When Tyrese Haliburton crumpled to the floor in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, the Pacers lost more than their point guard. He pounded the hardwood, left on crutches and watched Indiana’s championship dream disappear without him.
One season later, that moment still shadows everything the franchise wants to become. Haliburton missed all of 2025-26 while recovering from his torn right Achilles. Indiana crashed to 19-63, and a team built around pace and improvisation spent months searching for someone who could organize the chaos. Blown possessions piled up. Close games became harder to control. Once defenses forced the Pacers into the final seconds of the shot clock, their movement often stopped producing anything useful.
Now Haliburton is back. His return changes everything, but it does not solve everything. Indiana cannot simply hand him the ball with eight seconds left and wait for another miracle.
The bigger question surrounding the Pacers late-game offense is whether they can create the right shot before desperation takes over.
Last season exposed what Haliburton had been covering up
Indiana never abandoned its offensive identity without Haliburton. The Pacers still cut, screened, reversed the ball and tried to turn possessions into races rather than wrestling matches. NBA.com’s tracking data showed Indiana remained among the league’s busiest teams in both ball movement and player movement.
The problem came when all that activity failed to bend the defense. Movement alone does not score. According to NBA.com, Indiana produced the worst shooting results in the Eastern Conference during the final six seconds of the shot clock last season.
The possessions often followed the same pattern. The first action stalled. A defender recovered. The clock slipped under seven seconds. Somebody then had to attack a set defense with no advantage.
By March, the losses had become relentless. Indiana dropped a franchise-record 16 straight games before finally beating Orlando 128-126. That miserable stretch showed why Haliburton matters beyond his box-score numbers. He does not merely finish possessions. He changes them before they reach the danger zone.
Haliburton’s best work happens before the highlight
The memories from Indiana’s 2025 playoff run begin with the endings. Against Cleveland, Haliburton rose from roughly 25 feet and buried the go-ahead three with about a second remaining. Against New York, his desperate jumper struck the rim, kicked high into the air and somehow dropped through to force overtime.
Then came Oklahoma City.
With Game 1 of the NBA Finals slipping away, Haliburton created enough space against Cason Wallace to hit a 21-footer with 0.3 seconds left. Indiana had trailed by 15 in the fourth quarter. That jumper gave the Pacers their first lead of the night.
During that postseason, Haliburton went 4-for-4 on shots in the final two seconds of fourth quarters or overtime that either won the game or forced an extra period. Spectacular? Absolutely. Sustainable? No chance.
Indiana cannot build its late-game offense around expecting its point guard to keep making impossible shots. What made Haliburton dangerous during that run usually happened earlier. He attacked before the defense settled, forced big men into uncomfortable decisions and released passes before help defenders completed their rotations.
Forcing him to isolate against a loaded defense in crunch time wastes that gift. The Pacers need the first screen to create the advantage, not the final jumper.
Zubac brings a different kind of pressure
That first screen will look different now.
Indiana acquired Ivica Zubac from the Clippers in February, sending Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson and draft capital to Los Angeles. Zubac had averaged 14.4 points and 11.0 rebounds through 43 games before the trade.
He gives Haliburton a type of screen setter Indiana has not featured in years. Zubac occupies space violently. He can bury a smaller switch defender near the rim, knock a guard off Haliburton’s hip and roll hard enough to drag weak-side help toward the paint.
Half a step can change everything. If Haliburton turns the corner cleanly, the big defender must make a choice. Stay back and surrender the pull-up. Step forward and expose Zubac at the rim. Once another defender tags the roll, Indiana can attack the second rotation.
A single advantage can become a dunk or an open three within seconds.
The contrast with Myles Turner is striking. Turner spent a decade giving Indiana spacing from the center position. His shooting pulled opposing big men away from the paint and opened driving lanes from the outside. Zubac creates pressure in reverse. He wants defenders closer to the rim, where his body becomes part of the problem.
Rick Carlisle now has to blend that physicality into an offense built around speed. There is almost no useful sample yet.
Zubac played only 118 minutes after joining Indiana and never shared the floor with either Haliburton or Pascal Siakam. Haliburton had already been ruled out for the season. The Siakam absence came from a strange collision of injuries.
A sprained ankle delayed Zubac’s Pacers debut until March 12. Siakam then missed six games with a right knee sprain. Before the two could establish anything together, Zubac fractured a rib after just five Indiana starts and missed the rest of the year.
So Carlisle enters 2026-27 with an experiment, not a finished partnership.
Siakam should attack cracks instead of creating them
Haliburton’s return should make life easier for Siakam too. Without Indiana’s starting point guard, Pascal Siakam carried the heaviest scoring burden and averaged a team-high 24.0 points per game. Defenses knew where the ball was headed, especially after possessions broke down.
Too often, Siakam had to rescue the offense rather than finish it. That cannot be his primary crunch-time role now.
Siakam should not catch the ball with six seconds left and a defender already planted in front of him. He needs touches after Haliburton has shifted the floor. The difference is enormous.
A switch might leave a smaller guard on Siakam’s hip. Zubac’s roll could pull a center toward the restricted area. One late closeout can open a lane before the help arrives. Those are the situations where Siakam becomes brutal.
He can overpower guards on the block, spin away from a second defender or attack the middle before the defense resets. A fading jumper with the clock dying can still save a possession. It should not define one.
For the Pacers late-game offense to improve, Siakam must become the second strike rather than the emergency button.
Nembhard has to punish the trap
Andrew Nembhard may determine whether defenses can simply load everything toward Haliburton. Last season forced Nembhard into a larger creation role. He responded by leading Indiana with 7.7 assists per game.
That experience now matters because opponents know the obvious crunch-time counter against Haliburton. Blitz the high screen. Force the ball out of his hands. Make somebody else solve the possession.
Nembhard cannot catch that release pass and immediately give it back. He has to attack.
One hard dribble into the paint can force the low defender to commit. From there, the floor opens. Zubac can dive toward the rim. Siakam can slide into the gap. A shooter can drift toward the corner. That second decision may matter as much as Haliburton’s first.
Carlisle can also flip the action and let Nembhard initiate while Haliburton moves without the ball. Suddenly, defenders must track Indiana’s best passer through traffic instead of staring him down from twenty-five feet. That wrinkle could save Haliburton’s legs and make the closing offense much harder to predict.
Indiana also added Kelly Oubre Jr., who averaged 14.1 points and 5.0 rebounds for Philadelphia last season while shooting 36 percent from three. His job late will not require fifteen dribbles. Cut behind a defender staring at Haliburton. Attack the closeout. Finish the possession.
Simple actions can keep a possession alive.
Indiana cannot spend another season chasing old magic
The 2025 Pacers developed an almost supernatural relationship with late-game chaos. They erased a seven-point overtime deficit against Milwaukee in barely half a minute. Haliburton silenced Cleveland with his deep winner. Madison Square Garden froze while his tying shot bounced above the rim before finally dropping.
Then came the Finals dagger against Oklahoma City.
Those moments built belief inside the franchise. They can also become a trap.
No serious offense should depend on its point guard making shots that barely exist. The best crunch-time possessions create choices for the defense long before the clock reaches five seconds. Does the big step toward Haliburton? Who tags Zubac? Can Siakam attack the resulting mismatch? Does Nembhard turn the first trap into another advantage?
That is what late-game shot quality really measures. Not whether the difficult shot falls, but whether Indiana needed a difficult shot at all.
The final possessions will reveal what these Pacers are
Haliburton’s return will change the building immediately. The first time he grabs a rebound, races into the frontcourt and throws a pass that only he saw coming, Gainbridge Fieldhouse will feel alive again. After 19 wins, that alone will matter.
The harder examination comes with two minutes left.
Defenses will switch harder. Cutters will get bumped off their paths. Opponents will test Haliburton’s repaired Achilles with repeated changes of direction. Zubac must set useful screens, not merely large ones. Siakam has to recognize mismatches before help arrives. Nembhard must attack the opening created by a trap instead of resetting the possession.
That is why the Pacers late-game offense may tell us more about Indiana than any early-season scoring average. Everyone already knows Haliburton can make outrageous shots. The question is whether this roster can stop demanding them.
Picture the final possession.
Twenty seconds remain. The score is tied. Zubac walks toward Haliburton above the arc while Siakam slides toward the weak side. Nembhard watches the second defender, waiting for his cue.
The building rises.
Indiana will not need another miracle if the first action works.
That may be the clearest sign yet that these Pacers are finally dangerous again.
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FAQs
Why is the Pacers late-game offense so important in 2026-27?
Indiana struggled when possessions slowed last season. Haliburton’s return gives the Pacers their primary creator back, but the new lineup still has to prove it can close.
How many games did the Pacers win in 2025-26?
Indiana finished 19-63 while Haliburton missed the entire season recovering from his torn Achilles.
What does Ivica Zubac add to the Pacers offense?
Zubac brings powerful screens and strong rim pressure. Those skills could give Haliburton more room to attack and create for teammates.
What role will Pascal Siakam have late in games?
Indiana should let Siakam attack defenses after Haliburton creates the first advantage rather than asking him to rescue broken possessions.
How important is Andrew Nembhard to Indiana’s closing offense?
Nembhard gives Indiana another decision-maker when teams trap Haliburton. He led the Pacers with 7.7 assists per game last season.
Tracking stats and settling debates. If there is a scoreboard, I am watching it.
