OKC Thunder Discuss Defending Pacers Star Tyrese Haliburton

The Oklahoma City Thunder are matching up with the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals as each team is seeking its first NBA Championship in franchise history.

There are plenty of interesting storylines to follow along with as one of the best offenses in the sport clashes with a historically great defense.

The OKC Thunder have spent the entire postseason taking away the top options from its counterparts en route to the NBA Finals, containing the likes of Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards as best as humanly possible to earn massive series wins.

In the NBA Finals, the Pacers will have a star in Tyrese Haliburton that presents a unique matchup with his scoring ability and jaw-dropping dimes he can dump off at the rim or whip out to shooters in the corners to punish and overzealous defense.

At practice on Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder were peppered with questions about containing Haliburton, the head of the snake for Indiana's offensive attack.

“Yeah, he’s a great player. He stirs the drink. He’s got an unbelievable ability to score. Which I think creates a lot of the passing. You think back to guys like Nash was like that. The passing is what you think about, but the threat of scoring is what creates those advantages and opens up the passing,” Head Coach Mark Daigneault said. "Haliburton can really score. He can shoot 3s, he can score in the pick-and-roll game, he is a constant threat and the minute you commit yourself to him, he leverages that threat to throw the ball early to his teammates and put guys in advantages...[Haliburton's] Someone who enhances the guys he plays with."

The scoring threat from the Pacers' star can be overlooked at times, but not by the Oklahoma City Thunder –- who understand how dangerous Haliburton is at all three levels.

“He can score at all three levels, he's a good player. Can’t relax. Just go out there and make life difficult for him as best as possible,” Defensive-ace Cason Wallace explained.

Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams praised Haliburton's confidence level when discussing the ways that the Pacers star can impact the game. That confidence can grow throughout the game as he gets into a playmaking zone, which oftentimes is led by his ability to score, as Daigneault pointed out.

This will be an interesting chess match for the series. Will the Thunder continue to apply heavy pressure to Haliburton and swarm the ball as much as they typically do with his quick decision-making and connective passing of his teammates to generate open triples against a team that typically concedes corner 3-point looks?

How the Oklahoma City Thunder cover Haliburton will go a long way in deciding the series.