Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton puts Team USA on his back in masterclass against Germany
By Mueez Azfar
Ladies and gentlemen, the last of Team USA’s exhibition games is upon us, and with Team USA looking to hold an undefeated record going into tournament play, a win against Germany is very important indeed. With two Pacers in the game, let’s see how it went.
In the previous game against a Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Greece team, Team USA cruised to a 108-86 win, however, Tyrese Haliburton had perhaps his weakest performance so far, logging a mere 6 points and 4 assists, the lowest assist total of his Team USA career so far.
Despite this relatively mediocre performance, Haliburton is still regarded as a very important part of this USA FIBA World Cup team and it is without question that the team plays better with him on the court compared to without him.
This game vs Germany also had a little something extra for Haliburton and Pacers fans as fellow Pacer Daniel Theis is a member of the German team and also a teammate of Haliburton’s.
https://twitter.com/Pacers/status/1693254753763852453
Along with Theis, Germany is a very talented team, perhaps the best team the USA has faced so far, consisting of multiple former and current NBA players, including Theis, Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga, budding star Franz Wagner, and Dennis Schröder. This was evident in the game, with Germany giving Team USA a much bigger challenge than even Spain could give them.
Usually, in the final showcase game, the teams try to rest up their starters in anticipation of the actual tournament starting soon so this could possibly give Haliburton a chance to shine through more bench minutes.
Did he? We’ll see.
For once, that bench role is all but solidified as for the fifth game in a row, Team USA’s starting lineup has remained unchanged, however as we discussed before, this may be a blessing in disguise for Tyrese as teams tend to rest their starters a bit more in the final exhibition game before the tournament.
https://twitter.com/usabasketball/status/1693292219145601517
With that being said, let’s see if Tyrese Haliburton improved on his performance from Friday against Germany and his teammate Daniel Theis.