Tyrese Haliburton, guard for the Indiana Pacers, looked more like his usual self on Monday night.
He made several 3-pointers, passed to open teammates with great skill, and smiled again. Winning their second game in a row definitely helped lift his spirits.
The two-time All-Star, who is usually calm and collected, had a strong game after he started opening up about what he had learned over the first two months of the NBA season. He also shared why he needed to stop blaming his struggles for Indiana’s slow start.
“Everybody wants to say be happy, have fun. That’s hard to do when you’re not playing well or you’re losing,” Haliburton said after the 114-110 win over New Orleans. “But differentiating the difference between happiness and joy — I’ve always had a joy for the game of basketball and love and appreciation for what I do. So I think I just got caught in becoming frustrated with myself and this kind of crept into like job territory, you know what I mean? That’s not me.”
Haliburton has shown an unusual frustration since training camp began in late September.
During media day, he mentioned his desire to prove the critics wrong, who said the Pacers’ run to the Eastern Conference finals last season was due to luck, not skill. He also found motivation in watching the U.S. Olympic basketball team win gold while he was on the bench.
He believed this could help both him and his team achieve even greater success.
However, a series of injuries thinned out the Pacers’ roster, Haliburton’s shots stopped falling, losses mounted, and suddenly the calm, positive player who inspired many with his smile didn’t seem like himself.
Others took notice.
“I’ve got people sending me clips of how I’ve looked in the media and how I looked on the court and my body language sucks, my attitude sucks,” Haliburton said. “It’s hard to get out of what’s going on if you’re that way. I’ve been told my whole life to control what I can control and I can’t control if the ball goes in every time. But I can control my body language, I can control my energy and I can control my effort.”
Something clicked for Haliburton after a short conversation with All-Star forward Pascal Siakam following the Pacers’ win over Washington on Sunday. He looked like a different player on Monday.
He made 12 of 23 shots, a season-high, hit nine 3-pointers, also a season-best, and earned his eighth double-double of the season.
Haliburton scored 34 points, his second-highest of the season, matched his season-high with 13 assists, and made all the big plays down the stretch — a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:06 left, a driving layup to give the Pacers a five-point lead, and an alley-oop pass to Bennedict Mathurin with a minute left that excited the crowd.
He believes this is just the beginning.
“I think people look at the Indiana Pacers and they’re like ‘Man, their pace is down, the energy of the team isn’t very good.’ Put that on me,” Haliburton said. “That’s where I’ve been, and I got caught up in myself. I think for us to go back to playing Pacers basketball, playing the right way, (it’s) how can I internalize whatever I’ve got going on and then put that into the group and our guys? We’ve got to get back to having the right energy.”
How did Haliburton get here?
The 24-year-old has made 45% or more of his shots in only five of 18 games this season, and as the NBA’s reigning assist leader, his average has dropped to its lowest point (8.8) since he was traded from Sacramento to Indiana during the 2021-22 season. The Pacers are currently 8-10.
Haliburton knows that Indiana’s early struggles are not all his fault.
The team lost two key backup centers, James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson, to torn Achilles tendons just six games into the season. Starting forward Aaron Nesmith hasn’t played since Nov. 1 due to a knee injury, and starting guard Andrew Nembhard has missed games since Nov. 6 because of a sprained ankle.
But after the success of last season’s playoff run, Haliburton is no longer focused just on making the postseason — something he hadn’t done in college at Iowa State or during his first three years in the NBA. He now wants to win a championship, something he missed out on as a high school star in Wisconsin.
Haliburton knows there is only one way to reach that goal — by being himself.
“You guys watch us every game and you wouldn’t say right now we’re playing with a joy, with a passion, with an energy,” he said. “Our energy is up and down and that starts with me. So I can make that promise — that will be there moving forward. Put that on me because when my energy is good and we’re holding each other accountable, things are going to go well. That starts with me at the top and it trickles down to everybody else.”
