Coach Rick Carlisle calls Madison Square Garden the toughest arena to play in the NBA

For a moment, the Pacers squad felt like they were entering the lion’s den as they headed into Madison Square Garden’s court to play Game 7 of the semifinal series against the Knicks. However, they not only conquered this iconic venue this past Sunday, but they did it in historic fashion.

Their coach Rick Carlisle was the first to admit that this arena in Manhattan is the toughest to play in the league. This weekend he learned first-hand just how complicated it is to earn a victory surrounded by New York’s roaring fans.

“When you win a Game 7 in Madison Square Garden, you’ve made history,” the Indiana tactician said after the match. “It’s very, very difficult to do. This is the most raucous crowd in the NBA.”

“You win a Game 7 in Madison Square Garden, you’ve made history.”

Coach Rick Carlisle and Lloyd Pierce gave an encouraging message to their players after advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/FB43KEQyqV

— NBA (@NBA) May 20, 2024

This has been a historic campaign for the Pacers already, as the team complied one of the best offensive regular seasons in league history. However, it seemed they were only warming up for the playoffs, as they set a new record in Game 7 of their semifinal series win against the Knicks.

The Indiana club reached a new NBA postseason mark by shooting 67.1% from the field in Sunday’s 130-109 victory. Now, the team has advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 10 years and will face none other than the Celtics.

“We have a historic offense obviously, but this guy got things rolling and everybody kind of just followed suit,” Myles Turner said while pointing at his teammate Tyrese Haliburton, who scored 26 last night.

The team’s starting center still couldn’t believe what they had achieved. “To do that on the road here in the Garden in Game 7 obviously is phenomenal, but I think this is what we’ve been doing all season long and we were able to show it on the biggest stage,” he expressed.

Tyrese Haliburton said that Indiana proved you can play this fast in the playoffs and praised team’s game style

All-Star Tyrese Haliburton explained why his squad’s playing style is changing the way other teams see the playoffs. “I think it’s just the old-school way of thinking that you can’t play this fast in the playoffs, but I think opportunistically you can do it. I think if we’re able to get stops, of course we can,” he said postgame on Sunday.

Indiana averaged the sixth highest point average in regular season history with 123.3 points, and then set a new NBA record by producing a total of eleven 140+ point matches. “I just told our team when you win a Game 7 in Madison Square Garden, you’ve made history,” coach Rick Carlisle insisted.

His squad dropped in 29 of their 38 shots in the first half, producing an outstanding average of 76.3%, which has the playoff’s highest since 1997. Rival Donte DiVincenzo hit 9 three-pointers and scored 39 for New York, but simply wasn’t enough against the Indiana powerhouse.

“There’s only so much you can overcome,” said the former Warriors guard. “But you can start from every single guy in this locker room, honestly, we’ll be here all day talking about each one of them, the way the guys stepped up this year, even in the playoffs … It’s not easy to do.”