Tyrese Haliburton minute restriction ends in Pacers win over Pistons

The Indiana Pacers have kicked off the post-All-Star Break run on a high note, recently defeating the Detroit Pistons in their first game in eight days.

This win came resoundingly as well, as, after a somewhat close start to the game, Indiana would end up not even making the first quarter's final score look competitive, as they carried a 31-point first-half lead into some leeway to coast in the second half. They would eventually pick the pace up in the fourth quarter to get a hard-fought 129-115 victory.

Perhaps the biggest thing to notice from a team standpoint was the balanced scoring attack. Even without one of their most efficient scorers in Aaron Nesmith, Indiana would still have six players score in double-figures, including Pascal SIakam's 20 points, Bennedict Mathurin's 15, and TJ McConnell's 16 off the bench.

Noticeably at the top of this list, taking back his rightful place as the team's leader was Tyrese Haliburton, who scored 25 points and dished out 12 assists to lead Indiana to victory.

However, the biggest revelation was perhaps the 33 minutes Haliburton played on the night, which was second-most on the team and some of the heaviest minutes he has played since returning to the lineup at the end of January against Boston.

Since going down with a hamstring strain on January 8, Haliburton has been on a reduced minutes plan, usually playing parts of quarters and sitting out ends of games. From his return on January 30 to the last game before the break on February 14, Haliburton played around 22 minutes per game as he eased his way back to regular paced basketball.

Now, however, it seems like that grace period is over. For starters, Haliburton did not appear on the Pacers' injury report on Thursday after weeks of being reported as available with injury management.

Getting to the actual game, Haliburton showed absolutely no signs of a past injury, as he was as explosive as ever, showing more confidence and aggressiveness and even finishing some plays strong at the rim, even going reverse on one.

After the game, Haliburton was questioned on if his minutes restriction was over. He responded positively, stating that he did not know about it until the middle of the game, and that he does believe that it is over.

This lines up perfectly with the events of the game, as Haliburton played with a free-flowing nature not seen from him in over a month, back when his injury had not occurred yet.

With extra confirmation from Haliburton that his injury is good as healed, and the Pacers recently getting one of their most comfortable wins of the season, things seem to be looking up in Indy.

Hopefully, this good fortune can continue, and the Pacers can avoid any serious injury mishaps the rest of the way, especially going into the playoffs.