Stephen A Smith Shades Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton Before ECF

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Bringing down Haliburton has weirdly become a common theme of this postseason, as it wasn't too long ago that the NBA players anonymously voted Haliburton as the most overrated player in the league.

He took that heart, dominating against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and telling everyone else to "overrate that."

It seems Smith didn't learn anything from that ordeal, and has decided to talk about how Brunson is clearly a superstar while Haliburton is not.

Brunson has clearly proven to be a top scoring option the past few playoff runs for the Knicks, but Haliburton is coming into his own as well and deserves more respect.

Smith is trying to toe the line by saying he doesn't think Haliburton is overrated, but he is also implying in this clip that Brunson is a much better player than Haliburton.

This is yet another clip for Haliburton and the Pacers to use as motivation, even if it could be considered a stretch.

As is par for the course, the Pacers are considered a deep team, but are often picked against to win because, "they don't have the best player in the series."

In both this year's playoff run and last year's playoff run, that hasn't mattered, because despite that, they still have plenty of elite players. Both Haliburton and Pascal Siakam are capable of playing like the best player in this series.

This type of coverage for Brunson and the Knicks compared to Haliburton and the Pacers isn't too surprising given the difference in markets.

The Knicks play in New York at Madison Square Garden, arguably the biggest market in the NBA. They are naturally going to draw more attention from sports media.

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The Pacers playing in Indiana are arguably one of the smallest markets in the NBA, so they are naturally more overlooked. That difference in mindsets could play a huge role in this series.

Both teams have seemingly played better when viewed as underdogs, so it will be interesting to see how they play against each other. Entering the series, the Knicks are the favorites given they have home-court advantage, which could turn into an advantage for the Pacers as the series progresses.

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For more news and notes on the Indiana Pacers, visit Indiana Pacers on SI.