How Tyrese Haliburton and Pacers stay calm, cool and connected in the clutch

OKLAHOMA CITY — How many more times do Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers need to show us who they are for us to believe them?

On Thursday night, Haliburton and the Pacers looked to be out of it. Again.

Like they were in overtime in Game 5 against Milwaukee, down seven with 40 seconds left in overtime. Like they were in Game 2 against the Cavaliers in Cleveland when they were down seven with 48 seconds to go in the fourth quarter. And again, in Game 1 against the New York Knicks, when they were down 17 with a little more than six minutes to go before their epic comeback became “The Miracle at MSG.”

And now, again, in the NBA Finals, they trailed early, got within striking distance multiple times, then surrendered a run to the Oklahoma City Thunder each time.

But the cardiac kids from Indiana had another fourth-quarter comeback in the tank. Haliburton hit a pull-up 2-point jumper to win it with less than a second on the clock. It was the fourth time in the playoffs that Haliburton hit a game-winning or game-tying shot. And it was the Pacers’ fifth come-from-behind victory from a deficit of 15 or more points in this year’s playoffs.

Before the shot, it was a quiet night for Haliburton, who finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. But when it mattered, he made his presence known. The Pacers trailed by nine with 2 minutes, 52 seconds to go before closing the game on a 12-2 run.

“I think we’re just a really resilient group,” Haliburton said. “We do just a great job of sticking in and just settling into the game. Through the course of the game … it felt like it could get ugly. Who knows where this game is heading? I thought we did a great job of just walking them down.

“When it gets to 15, you can panic or you can talk about how do we get it to 10 and how do we get it to five and from there.”

But it wasn’t just Haliburton. Sure, his Pacers teammates have said they go as he goes, but as usual, it took the team as a whole to get the job done. Haliburton is the one who leads. The goal is to get the ball in his hands for the final possession.

“We got it to eight pretty fast and that gave us confidence. We kept getting stops. Myles (Turner) and Andrew (Nembhard) made play after big play down the stretch,” Haliburton said. “Myles got a wide-open look on the wing and missed that one, but we stuck with it. Andrew was huge down the stretch. We got a big stop there and had a lot of confidence in me to make that shot.

“I don’t know what you say about it. I know that this group is a resilient group, and we don’t give up until it’s 0.0 on the clock.”

Indiana’s balanced depth puts teams on their heels in a matter of minutes, and Haliburton finishes them off.

“Ultimate, ultimate confidence in himself,” Turner said about Haliburton. “Some players will say they have it, but there are other players that show it. He’s going to let you know about it, too. That’s one of the things I respect about him. He’s a baller, a hooper, and really just a gamer.

“When it comes to the moments, he wants the ball. He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn’t shy away from the moment and (it is very) important this time of the year to have a go-to guy. He just keeps finding a way, and we keep putting the ball in the right positions. The rest is history.”

Eastern Conference finals MVP Pascal Siakam was the first to score in double figures and led all Indiana scorers with 19 points.

By the end of the game, the Pacers had six players in double figures, including all five starters. Nembhard, who was critical on defense and was the primary ball handler late, added 14 points. Obi Toppin hit five 3s that helped swing the game and finished with 17 points.

“That’s been our thing the whole year, even at the beginning of the playoffs,” Toppin said. “Everybody got the other team winning every single game. We just go out there and always do what we do,”

Indiana had 18 more turnovers than OKC and 16 fewer field-goal attempts and still managed to win. They’ve shown a level of competitiveness and composure throughout this year’s playoffs that should be synonymous with their identity at this point.

“We stay connected,” Nembhard said. “We’re going to play until the whistle blows. It didn’t feel like we were down 20. I don’t know what the deficit was, but it felt like we were just right there.

“Stuff that’s done in the past is behind us at this point. We had 19 (turnovers) in the first half. Couldn’t get much worse than that.”

That Pacers connection starts off the court. In the locker room before games, each player is involved in their pregame ritual, yet it still feels as if their rituals overlap and affect one another.

Before Thursday’s game, Haliburton sat in front of his locker bobbing his head as a song by Central Cee blared on the Pacers’ Bluetooth speaker. With their first NBA Finals appearance looming, everyone appeared exactly the way they always do — calm yet focused. The way they are on the court.

This latest historic comeback is just who they are. In their incredible comebacks against the Bucks, Cavs, Knicks and Thunder, the Pacers were all but done, with their opponents having better than a 96 percent chance to win those respective games. But when the clock hit 0:00.0, the Pacers were the ones left standing (sometimes on a scorer’s table).

“This group never gives up,” Haliburton said. “We never believe that the game is over until it hits zero, and that’s just the God’s honest truth.

“That’s just the confidence that we have as a group, and I think that’s a big reason why this is going on.”