Tyrese Haliburton follows up career-best performance with a clunker

Unfortunately for Haliburton, and the Indiana Pacers, the prolific point guard was not able to muster a similar performance during Thursday’s Game 5. As incredible and otherworldly as Haliburton was on Tuesday, he didn’t look like the same player on Thursday. 

Whether due to the game taking place in Madison Square Garden, the added pressure of it being a potential close-out game or the extra defensive attention the New York Knicks appeared to be applying on him, Haliburton looked to be lacking all the confidence and aggression he had in Game 4. 

As a pass-first tempo-controlling point guard, Haliburton’s numbers don’t always tell the full story, but surely even Haliburton would have to admit that eight points, six assists and two rebounds across 32 minutes is not going to cut it. Doubly so when you consider Haliburton only took seven shots, and finished with a plus/minus of -23 in the Pacers’ 111-94 loss.  

While there is plenty of blame to be spread around for the Pacers' loss, Haliburton, as the point guard and the leader of the team, needs to be better going forward. 

With two more chances to advance, the Pacers are on the cusp of earning a trip to the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years. And given the historically dominant regular seasons of both the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers, it feels safe to say very few people — outside of Indiana, maybe — saw the Pacers achieving this level of success. 

Haliburton deserves all the applause and recognition he is receiving, and one off-night shouldn’t change that. Haliburton has single-handedly reinvigorated and revitalized basketball in Indiana, and NBA stars and fans alike are taking notice. 

With Game 6 looming on Saturday, look for Haliburton and the Pacers to put forth a far greater effort and do everything within their power to close out the Knicks.