The Pacers lost Wednesday’s game, but it looks like they found their missing star.
Indiana suffered a 130-121 defeat to the Knicks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semis, but Tyrese Haliburton broke out of his funk.
The All-Star shook off a bad back and an offensive slump to score a game-high 34 points on 11 of 19 shooting, 7 of 11 from behind the arc.
Haliburton added nine assists, six rebounds, three steals and one huge lift for Indiana.
The Pacers just weren’t good enough Wednesday to take advantage of it — but they hope they will be in Games 3 and 4 at home.
“I just shot more shots, took what the defense gave me,” said Haliburton. “[I hit] 11 of 19, so enough went in. But just got to be better defensively. We’ve got to be better as a group, match their intensity, be better in the second half. The third quarter got away from us and flipped the game, but we were right there in the fourth. Just didn’t make enough plays down the stretch.”
The Pacers had little hope in this series with their offensive engine playing the way he had throughout the postseason.
Now, going back home down 0-2, they at least have a puncher’s chance if they can hold serve at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Pacers had hoped Haliburton had bottomed out in their first-round series, shooting 43.5 percent and just 29.6 from 3-point range.
Then came Monday’s disaster, when he managed just six points — one-third his average — and finished minus-12. He added three late turnovers in a Game 1 loss.
Indiana needed a bounce-back performance from Haliburton and got one.
He came out of the gate firing, keeping them afloat even as they surrendered 76 percent shooting.
The All-Star had 13 points and four boards, whatever tweaks he and the Pacers made at practice clearly working.
Haliburton has dealt with health woes, struggling since a midseason hamstring injury that forced him to miss 10 of 11 games in January.
Before that layoff, he averaged 23.6 points and 12.6 assists on 49.6 percent shooting and 40 percent from deep. But he hasn’t been the same since.
From his Jan. 30 return to the end of the regular-season, Haliburton averaged 16.8 points and 9.3 assists on 45.5 percent shooting and 32.4 shooting from 3.
The Pacers need him at his best to upset the Knicks. They lost Game 2, but the silver lining was getting their star back.
“I knew he’s gonna play great. We’ve just got to figure out a way to get all of our guys playing at an equally high level,” Rick Carlisle said. “The starts in the third quarters have been tough, and so we’ve got to do better there.
“But Tyrese is a … he’s a great competitor. You know, he’s just … he responds to all kinds of challenges like this, and it’s been time and time again over the last few years. So, proud of his response tonight. But again, it’s not just about one guy breaking out of a scoring thing. It’s about all of us. Everyone’s just gonna have to do more going forward.”
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