Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton’s Performance vs Slovenia

Haliburton’s Final Stats and Takeaways

All in all, despite a somewhat slow start, Tyrese Haliburton would finish with a very respectable statline of 10 points (4/8 FG, 1/4 3PT 1/1 FT), 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, and only 1 turnover in 19:36 of playing time, down from his 21 minutes of playing time in the previous game against Puerto Rico. Team USA would cruise to a 92-62 victory, demolishing a Luka-less Slovenian team led by the likes of Jordan Morgan and Gregor Glas.

Once again, Team USA looked very comfortable on the floor with Haliburton leading the charge and would get a lot of easy buckets in transition with him leading the charge. It was also interesting to see Haliburton share the floor with the likes of Anthony Edwards, Austin Reaves, and Jalen Brunson, making for some very fun backcourt combinations.

In addition to leading the charge and setting up his teammates with easy buckets, Haliburton also used his basketball IQ to see plays before they happened, as demonstrated in the aforementioned hockey assist to Austin Reaves.

However, it has come to my, and plenty of other’s attention that Haliburton may be too passive with the ball at times, and should look to score more often than he is. As we all know, he is a great facilitator, whose court vision and ability to see plays before they happen is very impressive, but he needs to be more aggressive in terms of scoring the ball and finding opportunities to get buckets, whether that be in transition or the half court.

I expect this to come naturally as more games are played however, since the players are still getting used to playing with each other and as chemistry builds, more players will get touches and be more confident with the ball in their hands.

At this current moment though, it is hard to be disappointed with what we have in front of us, and I think this is a great indication of what’s to come when the FIBA World Cup tournament officially starts on the 25th of August.

Indiana Pacers: Evaluating Tyrese Haliburton’s Performance vs Puerto Rico

Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton is back on the court with Team USA for the FIBA World Cup. Let's analyze his performance in the showcase game against Puerto Rico.