Tyrese Haliburton Sends High Praise to Pacers Teammate After Game 1 Win

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Toran Flores | Last updated May 5, 2025 2:36 PM ET

The Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers opened their second-round matchup Sunday night.

After a back-and-forth second half, the Pacers held off a Cavs' comeback to take Game 1 in Cleveland, stealing home-court advantage to start the series.

Indiana is continuing to look like the same team that was able to push through into the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024 before getting beaten by the reigning champion Boston Celtics.

Tyrese Haliburton explains Andrew Nembhard's importance to the team

In a game that saw six different Pacers reach double-digit scoring outings, guard Andrew Nembhard was able to lead the Pacers in scoring with 23 points.

Tyrese Haliburton had a game-high 13 assists while also contributing 22 points.

Haliburton praised Nembhard's ability to reach another gear in the postseason, saying, "Come playoff time, he's unbelievable... His lock-in level is unbelievable right now."

Andrew Nembhard through 6 postseason games is shooting 57.1% from behind the arc.

Tyrese said it best… “his lock-in level is unbelievable right now.”pic.twitter.com/PdyB8pcONS
— NBA (@NBA) May 5, 2025

Andrew Nembhard definitely reaches another gear once the postseason hits.

Especially this postseason – Nembhard is averaging 16.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 steals through six games in the playoffs.

This is a huge jump from his play in the regular season, where he averaged 10.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 steals.

His ability to excel in the playoffs is a lot similar to what we saw out of him in 2024 when Tyrese Haliburton played in just six games while dealing with a hamstring injury.

Indiana is looking a lot more threatening this season as they are a lot healthier and have gained even more experience in knowing what's needed to win playoff games.

Although many analysts and fans didn't see the Pacers as a real threat to the higher-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, it's beginning to look like Indiana is a real threat.

Indiana will play another game on the road on Tuesday night against Cleveland before heading to Indiana to host the Cavs for Games 3 and 4.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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