A more in -depth examination of the striking metamorphosis of Tyrese Haliburton

Oklahoma City – The last time he played for a world title, Tyrese Haliburton did not hold the ball, hoping that the shots and the magic occur while the chronometer cohated. He held a place on the bench, looking at someone else shoot and celebrate.

Ten months have passed since then, since Stephen Curry struck a last minute bucket near the area and made a night at night in France. This seems such disconnection, given the minor role of Haliburton on Team USA during the Olympic GamesNow, where he is the designated Savior of the Pacers, and a more daring name in the NBA, and the flavor of this NBA in the playoffs.

From one summer to the next, the scene has not changed – Journeau de la Medal d’Or in Paris, NBA Championship Pursuit in the United States – but Haliburton’s metamorphosis is indeed striking if not sudden.

He was a grain on this team of American stars. Social media laughed at him and he shrugged and, with self-depreciation, was making fun of himself.

He then started the 2024-25 season slowly, which threw gas on the suspicion that Haliburton was just a player of the next level, certainly not worthy of elevation on the list of young players ready for a takeover of the league.

Whenever his unorthodox jumping slammed during this rough patch, whenever he made a mistake, he heard songs in opposing arenas – overrated! – partly Due to the results of a survey taken by Athletics Website that studied a fraction of current players, partly because of this ghostly Olympic experience.

The climb and cleaning of Haliburton and how he moved away from This player And these situations is something to see. This is the dominant theme of the 2025 playoff series and, at least through a shocking game, the 2025 NBA finals.

Did the other 20-year-old stars more celebrated and anoints do what Haliburton makes this playoff series-dropping winning shots at each turn, making the crowd of New York, issuing a triple-double without turnover-how fast would the crowning be? Like, for Anthony Edwards or Luka Dončić or Jalen Brunson or a few others?

But as it is Haliburton, who does not play above the edge, who has no healthy boasting, whose game consists more in making the right pass and the right game than taking the most photos, there seems to be … a hesitation?

And would he need to beat the powerful Oklahoma City Thunder so that the championship changes perception?

When the selections were made for Team USA last spring, there was only one who instantly provoked the conversation, both among the players of the NBA and beyond. Uh, Haliburton?

Yes, he had an assistance title, was an All-Star, the third All-NBA team. However, it was the 12 best supposed American players. There were whispers in the NBA locker room and questions on social networks.

Beyond the surface, having Haliburton made sense. He had a gift to pass, better than the vast majority of players, and could therefore register in any range placed on the ground by coach Steve Kerr.

Once Kawhi Leonard was a scratch because of an injury, the Celtic goalkeeper Derrick White, a defensive specialist, replaced him and received a time of rescue playing once planned for Haliburton. It was the first slight launch towards Haliburton, which saw only 26 minutes in total in the matches.

Kerr was delighted about Haliburton’s professionalism: “I thought the way he manipulated was not great. He manipulated him with humor and liked to be part of everything despite not playing much. It showed his character.”

After obtaining the gold medal, Haliburton posted a photo on social and wrote: “When you do not make a nun on the group project and you still have an A.”

The prospects for the NBA season for him and the Pacers last fall were more favorable, and Haliburton was impatient to confirm a place for himself in the peaking order of the NBA.

During his first 15 games, he pulled below 40% with a few Clunkers – 1 for 7, 3 for 14, 2 for 11 – and seemed unbalanced during this section. It was not a coincidence that Indiana followed its example. The Pacers fell on the new calendar year at 16-18.

Then, he radically overturned the player and by extension, the team. Haliburton lost 33 points and 15 assists in Miami. Later, 25 and 10 on Kerr and the Warriors, 30 and eight on the pistons. It has an average of 20.3 and 8.6 in January. The Pacers have only lost once this month – they have in fact remained undefeated in the United States since this defeat was in Paris against the Spurs – and finished the regular season with OKC as the hottest team since the beginning of 2025.

The best for Haliburton was to start.

Her winning lay -up of the game – on Giannis Antetokounmpo, no less – with 1.3 seconds to play in overtime eliminated dollars in the first round. Its 3 winner pointer in match 2 against the riders helped send them home in the second round. Its 3 -point pointer in match 1 at the end of the regulations – followed by the throat influenced by Reggie Miller – spread the Knicks, who have never recovered in the Eastern conference finals.

And finally, the calm of 18 feet with 0.3 seconds to the left to Ice OKC in the opening of the finals. Suspected together, these heroic form a set of legendary work, all carried out under constraint and with high issues. There is the temple of fame that lacks this quantity of large capitalization – and made in a single elimination series to this.

Should he have hesitated to reject all the inexpensive labels once given in Haliburton? Didn’t he do enough?

Haliburton increases the shoulders to the suggestion of being included Who-Got-XeT Campaign to identify the stars of tomorrow today. These discussions often turn beyond pure basketball, towards marketing which includes the superficial and the cosmetics, which do not fall in its favor.

“My sweater, his appearance, which has always been criticized when entering the NBA,” he said. “I think it was honestly a large part of this. And I think that sometimes I have an effect on the game which is not necessarily the score numbers of the light box … The way our game is now, the way the game is digested by the fans sometimes, I think it’s a lot of box score observers.

“So, if my box score does not look like what it is supposed to do it, I think it can be part of it too. I don’t necessarily know the answer, but I know that it will probably not stop so early.”

Haliburton is desperately going back, in a place where the guards infused confidence in their teammates by giving them the ball in the right place. It was their priority.

He led the league by a large margin with 9.2 successful passes – transition passes that advance the ball at the top – per game, according to the second specter. He leads the playoffs with 9.0 per game, the most for any player during the 12 years of follow -up of this data.

He is not a volume scorer, he does not break the ankles, he is not in the air. And this does not result in popularity in a world of salient saturated hoop which is often fixed on all that is viral.

Which raises an observation: If you watch a whole game, you enjoy Haliburton. Otherwise, you miss what makes him special. He had to make winning shots in the playoffs to exploit a wider audience.

Haliburton will have some non-presentations where he disappears for large sections. He had one of these matches in each of the three previous qualifying series where he pulled a 7 for 28 combined with 23 assists, all below his standards; The Pacers lost two of these games.

So, even with its clutch strokes, this playoff series has bumps and Haliburton learns that the big players keep a high bar all along. This is what separates them from the simple good.

“Obviously, I want to be the best,” he said. “I want to be great. I want to tighten each ounce of capacity given by God that I must be the best player I can be. But any doubt is always good for me. I love to hear this thing. I will continue to tell you at times that it doesn’t matter what people say. But it’s important and I appreciate. “

The NBA final can be a tease. Nothing is certain from one game to another. Heroes can be goats. And vice versa. Haliburton is well aware of the way these winds blow. He knows how much his current perch can be precarious, so high, where he cannot afford a trip.

There is something almost mystical in his last monthsAnd just to be generous, from last summer to this: the overtaking of Olympic inactivity, then which stumbles out of the regular season door, then stifling all the sound of being overrated … to boast of a completely new and respected reputation.

Haliburton cleaning now hits the rinsing cycle. Suppose it wins three other games in the final? And a very first NBA title for the Pacers? And upset Okc?

It will ultimately be the time to make peace with Tyrese?

* * *

Shaun Powell covered the NBA for over 25 years. You can send him an email herefind His archives here And Follow him on x.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or the discovery of Warner Bros.