The Indiana Pacers found themselves trailing the Milwaukee Bucks by three in the final seconds on Tuesday night in a game that could ultimately determine which team hosts an Eastern Conference playoff series. But the home team had just the play for this particular situation—one that provided a good look at a potential game-tying shot against the Boston Celtics in last year's conference finals but was ultimately unsuccessful.
And this time it worked as well it possibly could with Tyrese Haliburton knocking down a triple and converting a four-point play from the free throw line to give the Pacers a 114–113 victory.
If you’re currently thinking: “have i seen that final Pacers ATO before?”
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 12, 2025
The answer is not only yes, but it was the same exact score.
Today, a different result. pic.twitter.com/u2w3Y8SF6e
Ryan Clark was tasked with diagramming and explaining the clever strategy on Wednesday's Get Up and pointed out several interesting things.
.@Realrclark25 breaks down the football play the Pacers used to free up Tyrese Haliburton for the 4-PT play to win the game vs. the Bucks 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zPptANhmEz
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 12, 2025
Indiana was in a bunch formation and ran something akin to a mesh route in football. Mike Greenberg wondered whether the Pacers should have been called for offensive pass interference but Clark argued that it was a standard rub route. Dan Graziano joked that the New England Patriots had signed Haliburton amid their free agency push. For a few minutes, two sports became one.
This league—sorry—these leagues.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ryan Clark Thoroughly Breaks Down Football Play Pacers Used to Beat Bucks.
