To quote Tyrese Haliburton, "It can't rain forever."
That sentiment was especially true come Friday night and the Indiana Pacers late-night showdown with Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. In Wednesday's matchup against Detroit, Tyrese Haliburton showed promising signs of a resurgence as he put up 20 points and dished out nine assists in Indiana's blowout win against the Pistons. However, as this was against the Pistons, fans needed to see a bit more to fully declare his slump over. As it turns out, they may have gotten that now.
Truthfully, this game never really left the Pacers' grasp despite Golden State having an early advantage off 13 first-quarter points from Stephen Curry. The Pacers still kept the game tied at 38-38 and entered the half only down one point despite a 10-point second quarter by Klay Thompson. Funnily enough, this half was punctuated by a deep Haliburton three to beat the buzzer and send the Pacers to the locker room with momentum.
THAT'S HOW YOU END A HALF, EVEN BETTER THAT IT WAS TYRESE HITTING THE SHOT TOO pic.twitter.com/b8QtAB45e5
— The House that Kami Built (@KamitronPTW) March 23, 2024
The second half, however, was when the Pacers took control, scoring 57 points and holding the Warriors to a mere 34% from the field and 17% from beyond the arc. Haliburton led the way with 15 points, three assists, and surprisingly, three steals and two blocks, registering perhaps his best defensive performance as a Pacer as well.
Tyrese Haliburton has bucked his three-point shooting slump for the Pacers
Perhaps the most promising part of the night, however, was Haliburton shooting 4/8 from deep. He entered the game shooting 3/21 from three-point range in his last three games. With his deep shooting being a constant issue in his recent slump, shooting close to 20% from deep this month, it was nice to see Haliburton finally make some threes consistently for once, as his confidence slowly started to return.
In the end, Indiana pulled away with a commanding 123-111 win on the road, as they avenged their one-sided loss to the Warriors from February 8 with a commanding victory to net them an even more favorable playoff position.
After the win against Golden State, and Philly and Miami both losing to the Lakers and Pelicans, respectively, the Pacers have finally created some separation in the standings, as they now stand a full game and a half ahead of the 76ers and Heat, sitting comfortably ahead of the Play-In.
Of course, this does not by any means mean that Indiana's job is done. With 11 games left to play and two more late-night games coming up against the Lakers and Clippers, Indiana will have to keep their foot on the gas, and that all starts with Haliburton.
If the Detroit game was a warm-up, let's hope the Golden State game was the real thing, and that we will be seeing this Tyrese Haliburton the rest of the way. Hamstring injuries are very tough to manage, and in Haliburton's case, he has felt the effects of his quite a bit, but with his confidence returning, it will be hard to stop him when he's fully recovered and motivated to succeed.