Although the Pacers lost Wednesday’s game, they appear to have found their missing star.
Indiana University lost 130-121 to the Knicks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, but Tyrese Haliburton snapped out of his funk.
The All-Star overcame back pain and poor offensive performance to score a game-high 34 points on 11-of-19 shooting and 7-of-11 from beyond the arc.
Haliburton added nine assists, six rebounds, three steals and one big lift for Indiana.
The Pacers didn’t do enough to take advantage Wednesday, but they hope to be available for Games 3 and 4 at home.
“I took more shots and just took what the defense gave me,” Haliburton said. “[I hit] I scored 11 out of 19 points, so I was quite successful. But we still needed to improve defensively. We have to get better as a group and match their intensity and be better in the second half. In the third quarter we ran away and turned the game around, but in the fourth quarter we were right there. However, I wasn’t able to play well until the end. ”
There was little hope for this series as the Pacers had a strong offensive engine throughout the postseason.
Now, he heads home at 0-2, but if he can hold serve at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, he at least has a chance to be a puncher.
The Pacers were hoping Haliburton hit rock bottom in the first round of the series, shooting 43.5 percent from the field and just 29.6 percent from 3-point range.
Then Monday was a disaster, as they scored just six points (a third of their average) and finished with a minus-12 rating. He added three late turnovers in the Game 1 loss.
Indiana needed a rebounding performance from Haliburton and they got it.
He fired out of the gate and kept them afloat even though they surrendered with 76 percent shooting.
The All-Star scored 13 points and grabbed four boards, but the tweaks he and the Pacers made in practice were clearly working.
Haliburton has struggled with health issues since a midseason hamstring injury that forced him to miss 10 of 11 games in January.
Before being waived, he was averaging 23.6 points and 12.6 assists on 49.6 percent shooting and 40 percent from deep. But since then, he has not been the same.
From his return on Jan. 30 until the end of the regular season, Haliburton averaged 16.8 points and 9.3 assists, shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from 3-point range.
The Pacers need him to be at his best to upset the Knicks. Although they lost in the second match, a ray of hope was beginning to regain their star.
“We knew he was going to play great. We just have to find a way to get all of our players to play at an equally high level,” Rick Carlisle said. “We had a tough start in the third quarter, so we have to improve there.
“But Tyrese…he’s a great competitor. You know, he just…he responds to all kinds of challenges like this, and it’s been done over and over again the last few years. So I’m proud of his reaction tonight. But again, it’s not just one player scoring. It’s about all of us. We will need to make more efforts in the future.”
