[People] Carlisle and Halliburton, behind the match between heaven

The Pacers' freedom on the offensive end is derived from the relationship between Carlisle and Halliburton, a friendship that began after the night when Indiana traded Halliburton in February 2022. But its foundation can also be traced back to Carlisle's tenure with the Dallas Mavericks, starting from his first year of taking over the team in 2008-09, when he had friction with Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd and continued until he took on the task of cultivating another emerging superstar, Luca Doncic.

"What I learned in Dallas in the first year was to hand the ball to Kidd and then step aside and let him take control and lead the team," Carlisle said before the finals began. "The situation in Teres is very similar, but it didn't take half a season to figure it out. The same is true in Dallas and Luca."

"When you have a player of that magnitude, that presence, that knowledge, vision and depth, you have to let them do what they should do."

This philosophy has paid off for the Pacers, Halliburton and Carlisle have always been the mastermind behind this Pacers' offensive system. In the playoffs, they scored 116.7 points per 100 rounds, and their fast-paced style and never-giving spirit pushed them out of the East.

At the heart of all this is a head coach who has learned to adapt over the years, willingly handing the reins to a point guard.

Empowering Kidd, the turning point in Carlisle's coaching career

The experience of coaching Kidd can now be regarded as the turning point in Carlisle's coaching career.

When Carlisle first arrived in Dallas, he was known for his desire to control himself. He was known for his conflict with players early in his coaching career, from 2003 to 2007, when he coached Ci Shiping, Stephen Jackson and Jamal Tinsley. The Pacers won 61 wins in the 2003-04 season and reached the Eastern Conference Finals, but they also played cautiously, and Carlisle was called tactics almost every offensive round.

When Carlisle arrived in Dallas a few years later, he tried to do the same, even if Kidd, 35, 9-time All-Star selections, was on the team.

, as you can imagine, the effect is not good.

"It's not easy for him to let go," former NBA defender Jose Baria told ESPN. "But he knew that in order to win, he had to let go. Kidd had a dispute with him, but it was finally settled."

Kidd emphasized that he wanted the offense to be freer and smoother, and insisted that a smart point guard who controlled the rhythm would bring a better sense of rhythm than a coach on the sidelines trying to create a rhythm. Carlisle resisted for more than half a season until mid-2010-11 season, his third year in Dallas coach Kidd, that Carlisle really gave off the offensive power to his point guard. That season, the Mavericks won the championship.

Carlisle allowed Doncic to take over the Mavericks' offensive leadership. This happened when Doncic was still a teenager, on his 2018-19 rookie of the year.

Carlisle and Doncic's personal relationships are often full of twists and turns, but the cooperation between the coach and the point guard has produced outstanding offensive results. In Doncic's second season, the Mavericks set a record of NBA offensive efficiency at that time, averaging 115.9 points per 100 possessions.

Carlisle built an offensive system suitable for Doncic, which is completely different from the one Kidd operates. Carlisle's Mavericks play in the "Solar System" with the ball power dominated by Doncic, emphasizing the opening of space and equipped with a fixed-point shooting threat, while he repeatedly performs pick-and-roll cooperation.

The success of the Walker is that Halliburton runs a system driven by rapid advancement and ball movement.

"A little thing you can say about Rick is that he coaches based on the talent of the players," Harabos Valgaris, who worked for the Mavericks from 2018 to 2021, told ESPN. "His system is to maximize the talent he has. He understands that the game is changing and he has to change, learn, adapt and grow."

"There are not many older coaches with this mentality, especially those who have had success at a young age."

Carlisle's cooperation with the point guard is not always perfect. A few years after Doncic's rookie season, he clashed with Rajon Rondo, who wanted to play more step by step, while Carlisle advocated speeding up the pace, a tense relationship that led to Rondo's tenure in Dallas lasting only 46 games.

"It's not suitable for both of them," Baria said.

Carlisle does not like the Mavericks deal to Rondo, agreeing to the deal only because Dirk Nowitzki wants Rondo, and he believes Rondo is not the kind of talent worthy of controlling the offense, and he does not have such reservations against Doncic or Halliburton.

"When I saw Halliburton playing for Rick, he was free, brother," Barria said. "He looks like he's enjoying the game, he plays great and confidently, and I think Rick has brought Halliburton's confidence to the highest point." The friction in Carlisle's relationship with Doncic - this tension started early in Doncic's rookie season - was a factor in the team's most winning coach's position as Mavericks after the 2020-21 season. Carlisle and Halliburton, on the other hand, have a harmonious relationship, and this senior coach has been deliberately nurturing this relationship.

"The one good thing to see is that Carlisle seems to have a good relationship with the star players or all of the players on the team," Valgaris told ESPN. "And in Dallas, it is obviously not the case, there is some growth here."

A combination of days, Carlisle and Halliburton are working together

When Carlisle resigned from Dallas, the Pacers were wandering, seeking the direction of the team,. They achieved a record of 34 wins and 38 losses in the 2020-21 season, which was the only season under Nate Yorken. When they had the opportunity to hire Carlisle as head coach for the second time, they immediately seized the opportunity. The team is still looking for their own traits, but the veteran coach already has the outline of an ideal player in his mind to build an offense around it.

In fact, as early as 2020, Carlisle had the opportunity to join forces with Halliburton. The Mavericks ranked Halliburton as the number one candidate on the 2020 draft list, which is largely based on Valgaris' analytical model. Sources told ESPN that the Mavericks had peddled their two draft picks to all teams and their then-main/sixth man defender Jaylen Brunson to try to trade up until Halliburton was picked by the Sacramento Kings at the 12th pick.

"We tried our best to get him and trade up, but we just couldn't do it," Carlisle said before the finals began. "I tell you, Mark Cuban tried everything. When Mark made up his mind, he usually figured out a solution."

The Mavericks never found a trading partner, but Carlisle has been watching Halliburton's game from a distance, paying attention to the start of this health-control career.

The veteran coach was hired in Indiana in the 2021-22 season, but his initial roster lacked the kind of guard he felt he could trust, so he regained his old habits.

"Rick's first year here, we had a game he did that, he called us to stop, every attack was called a tactic," said Miles Turner, the longest-time player on the Pacers since 2015. "In this new era of NBA, especially in the playoffs, that kind of approach doesn't work." On February 8, 2022, when the Pacers had a record of 19 wins and 37 losses, they had an opportunity to trade a player who could become the cornerstone of the team. The Sacramento Kings had Daron Fox on the team at that time, hoping to send one of the team's point guards away, so they took action to trade Halliburton to the Pacers for a chip containing Domantas Sabonis. After the deal was finalized, Carlisle immediately began to build a strong relationship with his new core player. On the night after the deal was completed, he arranged a dinner at Prime47 Steakhouse, about a block from Gainbridge Arena in Indianapolis, to have dinner with Halliburton and the Pacers’ two other players - Buddy Hilder and Tristan Thompson. For the remaining 26 games that season, facing a young Pacers who are far from the playoff competition, Carlisle allowed Halliburton to accumulate experience in improvisation and on-the-spot response.

"You see many of the bright spots of the creativity that Tyres has shown, and his ability to create opportunities under very simple systems," Pacers general manager Chard Buchanan told ESPN in a phone interview. “He thrives in an environment with more freedom and less predictability.” As he enters training camp for the 2022-23 season, Carlisle told Halliburton that he doesn’t want to call tactics anymore. Carlisle handed over the offensive dominance to Halliburton, who was only 22 years old at the time, and he remembered seeing the young point guard's eyes lit up.

"I was surprised," Halliburton recalled after Tuesday's training. "Because I know what the arguments surrounding Coach Carlisle are, especially those from point guards." The freedom on the offensive end helped Halliburton get the All-Star for the first time in the following season and averaged a double-double in his NBA career for the first time in the 2022-23 season - a career-high 20.7 points and 10.4 assists per game. Off-field work is equally important, such as teaching Halliburton how to analyze videos. Halliburton admitted that early in his career he only looked at clips of his score and assists, and perhaps a few missed shots. Now he learned how to watch the entire game and find ways to make his teammates better.

"Carlisle is a basketball expert," Halliburton said. "All of this is very important and really took my career to another level." Halliburton pointed out that the growth pain he experienced early in his career at Indiana laid the foundation for his success on the highest stage of the NBA playoffs many years later. But what really made him multiply his confidence on the field was the trust shown by the team's management in him.

"They will have ups and downs," Carlisle said. "They make some mistakes. If they do it based on their understanding of the game, the lessons learned will be more influential." The lessons learned early in their coaching career also paid off. After a difficult early start with Doncic, Carlisle was determined to make a good start immediately with his new superstar.

"Everyone in our league, from players to coaches to executives, we are evolving," Buchanan said. "Rick has evolved like all of us. He understands that Tyres is that player. He has a fun, happy personality that can infect everyone."

"Tyres is the kind of person you can build a team culture around him."

This worked in Indiana. The Pacers returned to the Finals for the first time in 25 years and took it a step further on the basis of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season, creating one of the most successful two-year journeys in team history. And the core of all this is Carlisle and Halliburton, two basketball wise men who respect each other, who jointly create the magic of the playoffs.

Or as Valgaris told ESPN: "Rick, especially at this stage of his career, looks like a match made in heaven with Halliburton."

(text/Kong Yang)

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