Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton puts Team USA on his back in masterclass against Germany

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.

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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.

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With that being said, let’s see if Tyrese Haliburton improved on his performance from Friday against Germany and his teammate Daniel Theis.

Tyrese vs Germany: First Half

Just like I expected, Tyrese Haliburton was subbed in pretty early compared to the previous game, this time only waiting about 5 minutes to get his first taste of in-game action, getting subbed in with 5:15 remaining in the first quarter.

This time however, as opposed to previous games, Tyrese would wait a bit to put his name on the board, waiting a couple of minutes before hitting a cutting Mikal Bridges with a beautiful right-handed jump pass for the layup.

After hitting a technical free throw for his first points of the game, Tyrese would get his second assist of the game in spectacular fashion, hitting Paolo Banchero with a gorgeous no-look on the fast break for the one-handed finish to end the quarter with a bang.

https://twitter.com/usabasketball/status/1693298328547828221

These assists would be the only contributions Tyrese made during the first half, unfortunately, as he was subbed out with 6:46 left in the second quarter following a bad pass and a foul.

Despite this slow start, Tyrese Haliburton would end up having a bit of a different story in the second half.

Tyrese vs Germany: Second Half

Steve Kerr would sub Tyrese in with 5:51 left in the 3rd quarter and Tyrese would do something of a hostile takeover of the game for the rest of the quarter, scoring 11 points in 3 minutes and single-handedly bringing Team USA back into the game heading into the fourth quarter.

First, he would hit a couple of three-pointers, including this deep bomb as he tried his hardest to bring Team USA back into the game.

Soon after, Tyrese would hit a nasty hesitation and layup to cut the lead to 8.

About a minute later, with Team USA having gone on a 5-1 run since this layup, Tyrese Haliburton would hit a nasty stepback 3 to bring them within 3 after losing by as much as 16 a mere 3 minutes prior.

https://twitter.com/Pacers/status/1693314453784113574

Haliburton would get subbed out after not doing much for the first 5 minutes of the fourth quarter but would quickly go back to work after subbing back in with 3:10 remaining and both teams having been tied at 86 for 2 whole minutes, going scoreless for multiple possessions. Less than a minute after checking in and with both teams still going scoreless, Haliburton would grab a rebound and dime up Mikal Bridges for the three that would ultimately seal Germany’s fate.

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Haliburton would conclude his fantastic performance with a steal on Andreas Obst and a fastbreak dunk to extend his point total to 14 and would extend that to a final 16 points with 2 free throws to put Team USA up by 6 and seal the game once and for all.

After only scoring on a technical free throw in the first half, Tyrese Haliburton would explode for 15 points in around 13 minutes and single-handedly bring Team USA back into the game in the third quarter and provide that final extra push they needed to take the game away from Germany in the fourth quarter.

Haliburton’s Final Stats and Takeaways

Following his quietest performance, Tyrese Haliburton registered his finest performance of the 5 exhibition games he played in. In 21 minutes, Haliburton amassed 16 points (5/7 FG, 3/4 3PT, 3/3 FT), 3 assists, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 turnover, and 2 fouls as Team USA earned a hard-fought 99-91 victory against Germany, taking the game away in the fourth quarter, with the lead-taking three-pointer coming off an assist from Haliburton himself to Mikal Bridges. Despite this fantastic performance, however, Tyrese Haliburton was not the story of the game as Anthony Edwards exploded for 34 points and Austin Reaves also had 16 points in only 18 minutes, including this dunk at the very end of the game that had Haliburton very excited, further indicative of the chemistry the second unit is building for the tournament.

As is noticed from the stat sheet immediately, we got to see a more aggressive Tyrese Haliburton vs Germany, with his 3 assists being his lowest total of the 5 games he played, including Friday’s mediocre performance vs Greece. Against Germany, his 16 points were far and away his highest total of the games. However, what was most notable was his efficiency, as even though his 16 points were the highest total, he took fewer shots than he did in the Slovenia game, where he only scored 10 points. Haliburton’s efficiency was off the charts on Sunday, with him only missing 2 shots and going 3-4 from behind the arc to the tune of a 93% shooting clip from the field.

The difference between the previous game is also night and day, as against Greece, Haliburton couldn’t get a touch even if he was begging for the ball.

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This fantastic performance also drew the eyes of the fans, who echoed the same statements of Pacers fans, that the front office better do what it takes to keep Tyrese happy and in the blue and gold for life.

https://twitter.com/big_business_/status/1693314794504282276

In the previous game review, I stated that only time will dictate how Haliburton’s scoring comes along and if he can keep up his passing. Well, it looks like everything came along tonight as we say a different, more aggressive Tyrese Haliburton on offense, looking for the open shots instead of getting the ball to a teammate.

Haliburton seemed to be in very good spirits during practice as well, telling his good friend and New York Knick, Josh Hart, that he was going to save a special performance for the Knicks, as Tyrese did not play in the 2 games between Indiana and New York after Josh Hart got traded to the Knicks after the deadline. These fun, light jabs are sure to stoke some fire in the budding Indiana/New York rivalry which was furthered this offseason with Obi Toppin being traded from New York to Indiana.

Some people, myself included, are also lobbying for Haliburton to be in the starting lineup, as some think that the combination of Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, and Brandon Ingram is too isolation-heavy for a consistent starting lineup.

https://twitter.com/RichStapless/status/1693303382612525210

Personally, I’d prefer if Steve Kerr put Ingram on the bench, and moved Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Edwards up a position to slide Haliburton at the point guard, to balance out Brunson’s iso play for Haliburton’s playmaking.

Overall, Tyrese Haliburton‘s performance tonight definitely drew the eyes of everyone and reminded the people just who he is when he wants to score and be aggressive. I’m sure Steve Kerr, Erik Spoelstra, and Ty Lue were watching his performance intently and will give him some more minutes in time for the first tournament game against New Zealand 6 days from now.

Team USA’s first official FIBA World Cup game is on Saturday, August 26, at 8:40 PM Eastern Time against New Zealand.

Indiana Pacers: Circle this revenge game on your calendar

The Indiana Pacers were active on the trade market this summer and will have plenty of players that will be playing against their old teams.