clashes with Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd in his first season (2008-09) and continuing when Carlisle was tasked with guiding another rising superstar: Luka Doncic.
“What I learned my first year in Dallas was to give J-Kidd the ball and get out of the way, let him run the show, let him run the team,” Carlisle said before the start of the NBA Finals. “Tyrese is in a very similar situation, but it didn`t take half a season to figure it out. The situation in Dallas with Luka was the same. It`s pretty clear, when you have a player of that kind of magnitude, that kind of presence, that kind of knowledge, vision and depth, you`ve got to let them do what they do.”
This philosophy has paid off for the Pacers, who took a 2-1 NBA Finals lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 116-107 victory on Wednesday night. Haliburton and Carlisle are the masterminds behind Indiana`s offense, which scores 116.7 points per 100 possessions in the postseason with a fast-paced style and resilient comeback ethos that has fueled an improbable playoff run through the Eastern Conference.
At the center of it all is a coach who has adapted over the years with a point guard he happily handed the reins to.
“When he gave me that nod, that was like the ultimate respect,” Haliburton said after practice Tuesday. “That was the ultimate trust I could get from anybody, because he is such a brilliant basketball mind. He`s been around such great guards, great players. For him to give me that confidence, I think has really taken my career to another level.”
The empowerment of Kidd, which followed considerable friction between coach and player, can be seen as a turning point in Carlisle`s career. Carlisle had a reputation for being controlling when he first arrived in Dallas. He was known to clash with players during his initial stint coaching Indiana from 2003 to 2007, where he coached Metta Sandiford-Artest, Stephen Jackson, and Jamaal Tinsley. Those Pacers teams won 61 games and reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2003-04 but played a meticulous style with Carlisle calling plays on nearly every possession.
When Carlisle arrived in Dallas a few years later, he tried to implement the same control, even with Kidd, who was 35 years old and had nine All-Star selections. It didn`t go smoothly. “It wasn`t easy for [Carlisle] to let it go,” former NBA guard J.J. Barea, who played with the Mavs from 2006 to 2011 and again from 2014 to 2020, told ESPN. “To be more free about it. But he knew for us to win he had to let it go. J-Kidd and him went to battle, but it worked out at the end.”
Kidd advocated for a more free-flowing offense, stressing that a seasoned point guard dictating the game`s flow would lead to better rhythm than a coach directing every play from the sideline. Carlisle resisted for more than half a season. It wasn`t until midway through the 2010-11 season – his third year coaching Kidd in Dallas – that Carlisle truly gave his point guard the reins. The Mavericks won the championship that season.
Carlisle did not wait nearly as long to give Luka Doncic the keys to the Mavs` offense. That occurred while Doncic was a teenager in the midst of his Rookie of the Year campaign during the 2018-19 season. Although the personal relationship between Carlisle and Doncic was often rocky, the partnership between coach and point guard produced outstanding offensive results. In Doncic`s second season, the Mavs set the NBA record at the time for offensive efficiency by averaging 115.9 points per 100 possessions.
Carlisle constructed an offensive system that suited Doncic, one dramatically different from the one Kidd operated. Carlisle`s Mavs played a heliocentric style with Doncic dominating the ball, emphasizing spacing with stationary spot-up shooting threats as he ran pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll. The Pacers are succeeding with Haliburton operating a system fueled by playing fast and off-ball movement.
“One thing you can say about Rick is he coaches his talent,” Haralabos Voulgaris, the Mavs director of quantitative research and development from 2018 to 2021, told ESPN. “His system is whatever maximizes the talent that he has. He understands that the game is changing and he has to always keep on changing and learning and adapting and growing. It`s not many older coaches that have had that mentality, especially ones that had success when they were younger.”
Carlisle`s track record with point guards hasn`t always been perfect. He clashed with Rajon Rondo a few years after Doncic`s rookie season, with Rondo preferring a more methodical pace while Carlisle pushed for faster play. The difficult relationship resulted in Rondo`s tenure in Dallas lasting only 46 games. “It wasn`t a good fit for either of them,” Barea said.
Carlisle wasn`t in favor of the Mavericks` trade for Rondo, agreeing to it only because Dirk Nowitzki wanted it, and didn`t view Rondo as the type of talent that warranted offensive control. He had no such reservations about Doncic – or Haliburton.
“When I see Haliburton playing for Rick, he`s free, man,” Barea said. “He looks so free out there. He looks like he`s enjoying the game. He`s playing at a great pace and with confidence. I think Rick got Haliburton`s confidence to be as high as it could be.”
The tension in Carlisle`s relationship with Doncic, which started early in Doncic`s rookie season, was a factor in the winningest coach in franchise history eventually resigning from the Mavericks job after the 2020-21 season. Carlisle and Haliburton, on the other hand, share a harmonious bond that the veteran coach has actively cultivated. “One of the things that`s nice to see is that [Carlisle] has a good relationship with the star players or all the players on his team, it seems like,” Voulgaris told ESPN. “Whereas in Dallas, that was probably not the case obviously. There`s some growth there.”
Yet, the Pacers were adrift and seeking direction as a franchise when Carlisle left Dallas. They finished 34-38 in 2020-21, the sole season under coach Nate Bjorkgren, prompting them to quickly hire Carlisle for a second stint as head coach. The team was still searching for an identity, but the veteran coach had a clear idea of the perfect type of player to build an offense around.
Haliburton could have been a Dallas Maverick. The Mavericks had Haliburton ranked as the No. 1 player on their 2020 draft board, largely based on analytics models. Sources indicated the Mavericks offered their two selections, No. 18 and No. 31, as well as their sometimes starter, sometimes sixth-man guard Jalen Brunson, to every team until Haliburton was picked 12th by the Sacramento Kings. “We tried like hell to get him and move up, we just couldn`t do it,” Carlisle said before the start of the Finals. “When I tell you that Mark Cuban tried everything. When Mark puts his mind to something, he can usually figure something out.” Carlisle remained a fan of Haliburton`s game from afar through the start of the point guard`s career.
The veteran coach was hired in Indiana for the 2021-22 season, but his initial roster lacked the kind of guard talent Carlisle felt he could truly rely on, causing him to revert to his old instincts. “Rick`s first year here, we had a game where he did that, he stopped us and called a play every single possession,” said Pacers center Myles Turner, the team`s longest-tenured player. “In the dawn of this new NBA, especially in the playoffs, that stuff doesn`t work.”
The Pacers were 19-37 on Feb. 8, 2022, when they had the opportunity to acquire a player who could become their identity. The Sacramento Kings were looking to move one of their point guards with De`Aaron Fox also on the roster and traded Haliburton to the Pacers for a package involving Domantas Sabonis. After the deal was finalized, Carlisle immediately worked to establish a strong relationship with his new focal point. He arranged a dinner the night after the trade with Haliburton and the two other acquired players – Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson. For the final 26 games of that season, with a young Pacers team out of playoff contention, Carlisle allowed Haliburton to gain valuable experience improvising and playing on the fly.
“You saw so many glimpses of the creativity that Tyrese exhibits, the ability to make plays with just very basic structure,” Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan told ESPN during a phone interview. “He thrives in situations where there`s a little more freedom and a little less predictability.”
Going into training camp for the 2022-23 season, Carlisle told Haliburton he wouldn`t be calling plays anymore. Carlisle was officially entrusting the offense to Haliburton, who was 22 years old at the time. He recalled seeing his young point guard`s eyes light up. “I was surprised,” Haliburton recalled after practice on Tuesday. “Because I know what the conversation around coach [Carlisle] was, especially from point guards.”
Haliburton credits Carlisle for helping his career reach new heights. It wasn`t just the offensive freedom that helped Haliburton make his first All-Star team the following season, averaging a double-double for the first time in his NBA career in 2022-23 with a career-high 20.7 points alongside 10.4 assists. It was also the work off the court, such as teaching Haliburton how to properly break down film. Haliburton admitted that early in his career, he would watch film focusing mainly on his own points and assists. Now he was learning to watch the whole game, searching for ways to make his teammates better.
“[Carlisle`s] just a basketball savant,” Haliburton said. “All that stuff is really important. Really took my career to another level.”
Haliburton points to those early development stages in Indiana as crucial preparation for performing at the highest levels of the NBA Playoffs years later. But it was the trust shown by the organization in Haliburton that significantly boosted his confidence on the court. “They`re going to have some ups and downs,” Carlisle said. “They`re going to make some mistakes. If they`re doing it consistent with how they`re seeing the game, the lessons learned will be more impactful.”
The lessons Carlisle learned early in his career have also paid dividends. After a difficult start in his relationship with Doncic, Carlisle made sure to begin his relationship with Haliburton on the right foot. “Everybody in our league from players to coaches and executives, we all evolve,” Buchanan said. “Rick has evolved just like we all have. He understands that Tyrese is one of those guys. He`s got a fun-loving, joyful personality that rubs off on everybody. Tyrese is the kind of guy who you can build a culture around.”
It worked in Indiana. The Pacers are back in the Finals for the first time in 25 years, following an Eastern Conference finals berth last season, representing one of the most successful two-year stretches in team history. And at the heart of it are Carlisle and Haliburton, two basketball minds with mutual respect, thriving together to create playoff magic. Or as Voulgaris told ESPN: “Rick, at this stage of his career in particular, and Haliburton, just seem to be a perfect marriage.”