The Indiana Pacers have a 38-31 record, placing them in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference. The team was able to rally behind their star point guard, Tyrese Haliburton. But that hasn’t been the case in Halburtons past few games as he joins a rare group of players that have had the worst shooting slumps in NBA history.
Advertisement
Tyrese Haliburton does not seem to be the same player that he was before the All-Star break. Haliburton, who was a lethal three-point shooter and floor general, seems to have lost some of his magic on the court.
In the past five games, Tyrese Haliburton has been ice-cold from beyond the arc. Haliburton has only made six three-pointers despite shooting 36 attempts in the last five games the Indiana Pacers have played, as per Extra StatMuse.
With this stat, Tyrese Haliburton went on to join Jordan Poole and Miles Bridges as the only other player to make, at most, 6 threes on 36+ attempts in any 5-game span this season. This brings Haliburton’s three-point percentage to 16.7% for his last five games.
After spending four seasons in the league, Tyrese Haliburton became a first-time All-Star this year. But the way Haliburton has been playing now is far from All-Star level play fans have come to expect from him.
It is speculated that Haliburton has not been the same player since he suffered that hamstring injury during a game against the Boston Celtics. Fans are blaming Haliburton for rushing back onto the court instead of taking proper rest.
Tyrese Haliburton’s game clearly has taken a toll, especially his three-point shooting. The first signs of Haliburton’s struggles from long range came when the team played in a loss to the Toronto Raptors last month and Haliburton shot 16.7% from beyond the arc.
Since then, Haliburton has not been able to connect from long range, having his best shooting night in a win against the Oklahoma City Thunder a few days ago, shooting 33.3% from beyond the arc.
As per StatMuse, Tyrese Haliburton has been shooting 16.9% from the three-point line for March. And it does not seem like Haliburton’s shooting slump is getting over anytime soon. This does become a point of concern for the Pacers with the playoffs right around the corner.
Tyrese Haliburton faces the wrath of NBA Reddit
Tyrese Haliburton’s poor shooting slump was something that was discussed during his appearance on Podcast P with Paul George recently. Not just that but his abysmal shooting has drawn huge reactions from fans on Reddit as well.
One fan commented, “Playing yourself out of all NBA consideration by trying to meet the games played requirement. Sad!”
Another fan commented, “Dude should’ve just sat out another 2 weeks before rushing back the first time, he would’ve missed the same amount of games but could’ve fully recovered. The assists are still there but the scoring efficiency is awful and his defense is worse than ever. This is the life of being a small market team though, your star player basically has you held hostage, he’s calling all the shots.”
One other comment that drew a lot of attention was, “bLaMe ThE 65 GaMe RuLe.”
The comment here refers to the 65-game rule implemented by the NBA to consider players for any type of postseason award. And Tyrese Haliburton rushing back just to make the All-NBA team or to meet other requirements in his contract just to cash in, is receiving a lot of scrutiny from fans.
Here are a few more reactions from fans on Reddit.
“He has zero burst right now and can’t turn the corner on any pick and roll. It’s genuinely irritating that he’s able to call his own shot at the expense of the team. Feels like the franchise is massively overcorrecting from the way PG and Oladipo left .”
“Tanking the team so he could get the All-NBA money, which he might’ve played himself out of. What a gamble.”
Haliburton’s decision to come back early from an injury just to meet the 65-game criteria is now affecting his team. This will eventually end up costing his teammates as well if they do make it to the playoffs, based on how he has been playing lately.
