Eight points in 40 seconds? It wasn't a Reggie Miller magic act, but it was darn close; Pacers beat Bucks and move on to a meeting with the Cavaliers

Except for a post-game dustup involving Tyrese Haliburton's father and Giannis Antetokounmpo, this was a perfect night in Gainbridge.

Before we embark on today’s regularly scheduled Pacers column, a couple of words about Tyrese Haliburton’s excitable father, John, whose post-game interaction with Giannis Antetokounmpo put a small damper on the Pacers’ epic, clinching playoff series victory.

He’s a hell of a guy.

Several years ago, when I was working at The Athletic, I reached out to John for a story I was doing on his son, Tyrese. It was one of those interviews when you simply hoped you had fresh batteries. Ask a question and let him go. He filled up my notebook and gave the impression of a man who deeply loves his son and is enjoying the hell out of his NBA rise. This is a man who had his son watch Magic Johnson tapes as a kid, hoping he would grow up to brandish Magic’s skill set, and damned if he doesn’t, all the way down to that funky jumper.

He's also, well, excitable, and Tuesday night, after weeks of hearing his son was overrated and hearing from his Wisconsin neighbors about the primacy of the Bucks, he lost his mind. He approached the downcast Antetokounmpo at game’s end as he stood near the free-throw line, ran on the floor and waved a huge towel with Tyrese’s likeness on it in his face. Then he added several niceties, according to Antetokounmpo, talking trash in a trash talking series.

It was wrong, cheap, low-class, and he’s lucky Antetokounmpo is a peace-loving soul because he could have drop-kicked John all the way back home to Oshkosh.

“Losing a game, emotions run high,” Antetokounmpo said later. “Having a fan, which, at the moment, I thought he was a fan, and then I realized, it was Tyrese’s dad. I love Tyrese. He’s a great competitor. (John Haliburton) coming on the floor and showing me his son’s towel and saying, `This is what we do. This is what we effing do. This is what the eff we do.’ I feel like that very, very disrespectful…”