Iowa State Alum Tyrese Haliburton Receives Strong Message From Notable Analyst

Other than his game-winnig shot in Game 1 that broke the internet, the first two games of the 2025 NBA Finals haven't been great for former Iowa State superstar and current Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton. Against the Oklahoma City Thunder's staunch defense, Haliburton has averaged 15.5 points on 50 percent shooting, 6.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and 1.5 steals in 36.5 minutes per game.

While on paper those seem like great all-around numbers for Haliburton, the Pacers need more from him, just like analysts like Dan Patrick expect NBA superstars to do whenever the pressure is heightened.

"You know when you've graduated to a certain level," Patrick said. "Maybe [it's] stardom [or] when we start to critique you.

"Tyrese Haliburton is getting critiqued now, where during the regular season, nobody said a word about his game outside of Indianapolis. So, he's in The Finals and now everybody has an opinion. Now we've gotten to the point where we go, 'Okay. Let's see what you can do [in] Game 3.'

"[He] didn't look good in Games 1 and 2, [although] he had a big shot in [Game] 1, but in 2, you've got to be more aggressive. There's certain players you've started to have expectations for. Tyrese Haliburton has gotten to that point where there are expectations for him in the NBA Finals."