“When I play better we win,” Tyrese Haliburton said following the heartbreaking loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, 108-103. The Pacers star is in a terrible shooting slump, and he knocked down just four of his 14 shots against the Cavs, and only one of his nine 3-point attempts found the bottom of the net.
“Obviously it’s frustrating,” he said. “I’ve never gone through a slump like this in my life. It's all part of it, figuring it out, and yeah (expletive) sucks. And everybody's got the (expletive) answer, but I mean it's about me figuring (expletive) out.”
Did All-Star weekend tire Haliburton out?
Haliburton’s post-All-Star break numbers are glaring, and frustration builds within the organization as he continues this uncharacteristic stretch of games. He’s connected on just 20 of his 94 3-point attempts in 13 games since the All-Star break – making him a 21.3% 3-point shooter in those contests. Haliburton’s career 3-point percentage is 39.4%.
His 3-point shooting numbers are way down, but his field goal percentage has seen a dip as well. In the same 13 games following the All-Star break, Haliburton has eclipsed 20 points just three times – 25 points against Detroit, 23 vs. Minnesota, and 20 more against Orlando. Just 41.7% of his shots are falling down the final stretch of the season – a 6% decrease from his career field goal percentage of 47.8%.
Is the hamstring injury lingering?
ESPN’s Bobby Marks suggests Haliburton’s slump is related to his hamstring injury sustained shortly before the break, and highlights his numbers since then.
Tyrese Haliburton from 3
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) March 19, 2024
Before the hamstring injury: 40.3%
Since Jan. 30: 28.3%
Last 5 games: 6-35
Haliburton, averaging 19.9 points before the All-Star break, tallies an average of just 15.8 points in the 13 games afterward.
Without Haliburton's magic, the Pacers struggle with offense
The shooting slump is proving to be taxing for Haliburton, but it’s impacting the Pacers’ offense overall. With a sputtering engine, the offense can’t find a foothold to get rolling.
“Certainly we're trying to generate a lot of threes,” T.J. McConnell began. “When they're not falling, it hurts our game a little bit, but we can't make an excuse for ourselves.”
“We’ve just got to keep trying to generate those types of threes and just try to generate good offense,” McConnell continued. “Because when we go through those lulls and we don't score, we put a lot of pressure on our defense…If you go through gaps in the game where you don’t score, no defense is really going to be able to sustain it.”
The Pacers look to Wednesday as they travel to Detroit to take on the bottom-ranked Pistons and hope to right some wrongs in the Motor City.