Discussion | From Kidd and Doncic to Halliburton: How Carlisle s coaching style evolved

(The original article was published on June 12, and the author is Jamal Collier and Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The content of the article does not represent the views of the translator and the platform)

With 22.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter of the first NBA Finals, Halliburton's winning path has been paved after a replay review.

Pacers are waiting for the challenge results of coach Carlisle, who hopes the referee will reconfirm whether Siakam was fouled or touched the ball before he was out of bounds.

At a critical moment when the Indiana Pacers were one point behind, Carlisle wanted to make sure his team was ready for any results. If the challenge is successful, the Pacers will get the ball; if it fails, he instructs the players to defend with all their might and strive to prevent the opponent from scoring without foul. Since the Thunder had finished the last attack, there were about eight seconds left before the final whistle sounding, Carlisle's message was very clear: there would be no chance of a timeout. Grab the rebound and attack immediately.

Carlisle said after the game that night: "Leave the ball to Halliburton and let him create an offensive opportunity."

First, the Pacers successfully defended a wave - which was not easy to face the league's current MVP Shay Gilgers Alexander. However, he missed a 15-foot backward jump shot under Nembhard's tight defense. Nesmith grabbed a difficult rebound with Dortmund's interference, and then a group of players flocked to the paint area. Nesmith quickly passed the ball to Siakam, who passed the ball to Toppin, who passed it to Halliburton, who got the ball six seconds before the midfield line.

Alexander missed the key goal, and the next one was one of the most critical shots in NBA Finals history. Halliburton dribbled along the Pacers' sideline and made a fake move before he went back into the three-point line and jumped to the winning goal - hitting a 21-foot jump shot with just 0.3 seconds left to help the Pacers successfully steal the first series victory in Oklahoma City.

At that critical moment, it seems not difficult for Carl Lair to choose to trust Halliburton, especially when the rising Pacers star has hit key balls many times in the playoffs at critical moments - G1 is his fourth last-minute goal in this playoffs to score a winning or equalizer. However, this trust is the result of years of cultivation. The Pacers' offensive freedom stems from the relationship between Carlisle and Halliburton, which began the night when Halliburton was traded to Indiana in February 2022. However, this foundation can also be traced back to Carlisle's coaching of the Dallas Mavericks. From the 2008-09 season he clashed with Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd, to the later coaching of another rising superstar, Luca Doncic.

Carlisle said before the NBA Finals: "What I learned in my first year at the Dallas Mavericks was to hand the ball to Kidd, then get out of the way, let him control the game, and let him lead the team." The situation for Halliburton is very similar, except that he didn't take half a season to adapt. The same is true for Luca in Dallas.

"When you have such a big player on your ranks and have such influence, knowledge, vision and depth, you have to let them play as much as you want," Carlisle continued. The concept of

has paid off for the walkers. They won the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 at home in the game Thursday morning to gain a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.

The Pacers offensive system jointly created by Halliburton and Carlisle has scored 116.7 points per 100 rounds in the playoffs. They led the team to an incredible playoff journey in the Eastern Conference with a fast-paced game style and a reversal spirit.

Behind this is an experienced and adaptable coach who handed over command to the point guard who gave him confidence.

"When he (Carlisle) nodded his agreement, that was the greatest respect for me," Halliburton said after training on Wednesday. "That was the greatest trust I had from anyone because he had a very smart basketball mind. He worked with many great defenders and players. The confidence he gave me really took my career to another level." The rise of Kidd was a turning point after many frictions between the coach and the point guard, which could be seen as an important turning point in Carlisle's career. When Carlisle first arrived in Dallas, he was known for his desire to control himself. During his first coaching of the Indiana Pacers from 2003 to 2007, he had many conflicts with the players, when he coached Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jamal Tinsley. The Pacers won 61 games in the 2003-04 season and reached the Eastern Conference Finals, but their game style is very rigorous, with Carlisle personally directing almost every attack.

When Carlisle arrived in Dallas a few years ago, he tried to do the same, even with the 35-year-old, nine-time All-Star on the team. But this attempt did not go smoothly. "It's not easy for Carlisle to let go," former NBA defender JJ Barrea said in an interview with ESPN. Barrea played for the Mavericks from 2006 to 2011 and from 2014 to 2020. "He needs to let go a little bit more. But he knows he has to do it in order to win. Kidd had a dispute with him, but it ended up succeeding."

Kidd emphasized that he wanted a smoother offense, pointing out that an experienced point guard can do better than a coach trying to create rhythm on the sidelines.. Carlisle has been reserved for more than half a season. It wasn't until the mid-2010-11 season, his third year in Dallas coaching Kidd, that Carlisle really gave command to his point guard. That season, the Mavericks won the championship.

In contrast, Carlisle gave the Mavericks' offensive command to Doncic without waiting too long. This happened in the 2018-19 season, when Doncic was a teenager who was competing for the rookie of the year.

Although Carlisle's personal relationship with Doncic is often tense, the cooperation between the coach and the point guard has achieved outstanding results on the offensive end. In Doncic's second season, the Mavericks set the NBA offensive efficiency record at that time with an average score of 115.9 points per 100 possessions.

Carlisle tailored an offensive system for Doncic, which is completely different from the one Kidd operates. Under Carlisle's leadership, the Mavericks built an offensive model around Doncic, emphasizing space and fixed-point shooting threats, allowing him to continuously cooperate with pick-and-roll.

, and the Pacers succeeded in promoting a system of fast offense and no-ball movement through Halliburton.

"Caril is good at coaching based on the talent of the players," Harabaros Vogris, who served as Director of Quantitative Research and Development of the Mavericks from 2018 to 2021, said in an interview with ESPN. "His system always maximizes the use of his players. He understands that the game is changing and he has to keep learning, adapting and growing. Few older coaches can think like this, especially those who have been successful at a young age."

Carlisle's record in point guards is not always perfect. He had clashed with Rajon Rondo in a few years after Doncic's rookie season. Rondo wants to play at a slower pace, while Carlisle advocates speeding up. This discordant relationship led to Rondo's ending in Dallas after only 46 games.

"This is not a good choice for both sides," Baria said.

Carlisle was not interested in the Mavericks' deal, but only agreed because Nowitzki hoped that. He doesn't think Rondo is the kind of talented player worthy of control of the offense. However, he had no such concerns about Doncic and Halliburton.

"When I saw Halliburton playing for Carlisle, he seemed very free," Barrea said. "He looked very comfortable on the court and enjoyed the game. He had a good pace and was confident. I think Carlisle brought Halliburton's confidence to the highest point." The friction between Carlisle and Doncic began with Doncic's rookie season, which is one of the reasons why the most successful coach in team history eventually resigned from his position as Mavericks after the 2020-21 season. In contrast, Carlisle and Halliburton have established a harmonious relationship, and the old coach has put in a lot of effort.

Vogris said in an interview with ESPN: "It's a relief that Carl Lille seems to have a good relationship with the star players or all of the players on the team. And in Dallas, this is obviously not the case. It shows that he's growing in this regard."

However, when Carl Lille left Dallas, the Pacers were in a state of lingering and looking for the direction of the team. In the 2020-21 season, under the leadership of coach Nate Bjork Glenn, they only achieved a record of 34 wins and 38 losses. When they had the opportunity to hire Carlisle again as head coach, they took the opportunity without hesitation. Although the team is still looking for their position, the experienced coach already has the ideal player to build an offensive system. The Dallas Mavericks have tried their best to win Halliburton in the 2020 draft, which is mainly based on Vogellis' analytical model. According to ESPN, the Mavericks have tried to make deals with all teams with their 18th and 31st picks and sometimes starting and sometimes sixth guard Jaylen Brunson, in order to get Halliburton before he was picked by the Sacramento Kings at the 12th pick.

"We tried our best to win him and improve the draft pick, but we didn't succeed in the end," Carlisle said before the finals began. "I tell you, Mark Cuban tried everything. When Cuban was determined to do something, he usually found a solution."

Although the Mavericks failed to sign Halliburton, Carlisle has always praised the young point guard's performance.

In the 2021-22 season, Carlisle joined the Indiana Pacers, but he found that the lineup was lacking in his trusted defender player, so he returned to his familiar coaching style.

Pacers center Miles Turner recalled that in Carlisle's first year coaching, he had a game called timeout and tactics every round. As the most senior player who has been playing for the team since 2015, Turner said: "In today's NBA, especially in the playoffs, this approach no longer works." On February 8, 2022, the Indiana Pacers had a record of 19 wins and 37 losses. At that time they had the opportunity to get a player who could become the team's signature. The Sacramento Kings hope to deal with a point guard because then there was Fox in their roster. Eventually, the Kings decided to trade Halliburton to the Pacers in exchange for a trading package, including Sabonis Jr. After the transaction was completed, Carlisle immediately set out to establish a strong relationship with the new core. He arranged for dinner with Halliburton and two other new players, Hilder and Tristan Thompson, the night after the deal, at the Prime 47 Steakhouse in Indianapolis, just one block from Gainbridge Stadium (the Pacers’ home court). In the remaining 26 games that season, Carlisle gave Halliburton the chance to improvise and accumulate game experience, despite the young Pacers already missing the playoffs. "You see a lot of creativity that Halliburton shows, and he can create opportunities under a very basic tactical structure. He performed particularly well with more freedom and less predictability," said Chard Buchanan, general manager of the Pacers in a telephone interview with ESPN.

At the beginning of training camp for the 2022-23 season, Carlisle told Halliburton that he no longer wanted to direct the offense in person. At that time, Carlisle handed over the team's offensive power to Halliburton, who was only 22 years old. Halliburton recalled that his eyes lit up at the time.

"I was surprised," Halliburton recalled after training on Wednesday, "because I knew the comments about Carlisle, especially from point guards." Halliburton praised Carlisle for helping her career climb again, not only gaining more freedom on the offensive end, Halliburton was selected for the first time in the following season, and achieved a double-double average for the first time in the 2022-23 season, contributing a career-high 20.7 points and 10.4 assists.

At the same time, off-field work also played an important role, such as Carlisle taught him how to analyze game videos. Halliburton admitted that at the beginning of his career, he only looked at his score and assist clips, occasionally looking at the shots he missed. And now, he has learned to watch the whole game and find ways to make his teammates better.

"Carlisle is a basketball genius," Halliburton said. "These are all very important and really took my career to another level."

Halliburton saw the pain I experienced in Indiana early in his career as an important factor in his success in the NBA playoffs later. But what really made him multiply his confidence on the court was the team’s trust in him.

"They will have ups and downs," Carlisle said. "They make some mistakes. But if these mistakes are based on their understanding of the game, the lessons learned from them will be more valuable." The experience Carlisle learned early in his career also paid off. After his early days with Doncic did not go well, Carlisle was determined to establish a good relationship with the Rising Star from the very beginning.

"Everyone in our league, whether it's a player, a coach or a senior executive, is constantly evolving," Buchanan said. "Carlisle is also improving, just like all of us. He understands that Halliburton is that kind of person. He has an optimistic and cheerful personality, which has infected everyone.

" Halliburton is the kind of player who can build a team culture around him. ”

This has been verified in Indiana. The Pacers entered the Finals again after 25 years, continuing their performance in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, one of the most successful two years in the team’s history. And the core of all this is Carlisle and Halliburton, two mutually respected basketball minds, who jointly created the playoff miracle.

As Vogris said to ESPN: "At this stage of his career, especially his cooperation with Halliburton, it seems to be a perfect combination. ”

Original text: Jamal Collier and Tim MacMahon

Compiled: selu