The Pacers are completely dominating the Cavaliers and are one game away from moving onto the Eastern Conference Finals, but head coach Rick Carlisle is as humble as ever.
Indiana had the largest halftime lead in playoff history before notching a 129-109 Game 4 win, but Carlisle isn’t satisfied.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” Carlisle said Sunday night.
Despite their dominance, the Pacers have been underdogs heading into every game and the coach wants them to keep that mindset.
“We’re going to keep approaching this like we have everything to prove,” Carlisle said. “We know people don’t believe in us — the things about the scores and all that, it’s meaningless. This game is now history. So, we got to stay in the present moment as much as we can try to maintain an edge.”
Indiana’s 129 points tied its most in a game this postseason and Tyrese Haliburton was hyped.
“We just came out with good energy,” Haliburton said. “I thought last game they set the tone from a physicality standpoint. That’s been a talking point from them all series. Today we came out, set the tone from the jump and really just rode that wave.”
Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson gave credit where credit’s due.
“They raised their game to another level, and we didn’t match it,” Atkinson said. “We talked about it. We knew it was coming. You try to prepare for these things. You try to prepare your guys mentally, but for whatever reason they were at another level. Their force was greater in every sense.”
He added, “Complete domination by them,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. “That’s kind of the story. In every facet.”
Game 5 is Tuesday in Cleveland and Carlisle isn’t expecting anything to come easy.
“There’s going to be a big haymaker coming,” Carlisle said. “We respect the heck out of their fans and what they got going there. A lot of work to do.”
