Tyrese Haliburton gets his Paris moment — at last
The All-Star guard erupted for 16 straight points, taking the Pacers from down one to up by 12 entering the fourth quarter. Then, they outscored the Spurs 38-12 in a 38-point blowout victory.
PARIS — Tyrese Haliburton returned to Paris almost five months after winning a gold medal in the Paris Olympics. This time stood a healthy Haliburton, who is needed by the Pacers to perform at a high level each night.
Haliburton’s tweet went viral after winning the gold medal because of his self-own, writing “When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A.” Smart of him to get ahead of it. Memorable too.
Even if he needed to play in the final games in the Olympics, Haliburton wasn’t healthy and didn’t have much to give. Through it all, he was a supportive teammate and he didn’t outwardly wear that frustration come game time and bring the team down.
When the Pacers arrived at Accor Arena less than a week ago, his mind immediately raced back to those pair of games in August. It’s still one of the highs of his career, to win an elusive gold medal and be part of a 12-man team filled with future Hall of Famers.
His mind flashed back to the celebratory photo Team USA took on the steps outside the arena. Haliburton snapped a current photo of it and joked “I’ll probably send it in our team (USA) group chat later.”
He is forever connected to that group and to that time. But he’s also in Year 1 of a supermax contract with the Pacers, who need for him to deliver on a nightly basis.
Before his first practice in the arena this week, Haliburton joked how he was “excited to actually play in this arena.” As a massive WWE fan, Haliburton understands storylines as well as any player — young and old. He’s self-aware and active online, perhaps too active. However, he’s tried to change that this season.
Two days after getting spanked — his words — the Pacers wanted to have at least one good game in Paris. Imagine that nine-hour plane ride back to Indy losing both games to the San Antonio Spurs after leaving the United States winners in 14 of their last 18 games.
They wanted nothing to do with it.
We wondered what kind of response the Pacers had in store for their second of two games as part of the NBA Global Games. They pressured from the jump — all 94 feet — and started the game with a transition layup from Andrew Nembhard after a Haliburton steal.
That set the tone and they kept it up in the majority of the game.
It was a clear attitude shift. They were competing, sprinting to spots, and diving after every loose ball. That fight and activity level is what they desperately needed in Round 1 — what became a 30-point beatdown.
Then, the Pacers kept the pedal down.
The first game was about Victor Wembanyama, and let’s be real, the whole week was. He’s a 21-year-old taking the league by storm. He’s mature beyond his years and is such a huge asset for the NBA. I saw first-hand this week how much he meant to locals.
And he gets it. After the week concluded, Wemby wanted to make opening remarks before taking questions.
“I just want to underline how this week was amazing,” he said. “I was just seeing my family, not even trying to get emotional. Everybody made it their job to make this week incredible.”
But… Haliburton stole the show in Round 2 by scoring 16 points in a row and finishing with a game-high 28 points. He helped the Pacers go from trailing for the first time in the third quarter (by one) to up by 12 entering the final period.
“They're going to talk about Victor after these two games, but they're going to remember that run here in Paris,” Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton. “That really shifted the momentum back in our favor.”
Haliburton went 7 of 8 and scored 18 points to take back the lead and keep the Spurs at a distance.