Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton gets mixed reviews in Team USA loss to Canada

It’s official: Tyrese Haliburton and Team USA have played their last FIBA World Cup game, and it was certainly a thriller. In the bronze medal game, Team USA went the distance with Canada before ultimately falling in overtime.

Team USA’s loss to Germany in the semifinals eliminated them from the gold medal game, thus leaving them in the fight for third place against Canada, who lost to Serbia in their semifinal game.

Haliburton’s performance against Germany was interesting, to say the least. While he had his usual assists and made the offense better when he was on the floor, his defense left a lot to be desired.

Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton gets mixed reviews in Team USA loss to Canada

That would ultimately be Team USA’s undoing as the game wound down, as Germany kept hitting tough shots, including one by Andreas Obst that left Haliburton on the ground.

Following the game, Team USA felt like they still had something to prove, especially Haliburton, who felt his work was not finished and was planning a redemption performance against Canada.

Canada, on the other hand, was on a roll heading into the semifinals against Serbia but lost 86-95 in said game. This set up a matchup against Team USA for the bronze medal on Sunday.

It’s pretty safe to say that the duo of Dillon Brooks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gave Team USA more than they bargained for, despite Haliburton not taking Canada lightly going into the game.

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Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton and Team USA lose to Canada: First Half

Tyrese Haliburton got subbed in with about four minutes left in the first quarter and recorded a single block before the quarter ended. This was a far cry from his usual first-quarter performances, as he usually threw some assists and hit a shot or two during the quarter. Team USA was struggling, as Canada led by nine points when the first quarter ended.

Haliburton was a bit more active in the second quarter, getting his first assist with less than a minute gone in the second quarter, driving and dishing to Bobby Portis for a layup.

Haliburton continued to do his thing for the rest of the first half, getting a few rebounds and four more assists, along with a steal, before getting subbed out with 2:20 remaining in the first half.

Canada’s lead was cut to two by the end of the half, and it looked like we were in for an exciting ball game, with USA going on a 19-2 run, even taking the lead before Canada took it back to end the half.

The Pacers point guard played fairly well in the first half, but Team USA just couldn’t pull away from Canada, a team chock full of NBA players. The first half of the game screamed “wire-to-wire ball game,” and that’s exactly what ended up happening.

Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton and Team USA lose to Canada: Second Half

Tyrese Haliburton got subbed in about halfway through the third quarter, with 4:51 left, and threw two more assists before the period ended, one to Mikal Bridges and another to Bobby Portis.

You’ll notice that Haliburton hasn’t done anything in terms of scoring in the first three quarters. He got some crucial buckets in the fourth quarter, but his shot-happy attitude would ultimately be his undoing.

In addition to throwing two more assists in the fourth quarter, Haliburton would hit two three-pointers, with one vital three keeping Team USA in the game down the stretch.

However, despite this clutch three, Haliburton also missed an additional two threes, which helped dig Team USA into another hole and saw him catch some flack on social media, especially for the one with a minute left and the game tied. He heaved a three from around eight feet behind the three-point line, ultimately sparking a chain of events that would lead to Team USA nearly losing in regulation.

However, they miraculously forced overtime off a Mikal Bridges missed free-throw and miracle turnaround three-pointer to tie the game at 111 apiece.

However, Team USA ultimately ran out of gas in overtime. Haliburton didn’t record any stats in his four minutes of action in the extra period. This would be his last four minutes of Team USA action for the year, as their podium hopes were crushed.

Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton and Team USA lose to Canada: Final stats and takeaways

Similar to the Germany game, Tyrese Haliburton had a very up-and-down performance against Canada. He recorded six points (2-of-8 FG, 2-of-6 3PT), seven assists, five rebounds, a steal, and a block in a FIBA career-high 30:49 of playing time.

Team USA’s bronze medal hopes ultimately went unfulfilled, as Canada bested them in overtime with a final score of 118-127. Dillon Brooks, of all people, scored 39 points, and superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander contributed an additional 31 points.

Once again, Haliburton’s lack of efficiency stands out on the box score, as Haliburton shooting 2-of-8 is very uncharacteristic of him, especially in FIBA play, where he has been rather efficient, especially for a guard.

Unfortunately, these last two games were a diversion from the norm, especially the game against Canada. Haliburton took several ill-advised shots, specifically in the fourth quarter. His shot selection ultimately sparked a chain of events that nearly caused Team USA to lose in regulation.

Despite this inefficiency, Haliburton still led Team USA in +/- with +10, compared to the -17 of Jalen Brunson, who had the second-worst mark on the team.

As a matter of fact, Haliburton was such a positive for Team USA during his time on the court, especially in the last two losses to Germany and Canada, it started to look worse for Steve Kerr as to why he kept him on the bench for so long.

Sure enough, Kerr was still getting plenty of backlash from Pacers fans over his treatment of Haliburton.

Despite the positive effect of Haliburton being on the court, the talk will always come back to his faults, mainly his defense. As a bigger point guard at 6-foot-5, he has shown flashes of good on-ball and point-of-attack defense, even getting a career-high three blocks in a game against Greece. But on his worst days, you get moments like the ending of the Germany game, where he was left on the floor trying to guard a three-pointer.

Ultimately, Haliburton’s defense still leaves a lot to be desired, especially with his size and athleticism, but he is still only 23 years old, so he has plenty of time to improve on that end of the ball.

On the other side, Haliburton’s shot selection was subject to criticism in the Canada loss, as he was lambasted on social media for his ill-advised shot attempts. Some of his shots, especially the one in the final minute of regulation, were very poorly thought out.

However, this is easily fixable, and with Haliburton’s incredible basketball IQ, it should not be too much of a problem in the future.

I would go as far as to say that I would rather have Haliburton taking these shots as opposed to being afraid to shoot and not being aggressive at all, which he tends to do.

All in all, Tyrese Haliburton had a pretty good showing for Team USA in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, and he would be a very impressive addition to the 2024 Olympics roster, or at least he seems to think so.

Based on his FIBA play, and despite his limited minutes on the floor, plenty of people would agree with his assessment.