Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton’s late-game heroics contributed to their massive Game 1 comeback victory over the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Everyone affiliated with the Pacers in that arena celebrated to their heart’s content. Haliburton’s father, John, was a notable absentee, of course.
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John remains banned from the games after the Pacers’ first-round triumph over the Milwaukee Bucks. Haliburton Sr.’s tussle and heated exchange with Giannis Antetokounmpo in Tyrese’s moment of triumph clearly crossed the line and were heavily criticized by many. Understandably, it wasn’t taken lightly by Indiana. They banned him from attending the team’s home and road games for the foreseeable future.
Even though John has already apologized to Giannis for the altercation, his ban has yet to be lifted. And while much has been said about his behaviour, former Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony believes John should receive another chance.
But Anthony wants his view of the game to be from a different seat. “Let him sit in a suite,” he said on his podcast, 7 PM in Brooklyn.
“Because now you’re taking away from the family aspect. Don’t take me away from being there for my son,” added Anthony.
Melo clearly sympathizes with the Haliburtons. But then actions have consequences, and if John did what he did to Giannis to Anthony, his reaction would’ve been significantly different than the Greek Freak.
“The fact that you’re willing to go face-to-face with me means you want problems,” Anthony said. “I would have Hulk-smashed him. I would’ve lifted and handed him to the security.”
After Game 5 of the Pacers-Bucks series, John had walked toward Giannis, waving a towel, seemingly swearing at him. The Greek Freak had termed the action “disrespectful”. However, the Bucks star did not resort to any retaliatory move of his own, other than a quick exchange of words.
Anthony’s co-hosts A’mare Stoudemire and Rudy Gay have the same idea of retaliation as Melo. As far as Haliburton returning to attend Pacers games, Stoudemire wants him back as well, just not this year.
“Next year. You can’t be that close to somebody on the court,” Stoudemire said. Gay, meanwhile, took a different approach and highlighted Tyrese as the main person who should have a say.
“I’m a big advocate of letting the person handle it, so Tyrese got to handle that,” Gay said.
Once the smoke settles, that may be the case, but many people want John back supporting his son. Hall-of-Fame forward Charles Barkley shared a personal plea to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to revoke John’s ban.
“I want to reach out to Adam Silver tomorrow. Me and Draymond were talking, it’s time to let Mr. Haliburton [Tyrese’s father, John] back in the building,” Barkley said.
Of course, the decision to ban John didn’t come from the NBA or Silver. The Pacers exercised their authority over the matter. With a possible NBA Finals appearance on the horizon, it’ll be interesting to see which direction the Pacers take regarding John’s presence at the games.
