“I’ve never watched film after a game before in my 15 years of coaching.” That was Rick Carlisle back in 2016, right after a humiliating 31-point home loss to Sacramento while coaching the Dallas Mavericks. But that night flipped a switch. He summoned his players and coaches to the locker room to watch tape of the 3rd quarter. Since then, Coach Carlisle has leaned into film as his compass—his obsession. And that one addiction may now be the Indiana Pacers’ greatest asset heading into Game 6.

Became Game 5? It was a mess!

“There were a multitude of things that were going wrong, and there were time, there were stretches during the game where we got a little bit of traction, but never enough,” said Rick Carlisle, when recalling the disappointment that was Game 5 of the Pacers-Knicks series. Having won 3 of the previous 4 games, the squad had the chance to lock the series down and head to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000! Instead, Jalen Brunson & Co. stayed alive, and the momentum tilted dangerously. But remember Carlisle’s obsession and the team’s greatest asset?

Yup, that, according to Tyrese Haliburton, is the plan for Game 6. “I think the great part about this group is, you know, and our staff is, everybody’s, you know, addicted to film study and figuring out where we get better. And Coach Carlisle is a savant at that stuff,” Haliburton revealed. “So, after a game like that, I know he’s going to be all over the film. I’m going to be all over the film. We’ll be talking a lot tomorrow, you know, us as a group, we’ll all be talking, seeing where we can get better and, you know, we’ll look at it all as a group and see where we can get better and you know, improve for game six.” 

This isn’t fluff. Rick Carlisle’s track record with film goes deep. A May 2025 report by ‘Indystar’ covered how Rick Carlisle’s evolution transformed the Indiana Pacers‘ offense into a force. Tyrese Haliburton called it a mix of ‘trial and error’. A crucial part of that was, as the star player revealed, that “We all watch a lot of film, talk a lot about what we’re seeing in today’s game and things we can implement into what we do offensively”. After the Knicks stole Game 3, Carlisle dove into the tape and made tactical shifts that led to a 130-121 Game 4 victory. That night, Haliburton dropped a triple-double: 32 points, 15 assists, and 12 rebounds.

In another recent discussion on ‘Move it Back’, Chandler Parsons revealed, “Don’t forget, Carlo (Rick Carlisle) had Brunson in Dallas, he knows his game about as good as anybody in the league. Obviously, there’s a film and a bunch of things you can watch of him, but he knows what to take away”.

Clearly, all the past experiences of watching rival players have played an important part in getting the Indiana Pacers where they are today. With any luck, Tyrese Haliburton took a leaf out of his coach’s book. After all, until a few months ago, game film was the star player’s priority, but only one part of it.

Tyrese Haliburton revealed focusing more on defensive film during regular season: “got a long way to go on the defensive ball”

Back in February, Tyrese Haliburton was facing quite a lot of criticism over his performances. Everyone from Kendrick Perkins and Shaquille O’Neal was on his case. However, with the Pacers looking to consolidate their position as a top-four seed in the East, the point guard started working on his form. After a discussion with Rick Carlisle, both the coach and the player reached the same conclusion that the player needed to work on his defense. This led to Haliburton taking a bold step.

After the Pacers’ 111-91 win over the Toronto Raptors in February, Tyrese Haliburton revealed that “Me and coach don’t really watch offensive film together anymore, it’s more defensive stuff”. He further added, “He’s (Rick Carlisle’s) always on me about being more solid, being in the right places. And he knows I have instincts, and, you know, I tend to gamble from time to time. But, you know, he’s just been on me about, you know, gambling within the system”.

Focusing on defense certainly was the important thing to do in February. However, the need now is to focus more on offense. After all, the outcome of Game 5 could have been different had Tyrese Haliburton not made 8 points through 2-7 (28.6%) field goals, 0-2 (0.0%) 3-pointers, and 4-5 (80.0%) free throws. And it rightly raises concerns about locker room panic, as well.

During the post-game presser, one reporter reminded Tyrese Haliburton that the Indiana Pacers had not lost back-to-back games since March. That can change in the next game. But the star player described his team as a resilient group who always wanted to respond when things don’t go well. Therefore, even after the loss, Haliburton could manage to state, “We’re fine. There’s no need to panic or anything. You know it’s a tough loss. You know, we really, you know, we got it to 10 a couple times. We cut it down, and we just weren’t able to, you know, get over that hump to get, you know, enough stops to get back in the game. So, yeah, there’s definitely room for us to improve”.

Therefore, for Game 6, not only does Haliburton need to watch game film, he needs to watch the correct things in there. After all, as he himself revealed in the presser, “As a group I feel like we approached the day the right way. But I feel like I could have been a lot better. So, you know, put it on me and, you know, I’ll be better in game six”. And of course, they have a game film “savant” and secret weapon in Rick Carlisle. Because as things stand, tape is therapy. And this time, survival depends on it.