The 2024-25 Pacers are among the few teams in NBA history to make a deep playoff run without a designated No. 1 scoring option. They’ve had Aaron Nesmith, Myles Turner, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam take turns playing hero, with each scoring 20 or more in multiple games.
Remarkably, the Pacers have five players averaging at least 14.0 points, and another three giving them over 8.0 through 13 playoff games. They’re the first team since the 1991-92 Blazers to have their starters score 10 or more points in eight different playoff games.
Indiana’s equal-opportunity offense can be a curse, just as much as a blessing. In Sunday’s Game 3, for example, the offense stagnated in the fourth quarter when six players attempted a combined 19 shots, a strategy that may have prevented any of them from catching fire.
During their wins in Games 1 and 2, Nesmith (20 points) and Siakam (13 points) took over down the stretch, with Haliburton pushing the pace. However, most of their shots were within the flow of the offense. There weren’t many instances of either going ISO, a skill set Charles Barkley believes the Pacers need to potentially win an NBA title.
“The Pacers are not going to beat you if they play a half-court game,” Barkley said after Game 3. “Their offense is not that good. They don’t [have players] who can take over. They have to get out and run.”
To Barkley’s point, Siakam, Indiana’s leading scorer, is averaging only 1.8 ISO points in the playoffs, significantly lower than Jalen Brunson (5.6), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (5.5) and Anthony Edwards (5.3).
The aforementioned 1991-92 Blazers made a similar Cinderella playoff run before running into the Bulls in the NBA Finals. Those Blazers, too, had six players averaging double-digit points, but their equal-opportunity offense was ultimately no match for Michael Jordan’s solo greatness.
One wonders if the same fate will befall these Pacers.
If these Pacers go the distance, they’d be bucking a trend and possibly paving the way for more teams to embrace an equal-opportunity offense. The 2003-04 Pistons were the last to capture the NBA title without a superstar scorer, but their superpower was defense.
