The Pacers were afterthoughts when the postseason began, considered substandard to the Celtics, Cavs and Knicks. On top of that, Haliburton was disrespected by his own peers when he was named the most overrated player in the NBA by an anonymous player poll in The Athletic. But Indy and Hali have proceeded to run through the Eastern Conference with their signature fast pace, deep bench and a seemingly endless supply of late-game heroics.
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The Pacers are now on the doorstep of making their second NBA Finals appearance in franchise history, as they’re up 3-1 on the Knicks. They’ll have a chance to close the series out at Madison Square Garden tonight. If they do, it would match them up with the Thunder, who just finished destroying the Wolves in five games in the Western Conference Finals.
On the most recent episode of The Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green and Baron Davis discussed why Haliburton has had such success. Davis at first questioned why no team seems to put pressure on Haliburton when he has the ball, but Green had an valid explanation.
“I’m telling you,” Green said, “the reason they don’t pressure him like that is Hali’s handle is very underrated and sneaky, and all those boys know, at different points when they try to pressure him, he’ll BAP BAP.” With that, Green made a juke move, before recalling an example of how Haliburton put Mikal Bridges, a great one-on-one defender, in the blender in a recent game.
Whatever defenses have tried, Haliburton has had an answer for, and he’s made history in the process. He’s already hit multiple game-winning shots in these playoffs, but the masterpiece he painted in Game 4 against the Knicks on Tuesday was his best performance yet.
Tyrese Haliburton is only getting better
Haliburton’s final statline of 32 points, 12 rebounds and 15 assists without committing a single turnover has never been done in NBA history in either the regular season or the postseason. For him to do it on the biggest stage and to get his team within one game of the Finals proves he’s not only not overrated but vastly underrated.
Green gave Haliburton high praise by comparing his technique to Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving. “Their ball-handling starts when it appears to you that they’ve lost the basketball, because you think they’ve lost it, and they’ve got it so crazy on the yo-yo, that as soon as you go to reach, you so out of position that there’s no way you can catch up. Hali got some of that, where it’s deceiving.”
Lately, all the sports talk shows have been debating whether or not Haliburton is a superstar, but they’re missing the point. He’s a winner, pure and simple, and what he’s doing right now makes him a Pacers legend no matter what happens the rest of the way.
The NBA may be privately rooting for the big market Knicks to make the Finals, but the prospect of seeing Haliburton go toe-to-toe with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a basketball fan’s dream. The Thunder won 68 games and have been the league’s best team all year, but the Pacers have taken on any and all comers.
Unlike the Thunder, who had to survive a Game 7 against the Nuggets in the second round, the Pacers haven’t been pushed beyond five games yet this postseason, despite having to deal with the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, the top-seeded Cavs and the Knicks, who were fresh off beating the defending champion Celtics.
To see if Haliburton can get the Pacers to their first Finals since 2000, tune in to TNT tonight at 8 p.m. ET.
