Tyrese Haliburton puts on playmaking and defensive clinic in first Team USA showcase

Tyrese vs. Canada: First Half

It did not take long for Tyrese Haliburton to officially sub into the game, coming in with 4:53 left in the first quarter and with Team USA down 4-12. With this large deficit and a very slow start to their game, it was clear Team USA needed a spark from someone on the roster, and Haliburton provided that in abundance.

Mere seconds after subbing in, Haliburton got a block on Canada's RJ Barrett, showing the height and versatility that landed him on Team USA in the first place, further proved by him winning the ensuing jump ball as well. Outside of this, Haliburton recorded his only other stat with 3:35 left in the first quarter, diming up Jayson Tatum for a driving layup to cut the Canada lead down to four.

It did not take long for Haliburton to go back to his playmaking ways in the second quarter, as he quickly hit up Anthony Edwards for a fadeaway jumper within the first 30 seconds of the quarter for his second assist of the game.

A short while later, Haliburton grabbed an offensive rebound and spun off his defender, but missed the jumper, after which he hustled for a beautiful save and kicked it out to Anthony Edwards, but he missed the three-pointer, essentially negating Haliburton's hustle to keep possession but rewarding him two rebounds.

With around eight minutes left in the second quarter, Haliburton was taken out of the game. This rest lasted about four and a half minutes, after which he was subbed back in for the final 3:30, where he really got active. First, Haliburton threw his third assist of the game in the most stylish way possible, throwing a beautiful feed off a layup attempt to a cutting Bam Adebayo who finished the play with an inside dunk to give Team USA a four-point lead.

The rest of Haliburton's first-half output consisted of another rebound, and surprisingly enough, two steals. In fact, Tyrese Haliburton was perhaps Team USA's best defender in this game, debunking everyone's idea of him being a defensive liability by using his long arms to his advantage by pestering shooters and playing the passing lanes like an alert hawk, getting plenty of pilfers in the passing lane when players least expected it, even to the point where Bill Raftery complimented his defensive ability out loud

Shortly after the two steals, Tyrese Haliburton's first half came to an end. In about 10:30 of playing time, Haliburton filled up the stat sheet in his own way, going scoreless on 0/2 from the field but recording three rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block while having an impressive plus/minus of +11, being one of the more impactful players on the team.