Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton’s Performance vs Slovenia

Sound the alarm, Tyrese Haliburton has played another game!

A mere 5 days after putting up an impressive performance off the bench in Team USA’s blowout exhibition victory against Puerto Rico, Tyrese Haliburton, while he may not have gotten the box score numbers of the previous game, still dazzled viewers with his small contributions against the Slovenian team in USA’s second exhibition, this time in Spain.

Side note: this game started at 3:30 PM instead of the 10:00 PM start time of the Las Vegas game on Monday, which will require some getting used to.

Anyways, despite logging 7 points, 12 assists, 1 rebound, 1 block, and only 1 turnover in only 21 minutes of play in the previous game, Tyrese was still absent from Team USA’s starting lineup in the game against Slovenia, which stayed the same as the first game, with Jalen Brunson still getting the nod over the All-Star Haliburton.

Nonetheless, Haliburton and Team USA were looking forward to polishing their skills and chemistry. An exhibition game against the Luka Doncic-less Slovenian team seemed like a prime opportunity to do so before the tournament on August 25th.

How did Indy’s point guard of the future perform in his second outing representing our country? Let’s take a look at his performance and analyze what we’ve seen before, and what there is to take away!

Tyrese vs. Slovenia: First Half

Similar to the Puerto Rico game, Tyrese didn’t log much in terms of big numbers in the first half against Slovenia but everyone noticed the work he did do.

Steve Kerr wasted no time getting Haliburton some run early, as he was subbed in with 3:46 to go in the first quarter, a whole minute earlier than his first run in the Puerto Rico game.

And Haliburton would waste zero time, as a mere 10 seconds later, he would log his first assist to Paolo Banchero for a baseline jumper.

However, his best work of the first quarter would come a couple of minutes later, as he would grab a rebound off a missed 3, and with the same hand, throw a full-court touchdown pass for an Austin Reaves layup and his second assist of the game.

Scoring-wise, Tyrese would be relatively quiet, scoring his lone bucket in the first half on a right-handed layup in traffic.

Tyrese would stay on the court for the remainder of the half, taking 4 shots, making one of them, logging a rebound, and getting one more assist on a Brandon Ingram jumper, increasing his assist total to 3 for the half.

Tyrese vs. Slovenia: Second Half

Haliburton would miss the first 7 minutes of the 3rd quarter, getting subbed in with 3:03 remaining and a mere 8 seconds later getting his 4th assist of the game, and second to Paolo Banchero.

Nearing the end of the 3rd quarter, Haliburton would get his second bucket of the game on a fancy step-through up-and-under finish in the paint.

Despite the assist and the bucket, Haliburton’s finest play of the 3rd quarter would perhaps be a hockey assist that collapsed the defense and led to a wide-open Austin Reaves 3-pointer.

Haliburton would finally convert on his first three of the night with 1:35 to go in the 4th quarter and the game all but decided, thus matching his point total of the Puerto Rico game, with 7.

He would shortly after get his point total in double digits with an And-1 and a converted free-throw, capping off Team USA’s 30-point victory over a shorthanded Slovenia team.

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.