The Pacers' come-from-behind win against the Nets on Friday was their seventh this season in which they have trailed by at least 10 points.
The game starts and they take a few minutes to find their footing. The Pacers find that either their shots aren't getting kind rolls or their opponents are finding it just a little too easy for their offense to operate. The gap in score widens to double figures and beyond, and before halftime there's a significant hole they need to dig out of.
But the Pacers chipped away and chipped away because they've been behind too many times to be afraid of that anymore; when the fourth quarter arrived they were down by just six. And then they started the fourth with an 11-2 blitz that turned into a 20-4 run. It didn't matter that Durant went nuclear and scored 20 of his 36 in the fourth quarter because the Pacers built a big cushion in a small window and grabbed an improbable 128-117 win.
Thanks to those comeback wins, the Pacers head into a seven-game, 11-day West Coast road trip that begins Sunday in Los Angeles against the Clippers standing alone in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, just a half-game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for third. But the Pacers' ability to stay together and find a way to win games that they trail speaks to a quality of chemistry that is uncommon in a professional locker room, particularly one that was the 10th youngest in the league when the season started with an average age of just over 25 years old. The Pacers haven't yet sniffed postseason play together but they've swiftly developed collective faith in themselves and their teammates.
On the floor, he keeps everyone engaged, rewarding big men who run the floor, finding open shooters in corners, putting rookie sensation Bennedict Mathurin in position to go off and also finding ways to get himself enough opportunities to average 19.1 points per game himself.
"It's just our vibe," said James Johnson, a 35-year-old, 14th-year veteran playing with his 10th NBA team who Carlisle constantly praises for his veteran presence."We're not fake-liking each other. I really think that we respect each other's work ethic, honestly. We understand how hard we all go and what it took for us to get here. ... And we're vulnerable enough to tell someone else when they're wrong and we hold each other accountable.
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