INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton hasn’t just rediscovered his old form.
He’s found some historic form.
The Pacers star bounced back from his earlier struggles with another master class, carrying Indiana to a 111-106 second-round Game 3 win over the Knicks on Friday night.
Haliburton had 35 points on 14-of-26 shooting and 6-of-14 from deep to power a victory the Pacers had to have, now down 2-1 in the Eastern Conference semis.
“Just getting downhill, being aggressive, being who I am,” said Haliburton, adding it was both a personal epiphany and a team tweak.
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Haliburton is just the fifth player in league history to have 30 points and six 3s in back-to-back playoff games.
He’s in august company, joining Stephen Curry (seven times), Donovan Mitchell (twice), James Harden and Damian Lillard.
“He adapts quickly,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. “A first-timer in the playoffs, he’s had to do some pretty significant adjusting in both series. You know sometimes you can score but there’s a need to get other guys involved. Sometimes it’s the other way around. Sometimes he knows we need his scoring.
“So he got banged up (Friday). The hope is he’s going to be OK for Sunday. I think it’s going to be hard to keep him out of the game. But his aggression was very important in this game. And look, whether he’s scoring a lot of points or not, his aggression is going to be important in every game this series.”
Haliburton also had a game-best seven assists, four in the fourth.
He found Andrew Nembhard for the pivotal 3 in the waning seconds.
“He’s been big. He’s been super aggressive and it opens things up for everybody. But he’s been doing this all year. So it’s not surprising for us,” Nembhard said. “Guys have good games and bad games, so we’re not really too worried about it when he goes and has one bad game.”
Haliburton said he rolled his ankle on a steal and layup.
He’s already been dealing with a bad back and missed time earlier in the season with a hamstring.
“It was my ankle. I rolled my ankle on that steal with the layup in the fourth. I landed on my tail bone there on that and-one. So just overall body right now. I’m hurting,” said Haliburton. “But they got guys hurting, too. We’ve got to understand that everybody’s hurting right now.
“So thank God we got a day in between and I’m young and I’ll heal up and be ready to go on Sunday.”
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