The Indiana Pacers continue to do the unthinkable.
The game is never over until the clock says zero and that is especially true for the Pacers as they became the first team in NBA Finals history to win a game while trailing by at least nine points in the final three minutes. Teams were 0-182 in similar situations before last night, but Tyrese Haliburton and his squad are relentless.
During the most recent episode of the Mind the Game podcast with Lebron James and Steve Nash, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer praised the Indiana point guard.
“He’s just a great kid,” James said. “Every single day he was the same person joking, laughing, and high-spirited. You look at what’s going on with the Pacers throughout the regular season and now throughout the postseason, you get it. You get why they are the team that they are and it starts with the head of the snake, and that’s with Hali.”
James reflected on his time with Haliburton when they were teammates for Team USA at the Olympics last summer, mentioning how prepared and dialed in he was no matter the circumstances.
“It didn’t matter if he wasn’t playing or if he got the opportunity, he was the same guy every single day. His mainframe was soaking in all of the knowledge and the details being around all of us,” James added.
“He was just super appreciative every single day. When we had practices, we were doing five-on-five and maybe it was a practice when some of the older guys didn’t go that day, he was ready to go. If it was a moment in the game where he was called, he was ready to go.”
Haliburton is a dynamic playmaker, who has astonishing court vision and an unreal clutch gene, with a game-winning shot in each round of these playoffs. As you watch the Pacers play, you can see his infectious team-first ability impact the entire team, which makes him a teammate that everyone wants to play for.
“You would run through a wall for certain guys, and he is a guy that you would do that for.”