In mid-May Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton was voted as the most overrated player in the NBA as voted on by 90 of his peers with 14.4-percent choosing the talented guard.
One month later, Haliburton has been the catalyst to the Pacers improbable run to a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals. After hitting an 18-footer with 0.3 seconds left to cap off another epic playoff comeback, this time against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Haliburton had a stern message for his critics.
"My jumper, the way it looks, that's always been criticized coming into the NBA," he said. "I think that was honestly a big part of it. And I think sometimes I have an effect on the game that isn't necessarily the gaudy box score numbers … the way our game is now, the way the game is digested by fans sometimes, I think it's a lot of box score watchers.
"So if my box score doesn't look the way that it's supposed to, I think that that can be a part of it, as well. I don't necessarily know the answer, but I know that it's probably not going to stop anytime soon.
As Haliburton prepares for Game 2 on Sunday, June 8, his girlfriend, Jade Jones, will be right there to watch the action. Ahead of the showdown, Jones took to Instagram, where she boasts over 73,000 followers on the platform, with a four-letter message.
"'Cers," she wrote with a yellow heart emoji.
Jade Jones. Jade Jones
Haliburton knows winning on the road in the NBA is difficult, but his team is prepared to do it again.
"I think winning on the road is hard," he said. "Winning an NBA game is hard, and especially a playoff game, and let alone a finals game, right? It's not easy. You're just trying to be as present as you can."
Indiana and Oklahoma City tip off at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.