Rick Carlisle Makes Bold Claim About Pacers

Jun 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle talks with referee Josh Tiven after a call following a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second half of game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The Indiana Pacers have taken the NBA by unexpected storm across the past two postseasons.

Riding an aggressive pace-and-space attack combined with a surprisingly egalitarian offense, Indiana has made two consecutive Eastern Conference Finals and came within a Tyrese Haliburton Achilles tear of besting the heavily-favored Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of this June's NBA Finals.

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Now, Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle has unpacked just how influential the team's attack really is.

Carlisle has made a bold claim about just how innovative his team's approach has been to the game, during an enlightening and wonderfully granular new conversation with Basketball, She Wrote's Caitlin Cooper.

"We're playing a system now that's changing the game somewhat," Carlisle said. "You look around the NBA, two or three years ago, nobody was picking up full court during the regular season or doing that kind of stuff. I mean, this was unheard of but we got into a situation where we knew going into the playoffs last year that for us to maintain pace and tempo, we were going to have to do something to create that leverage."

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Indiana's fast-tempo offense was the element of its game that drew the most headlines. The Pacers' pace factor (an estimate of the number of possessions per 48 minutes by a team) last year, 99.9, ranked seventh league-wide. They also logged a 116.5 offensive rating, good for the ninth-best in the NBA.

But Carlisle highlights how the Pacers' mileage wore out opponents on the other end, too, citing Indiana's investment in playing full court pressure defense.

"The answer was simply, it was going to be full court pressure, physicality, persistence. That was just how we're going to have to do business," Carlisle said. "So, we're looking for pieces that fit the system."

That system will look fairly different now, with two-time All-NBA Third Team point guard Haliburton out for the year due to an Achilles tendon tear. Former starting shooting guard Andrew Nembhard will slot in to the Pacers' starting point guard opening, leaving a vacancy at the two-guard spot.

Former 3-and-D center Myles Turner, whose athleticism made him a great fit on either end for Carlisle's system, abandoned the team in free agency for the loathed Milwaukee Bucks. The team has a few options to replace him, from returning big men Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman to new addition Jay Huff. Jackson may be the most athletic, and thus the most natural system fit.

For more news and notes on the Indiana Pacers, visit Indiana Pacers on SI.