So much of this season for the Indiana Pacers rests firmly on Tyrese Haliburton's shoulders. He is simultaneously the savior of the franchise and also this era's biggest question mark. If he can return to his past form, the Pacers are a high-level team and maybe even contenders. If he does not, this team is stuck in the mud with no real way forward.
Good news, Pacers fans: based on Tuesday night's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, this team isn't stuck in the mud or stuck in anything at all. They are back to running, moving, and shooting at an elite level.
And at the center of that is Tyrese Haliburton.
He's back!
Haliburton started the game against the Thunder very quickly. In only 18 total minutes, the superstar point guard put up 24 points, made four threes, and had two blocks, including one where he came from behind Isaiah Hartenstein to swat the big man's floater, leading directly to a fast-break bucket.
Expectations have been set extremely high for Haliburton, and yet early returns say that he is living up to all of them.
Returning to the spot where he tore his Achilles tendon would clearly be an acceptable reason for some rust, but instead Halliburton made a statement immediately. He had 11 points in the first quarter and was already back to throwing jump passes to the corners and to newly acquired big man Ivica Zubac.
This is no longer a team that can only play one style or that needs the easy buckets in order to score at their prolific rate. This is a well-balanced unit that can kind of do a bit of everything. Haliburton is at this team's core, weaving in and out of different performances, enabling everyone to be their best self.
Haliburton was not the only standout returnee, as the crown jewel of the Pacers' gap year in Zubac also put up a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double, adding five assists of his own. Shockingly, in what Pacers fans clearly were not expecting after such a miserable year, everything seems to be falling into place perfectly.
Haliburton is scoring and dishing, and while there still are some worries with getting downhill, the Improvement in talent and the comfort that he is playing with so heavily overshadow any worries that may still be lingering.
It may be early to say this in mid-October, when the season hasn't even really started yet, but the Pacers are back. Truthfully, they may be better than ever.
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