It seems as though every time the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers meet, something overly dramatic occurs. Whether it’s a feud over the rights to a game ball or an NBA Cup upset, these teams have stumbled into one of the more fun rivalries in basketball. Tuesday was yet another stunner. But this time, it was purely a basketball matter.
With 6.1 seconds to go and the Bucks leading 112-110, Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard was fouled with a chance to tie the game. He split his free throws, though, putting Milwaukee in the driver’s seat up 112-111. Damian Lillard then calmly sank two free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining to extend the lead to three, meaning Milwaukee’s worst-case scenario, barring something catastrophic, was overtime.
And then something catastrophic happened.
With 3.2 seconds left, Indiana lined up for an unorthodox inbounds play. All four possible pass recipients lined up in the backcourt, with three in a parallel line. The entire design, which Indiana first used in an Eastern Conference finals game against Boston a year ago, was meant to generate enough confusion to free Tyrese Haliburton on the move. That’s exactly what happened.
Haliburton caught the inbound pass and chucked up a 3-pointer as a desperate Giannis Antetokounmpo scampered into him and committed a foul. Haliburton hit the 3 and sank the free throw to give the Pacers an improbable four-point play and a one-point lead. Antetokounmpo missed a triple on the other end. Game over.
The shot was incredible in a vacuum, but it also carried significant playoff implications. Indiana and Milwaukee are now tied with identical 36-28 records. The Detroit Pistons have played two more games than both and split them, putting them at 37-29 and all three teams effectively tied for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. It is entirely possible that this shot winds up swinging home-court advantage in a first-round series between the Pacers and Bucks, or changing who winds up facing who when the first round arrives.
Regardless of how the standings look in a month, this was one of the craziest shots of the 2024-25 season. Game-winning four-point plays are extremely rare. Defenses know that the single most important thing in defending an end-of-game situation while leading by three is not to foul. But Indiana was able to scheme their way to the line, and Haliburton’s incredible shot-making was enough to steal the game.
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