Indianapolis-Rick Carlisle entered his press conference after match 4 understood that he was going to be asked about the masterpiece that his virtuoso leader had just unleashed on the Knicks: an assistant of 32 points, 12 re-re-re-re-re-re-tape Entering zero triple-double at propel your pacers to a 130-121 victoryAnd in a victory for the first appearance in the NBA final of the franchise in 25 years.
But that did not mean that the Indiana head coach should love him.
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“I know that Ty has done historical statistics tricks tonight, and it’s great,” said Carlisle after match 4. “But it’s hard to talk about statistics when it’s such a team right now.”
Heard, coach. So here are some statistics that you might better like:
During a podium session of more than 11 minutes with journalists – an interview that lasted nearly 2,000 words, the main subject of which was to play the game of his life to get his team in a victory for a chance to play for an NBA – Haliburton championship used the word “we” 28 times, the word “our good way” five times.
He said “it’s about winning” twice, “I just want to have an impact on victory” once, and “How can I have an impact on victory?” Once, bringing us four discreet cases to emphasize how much he wants to win.
He gave a response of 52 seconds and 189 words to the praise of Benédict Mathurin, who rebounded after a difficult start to the series by exploding for 20 points in 13 minutes of the bench, helping the Indiana to extend his advance with his physical training in the basket and the free throws they have generated.
He almost said it was more exciting to see Triple H at Gainbridge Fieldhouse than To see his father in the building – But he stopped short. Calk Up, another possession ended successfully without unrefitmed error.
“Listen, Tyrese is a great player, and people realize it,” said Carlisle. “It turns out that he does very impressive statistical things. But it is well aware that all of this transcends statistics. ”
Tyrese Haliburton finished with a 32 -point summit, 15 assists and 12 rebounds (and no reversals) in Indiana’s victory against New York. Pacers are now up 3-1 in the East final. (Photo / jeff dresserson)
(Associated Press)
Haliburton left match 3 with a bad taste in his mouth, frustrated by Indiana marking only 42 points in the second half and leaving the door open so that New York makes a daring return – unhappy with a finish where he felt that the team he was responsible for directing was on the back rather than putting pressure on the action.
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“They have guys who just make hellish photos, you know, and (Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson) made this last match, and I felt like it was a bit like taking us,” said Haliburton. “We were in a way by sighing after everyone, walking the ball. Today we just try to focus on: “Who cares?” You know, let’s go (the ball) and runners, go back.
Haliburton hit the jump gas, attacking cities on several occasions and Brunson In the pick-and-roll and generate superb looks. He rebounded and crushed the pedal on the ground, creating three 3 -point open attempts in the first three minutes of the match before entering his first – a little unfathomable open step After the Knicks feel the assignments for a transition switch – and the drilling to put the Indiana 16-9, a sterling start which ended the end of the match 3.
The Pacers scored 42 points in the second period on Sunday; They scored 43 points in the first quarter on Tuesday. They had left for the races, with Haliburton, as always, which gives the pace.
“I felt like I was dropping the team in match 3-I felt like I could have been so much better,” he said. “So I felt like I had answered the right way today.”
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Yeah, you could say that.
“I just thought he was free there,” said Pacers striker Pascal Siakam, who scored 30 points on a shot of 11 for 21 with five rebounds. “Playing simply with the rhythm, simply not slowing down, being in attack mode the whole game. And for him, what makes him special is the mode of attack is not only to mark – it puts us in position, bringing the rhythm, playing as we want to play, then himself control of the game.”
“He was the leader tonight,” said Carlisle.
It is a role in which Haliburton has not grown up since landing in Indianapolis in February 2022 in an exchange of superproductions which – with all the respect due to Domantas Sabonis, an excellent player – looked like a flight at the time and now feels like a lacin. Step by step, Brick by Brick, Haliburton was the foreman supervising the construction project in Indiana: an overhaul of the global approach, an RPM revolution.
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“Incredible,” said pacers striker Aaron Nesmith, who emptied through a Dipping the right ankle To play 33 minutes of physical defense on Brunson while salient 16 points on a shot 5 for 9. “He is a special player. He does what we ask him, what we need him to do every night, and I think he had almost a triple-double at halftime. This guy is incredible.”
The most incredible part, really, is turnover – or rather their absence. Haliburton now has an assistance / filming ratio of 44 to 6 in 153 minutes in these finals of the Eastern Conference – almost all were spent with him by pushing the physical defenders on his face, playing as quickly as he can, and by hitting the ball all above the field.
“He really launched the ball tonight, which was really important to us,” said Carlisle. “And not having turnover in any of these situations too, is quite remarkable. But it’s – it has become his thing. And you know, there will be a new statistical category, perhaps named after him, somewhere in the end.
“You know, him and Chris Paul, these guys … There are not many guys. I know that (John) Stockton did not go back much, at the time when he played. There are others. LeBron James does not return much. And you can go straight.
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(Haliburton confirmed that: “I prefer to do anything else in the basketball field rather than turning the ball.”)
Come back for a second, however, and look at these names: Paul, Stockton, James. These are some of the biggest absolute play manufacturers in the history of sport. Maybe it’s a bit early for all this. With one more victory and a finals, however – and, let’s face it, probably a final MVP trophy of the Eastern Conference – Haliburton would take a big step to gain a place in such a business in August … Even if the way it happens there seems a little different from these table players of all time.
“I think my game is a bit unorthodox,” said Haliburton. “I jump to pass probably more than anyone in the NBA. But I work on this kind of thing. This is how I worked all my life to play the game. So I’m proud to take care of the ball. I feel that the more we take care of the ball as a team, the more we have to pull the ball. The more we get in the game, the more we have occasion. ”
As long as he does not forget to sometimes look for his own blow.
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“It is incredible – as, when he plays this way, and just the rhythm and put us in position, then also be aggressive, find this balance of doing both, like … Yes, we know that he is a type of pass first, but he was also able to give us big buckets when we really needed it,” said Siakam. “I loved the way he played this evening, his energy at both ends of the ground. And don’t you turn the ball back? It’s incredible. “
Combine this with forbidden efforts on the defender – 12 defensive tips, four interceptions – and you have a performance for ages.
After one of these flights, when he jumped on Brunson to force a turnover in the third quarter, Haliburton appeared and an alumnus of the allun and a former teammate George Hill, who was seated in the front row:
This moment meant a lot for Haliburton.
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“I consider G-Hill as one of my veterinarians,” said Haliburton after the match. “He was with me a little, and we have a constant conversation to date. But you see Lance (Stephenson) in the building, you know, Stephen Jackson was here the other day, Al Harrington, Roy Hibbert (Danny Granger), Reggie (Miller) – I mean, all these guys are guys that I grew up looking. “
“Yes, and he does this in the system – you know, there are not many independent things, where these are just games outside the box,” said Carlisle. “It does it in the system, and it is real growth.”
Wherever you look in Indiana, there is growth: Nesmith’s evolution as a shooter, the maturity of Mathurin’s rebound, the developing two -way work of Andrew Nembhard, and immediately. These pacers are slap in the middle of the peloton in terms of average age on the list Among the NBA teams; There are still a lot of young people with a ton of track to improve, Haliburton, 25, included. The greater the game, the greater the games, the more they learn.
One thing they learn: when you get an opportunity as good as the one in front of them right now, you have to grasp it with both hands. And when you do it, it’s terribly pleasant to have a leader who prefers to do anything rather than coughing.
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“He heads our team,” said Siakam. “When he lifts the ball, the rhythm with which he brings it, just the way he plays … Yeah, that makes our team pass. For me, I just like to be part of it – play with him, just knowing that he cares about putting us all in the position of succeeding. This is what makes him special.”
“Listen, he had a lot this year,” said Carlisle. “You know, the year was filled with ups and downs. He remained remarkably resilient and firm in his belief in what we do and who he is. We just need him to continue driving us.”
This leadership coat, transmitted from these major building stimulants for match 4, rests with Haliburton. He knows that the franchise will go as far as possible; It also understands, like all the big leaders, that you can go much further than you can alone.
“When I exchanged the Pacers, or I am just a basketball fan, you think of all the guys waiting for you,” said Haliburton. “And they tried to help put this organization in a better place than they found it. And that’s also what I try to do.”
