“Come out guns blazing” – Rick Carlisle breaks down Pacers’ formula to flip script on OKC Thunder after regular season losses

Rick Carlisle’s Indiana Pacers finished the job against the New York Knicks in their second trip to the Eastern Conference finals in as many years. Now, Indiana is back in the NBA Finals for the first time since the Reggie Miller era.

The Pacers will square off against the league-best OKC Thunder, a team that has looked almost unbeatable from start to finish because of its depth and versatility. Mark Daigneault’s Thunder can outshoot almost every opponent, but they can also thrive in old-school, physical, defensive battles.

With that in mind, Carlisle acknowledged that Indiana would have to be prepared for anything and everything. The Pacers played Oklahoma City twice in the regular season, losing 120-114 on Dec. 26 and falling 132-111 on March 29. Even so, his team will still try to stay true to its fast-paced offense and physical defense.

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"Every single game is different," Carlisle said Monday on 'The Pat McAfee Show.' "We gotta lean into the things that have helped make us successful, which is hard, fast, solid play."

Indiana has shocked the NBA world with back-to-back deep postseason runs, and it should continue to be excellent for as long as Tyrese Haliburton is there.

Nevertheless, Carlisle knows that there are no guarantees in this league, so he wants his players to play like they will never get another chance to win a championship.

"You don't know how often you're gonna get to the NBA Finals," Carlisle said. "We gotta really appraise this opportunity and come out guns blazing."

Pacers' Myles Turner gets real on Tyrese Haliburton's 'overrated' label

Perhaps because of their small-market team label, not many analysts or fans thought the Pacers would make it this far. However, they've been the absolute best team in the Eastern Conference playoffs by a significant margin.

Notably, plenty of that has had to do with Tyrese Haliburton's elite court vision, playmaking and clutch shot-making.

That's why Myles Turner made sure to let everybody know that the "overrated" narrative around him may have been put to rest already.

“He just kept his head down and kept working, man,” Turner told Sports Illustrated. "I think that even going to these playoffs, the whole overrated thing. I mean, obviously, we know that’s dead now. It’s not much you can say now about, but I’m just proud of the way he’s handled everything.”

Haliburton has had multiple buzzer-beaters in the playoffs, and while the Pacers have done an outstanding job of sharing the scoring load, they will go as far as their star point guard can take them.

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About the author

Ernesto Cova

Ernesto Cova is a journalist at Sportskeeda with a PhD in Sports Psychology. His education helped him develop a clearer understanding of the sports world as a whole, including basketball. Ernesto has over eight years of experience in the field, working for Fadeaway World, The Inquisitr, NBA Blast, The Cold Wire and Bolavip, among others.

His favorite team is the Chicago Bulls because of the Michael Jordan era. Jordan is Ernesto's all-time favorite, as he changed the game forever. Ernesto's second favorite was Kobe Bryant because he embodied that same competitive fire and Ernesto watched him play throughout his entire career. Nowadays, Ernesto really likes Stephen Curry, who he believes to be the most influential player of the past 15 years or so.

Ernesto's favorite basketball moment was when Venezuela -- his country -- took down Canada to take home the 2015 FIBA Americas Cup.

When not watching or writing about basketball, Ernesto likes to read and is interested in photography.

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