Pacers need Tyrese Haliburton to be more selfish with his scoring

OKLAHOMA CITY — There were no fourth-quarter heroics for the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals — or for their star, Tyrese Haliburton.

After hitting the game-winning shot in Thursday’s Game 1, Haliburton was held in check by the Oklahoma City Thunder’s stifling defense. Haliburton made just one field goal in the first half, scoring three points. At the end of the third quarter, he had just five points, three rebounds, four assists and three turnovers, and OKC had a 19-point lead.

Though Haliburton finished with 17 points, most of those came when the game was out of hand during Indiana’s 123-107 loss.

“My main thing is to stay in front of him and make everything tough,” Thunder defensive stalwart Lu Dort said. “He’s a great player. He is going to make some tough shots and great reads, so I just have to stay in front of him.”

Haliburton has had at least one low-scoring game in each round of this year’s playoffs. In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks, Haliburton finished with eight points. In the second round against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, he had just four points. And in the opening game of the first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks, Haliburton contributed just 10 points.

“There’s a lot more to the game than just scoring,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “So everybody’s got to do more. It starts with the best players, starts with Tyrese and Pascal (Siakam) and Myles (Turner) … and then it goes from there. And so people shouldn’t just look at (Haliburton’s) points and assists and judge how he played, or judge how any of our guys played, just on that.

“That’s just not how our team is built. I mean, we’re an ecosystem that has to function together, and we got to score enough points to win the game, but who gets them and how they get them? Not important.”

Haliburton isn’t a scoring point guard but one who shares the ball, setting up his teammates to make plays. Still, games in which he has long stretches without scoring negatively impact Indiana’s chances of winning.

“Kind of speaking on the way they play, tonight they had five or six guys in 12 to 17-point range,” Thunder super sub Alex Caruso said. “All of them took about 10 to 12 shots. They’re a very unselfish team. They’re a very consistent team with whoever the ball finds, that person is aggressive to score. They got good players.

“It comes down to making it as hard as we can for them and trying to force tough shots and finish possessions.”

The Thunder defense, the best in the NBA all season, has limited Haliburton so far in this series. He had 14 points in Game 1, though the last two were memorable.

“This is who they are defensively,” Haliburton said. “A lot of the guys who can guard the ball fly around. They’re really physical, (they) force the officials to let us play a little bit more. So, just gotta do a better job playing through there. I think I’ve had two really poor first halves. Just got to figure out how to be better earlier in games.”

Siakam noted that Haliburton wasn’t the only Pacer who stalled in Game 2.

“They’ve been super aggressive on Tyrese for sure, but on everyone,” Siakam said. “They’re ball-pressuring. We got to be stronger with the ball. We got to find ways to still be aggressive and attacking. But I think it’s not just Ty. I think it’s everyone.”

If Indiana is going to win this series, Haliburton needs to be more assertive about scoring early in games. In Game 1, the Pacers hung in there until he found his rhythm late. But Indiana can’t continue to come from behind against a team as good as Oklahoma City. Haliburton needs to be a little more selfish with the ball and attack more.

One way Haliburton’s teammates think they can get their star going is by getting into the paint more often. The Thunder outscored the Pacers 26 to 12 in the paint in the first half and 46 to 34 for the game.

“We’ve been one of the better teams going to the paint all year, and we had to establish that early,” Turner said. “And that’s not Pacers basketball. When you live or die by that 3 or midrange shots, it doesn’t always fare well.”

Haliburton is ready to make adjustments.

“I think through the course of a series, even in the games that you lose, you’re trying to learn from them, see where you can get better,” Haliburton said. “We had some success there (with) me playing off the pitch a little bit more, flying around, rather than throwing that high ball screen, which I feel like I am really successful at. That gives them a chance to really load up, pack the paint. They’re giving me different looks, so I gotta do a better job just figuring out where I could be better.

“Already through these first two games, I’m learning where my spots are, where I can be better. We’ll take the good and the bad, watch film, see what we can improve on in the next game.”

The next game, Game 3 on Wednesday, will be the first NBA Finals game in Indianapolis since Game 5 of the 2000 NBA Finals. Down 3-1, the Pacers destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers by 33 in a game they had to win to extend the series. In this series, the Pacers will return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a win under their belt after taking Game 1 in Oklahoma City.

“It’s still a race, first to four,” Haliburton said. “We are going to our home court tied 1-1, and we love playing at home. Love playing in front of our fans. Our fans are amazing. So just see where we can get better, and yeah, take it a day at a time.”

Turner, for one, is anticipating the Thunder will get a loud crowd like the Pacers received in Oklahoma City.

“I just know Gainbridge is going to be rocking,” Turner said. “I love our environment. You give credit where credit is due. This is a great environment. Oklahoma City did a great job showing up with their fans and whatnot. I expect it to be a lot louder in Indianapolis.

“I know how long this city has been waiting for this Finals experience. They are going to show up.”

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