INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton is currently in the midst of the worst slump of his NBA career. He has addressed it numerous times already, but it's been crushing for both Haliburton and the Pacers.
Most of Haliburton's numbers before and after the All-Star break are identical. His scoring is the exception, and it's held down by his poor three-point shooting. The 24-year old has canned just 21.3% of his outside shots since the mid-season stoppage, and that number is a putrid 16.9% in March alone. He can't make a thing.
Haliburton is still passing the ball at his usual rates, and he's been terrific inside the arc. But his outside shot has completely vanished. For the first three seasons of his career — and the first half of the ongoing season — Haliburton was a 40% three-point shooter. But he can't make a jumper from beyond the arc right now.
"It's only a matter of time before things start to go well," Haliburton said after the Pacers practiced on Tuesday. It's the second-straight practice for the team in which the star guard has discussed his poor shooting afterwards.
He mentioned late last week that his threes feel good, and he's still launching roughly the same volume of attempts per game as he has been all season. They just aren't going in. Many of them are slightly short.
It's hurt his effectiveness. Obviously, making shots is better than missing them, but if these inaccurate nights force Haliburton to think even for a split second about taking a shot or changing the way he's playing, it hurts the Pacers. He's doing his best to avoid that and win this battle, which he believes is all mental.
"I think it's me vs me," he said of that battle. That was after he contrasted his current struggles to the only other down stretch he had all season, which came back in December as teams were blitzing Haliburton seemingly every night.
"I feel like that was more of a schematic issue. Just trying to understand how I can be better in my concepts and understanding the correct way to attack blitzes. I felt like that was more schematic breakdowns for me. Whereas now, it's not anything schematic. It's just about making shots," Haiburton said of the difference between the two ruts. He exploded out of that first slump with consecutive historic games. "I feel like I can get to my spots just fine, I'm not making shots... I feel like at that point, it's me vs other players and opposing defenses. Now, I think it's me vs me."
Haliburton isn't sure what brought on his current slump. He isn't doubting his abilities and believes he will bounce back to being a 40% three-point shooter at some point. That's what he's been his entire life leading up to this stretch.
But right now, he isn't, and it has been challenging. He's had to lean on his circle of important people, and he finds those conversations to be important. That group has become smaller in size since Haliburton entered the NBA.
Most share the same message to Haliburton: just have fun. Try to find joy in the game. But he hasn't been able to do that with ease. He loves his life and reality, but it's hard to enjoy the game when he isn't playing well.
"I think it always comes back to the basics of enjoying what I'm doing. Basketball is fun. This life I live is amazing," he said. That perspective will be important for Haliburton going forward.
The last time the All-Star guard shot 40% from deep in a game was against the Detroit Pistons in the Pacers first game coming out of the All-Star break. Tonight, his team takes on the Pistons again. Maybe it will be a full-circle outing.
Maybe it won't be, though. Either way, Haliburton just wants to keep shooting and get through this slump so he, and the Pacers, can get back on track. Their next five games are on the road, and they are fighting for playoff seeding.
"It's gonna balance out. I'm a 40% three-point shooter my whole life," Haliburton said. It's all mental to him, and if he's right, years of data say that this slump will end soon.
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