On Tuesday night, the Pacers showed it’s possible for the NFL and NBA to intersect at a high level. Indiana ran a football-like route to free Tyrese Haliburton for the game-winning four-point play against the Bucks. The innovative play left Super Bowl LXIII champion Ryan Clark utterly impressed.
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Ahead of Indiana’s final game possession, they lined up similar to an NFL team at the line of scrimmage. The Pacers were down three points and had only 3.9 seconds to get a shot off. Head coach Rick Carlisle’s brilliant strategy gave Haliburton substantial space for his clutch shot.
The play didn’t follow the exact intricacies of a football route but was effective. Clark took to ESPN’s Get Up to provide basketball fans with an in-depth look from the perspective of an NFL analyst.
“They’re going to make a mesh route,” Clark said. “This is the exact same thing you see guys like Xavier Worthy do for the Kansas City Chiefs.”
.@Realrclark25 breaks down the football play the Pacers used to free up Tyrese Haliburton for the 4-PT play to win the game vs. the Bucks pic.twitter.com/zPptANhmEz
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 12, 2025
Haliburton’s outstanding passing ability is comparable to an NFL quarterback. But with this play, he displayed his versatility by running a route designed for a wide receiver.
Clark called the play a mesh route, which is when two receivers cross paths to confuse the defense. Here, Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith and Haliburton cleanly crossed paths, which made Taurean Prince lose the Pacers star. The rest is history, as Haliburton hit the massive clutch shot.
Clark gave the Pacers their well-deserved flowers for executing such an amazing play. However, it isn’t the first time Indiana has taken a page out of the NFL book.
The Pacers ran a similar route in the playoffs
It seems Rick Carlisle is a big football fan because this isn’t the first time he has made his team run a route for a play. In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics, Carlisle drew up something similar.
Did the Pacers just run Four Verts pic.twitter.com/RlyDZnq4A7
— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) May 26, 2024
Indiana ran a “four verts.” This design is meant to get the ball downfield fairly quickly. Indiana started in the backcourt and ran the play to perfection. Nesmith got a good look at a three to send the game to overtime but, unfortunately, missed.
The Pacers’ willingness to take from different sports shows a step toward revolutionizing the limits of basketball. This likely won’t be the last time the Pacers perform a play like this in an NBA game.
