Tyrese Haliburton registers his best performances in months in Pacers Game 2 loss

The Indiana Pacers have gone down 0-2 in the series to the New York Knicks, despite the efforts of Tyrese Haliburton.

Ever since suffering a hamstring injury in January, Haliburton has struggled with his jumper and aggressiveness, being more afraid to drive and settling for jumpers despite shooting far worse from deep. This reached a tipping point after Game 1 against the Knicks, where Haliburton only scored six points on six field goal attempts, the second-lowest on the team and completely inadequate for a star player about to receive a max contract.

Thankfully, for the Pacers, Haliburton seemed to turn it around on Wednesday, as he looked reinvigorated as a shooter and scorer in the first half of Game 2, scoring 22 points on 7/12 shooting, making five three-pointers, dishing out five assists, and grabbing four rebounds.

After months of inconsistent and frustrating play, Haliburton finally looked like he got back in his groove and picked up his play from before the hamstring injury. Not only was he taking more shots, but he was making them at an extremely high rate, with his jumper looking better than ever and the Pacers enjoying a 10-point lead at halftime.

Unfortunately, as the Pacers' lead dwindled in the second half and eventually turned into an increasing deficit, Haliburton's play declined. After being given open shot after open shot in the first half, the Knicks' defense swarmed in on Haliburton and made life very tough for him, resulting in him only taking two shots in the third quarter and scoring two points.

Despite Indiana trying their best to come back, even cutting the Knicks lead down to one in the fourth quarter, they did not have enough juice to finish the job, as New York held on to win 130-121 and Haliburton's performance was all in vain. Despite the loss, Haliburton was still very productive on the night, finishing with 34 points on 11/19 shooting and 7/11 from deep, dishing out nine assists, and grabbing six rebounds.

Haliburton's performance brings a small sliver of hope for Pacers fans, as they have been clamoring for him to do exactly what he did on Wednesday, which is take advantage of what the defense gives him and shoot as much as possible.

Despite the 0-2 deficit, Indiana is still not out of this series, with the next two games being played in Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a chance for Indiana to either come back in the series or dig their grave in front of their home fans.