5 days Ago By N/A (Associated Press)
Indiana forced two turnovers in the final 29 seconds of overtime, and Haliburton blew past Giannis Antetokounmpo for the go-ahead layup with 1.3 seconds left to close an 8-0 run that sent the Pacers past the Milwaukee Bucks, 119-118, on Tuesday night, April 29, for a 4-1 series victory. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — 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 for the go-ahead layup with 1.3 seconds left to close an 8-0 run that sent the Pacers past the Milwaukee Bucks, 119-118, on Tuesday night, April 29, for a 4-1 series victory.
“This one will go down as one of the all-time great Pacers wins because of the circumstances, because of what was on the line,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “Ty, obviously, authored a big part of this ending. So congratulations to him.
” 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 increasingly chippy rivalry ended fittingly with a shoving match 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 — just like former Pacers great Reggie Miller. Meanwhile, Cade Cunningham had 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and the Detroit Pistons stayed alive in their first postseason appearance since 2019 by beating the New York Knicks, 106-103, in Game 5 of their first-round series. Ausar Thompson added 22 points and Tobias Harris had 17 for the Pistons, who will have a chance to even things up Thursday night at home in Game 6.
If they win that, the deciding game would be back at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Detroit, though, has lost an NBA record-tying nine straight home games since 2008. But the Pistons seem comfortable in New York, where they were 2-0 in the regular season and now 2-1 in this series, including their Game 2 victory that snapped their 15-game postseason losing streak, the longest in NBA history.
OG Anunoby scored 19 points for the Knicks, who were trying to reach the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third straight season. Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges each had 17, but Jalen Brunson had his worst game of the postseason with 16 points on 4-for-16 shooting..
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