Tyrese Haliburton didn’t have to say a lot.
His sweatshirt mentioned all of it.
Moments after his Indiana Pacers defeated the Knicks in Recreation 7 of final 12 months’s second-round playoff collection, Haliburton sat down on the Madison Sq. Backyard podium sporting a hoodie with a picture of Reggie Miller’s notorious “choke” taunt.
“I’m just wearing the hoodie,” Haliburton mentioned coyly. “I like to be comfy on the plane.”
After all, Knicks followers received the message.
Miller made that choke signal to Knicks superfan Spike Lee throughout Recreation 5 of the 1994 Jap Convention Finals as he led his Pacers to a second-half comeback.
The sharp-shooting, trash-talking Miller emerged as the final word Knicks killer over six playoff collection towards them from 1993-2000.
And Haliburton, whose Pacers are set to face the Knicks once more on this 12 months’s Jap Convention Finals, hasn’t precisely shied away from the “heel” function, both.
“It was obviously something that he wanted to do, and the way that he played last year in the playoffs, I mean, it was fitting,” Knicks level guard Jalen Brunson mentioned Monday.
“He played well in the Garden. Obviously, Knicks fans and Pacers fans, they go back and forth. I think he did a great job with it last year, but now we’re moving on.”
Haliburton averaged 21.3 factors and seven.0 assists per sport in final 12 months’s collection towards the Knicks, throughout which he additionally wore a Miller T-shirt to the Indianapolis airport earlier than Recreation 5.
After uneven performances in Video games 1 and 5 on the Backyard, Haliburton was at his greatest there in Recreation 7, scoring 14 of his 26 factors within the first quarter and ending 6-of-12 on 3-point makes an attempt.
“He knew that we needed some special shotmaking,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle mentioned after that 130-109 win. “There were shades of Reggie Miller, running around in that first quarter.”
Very similar to Miller did, Haliburton carries himself with a confidence and swagger that teammates love and opposing followers can’t stand.
Requested final summer season about his “villain” standing, Haliburton prompt it was “a label that’s been put on me.”
“I like playing basketball,” Haliburton informed Yahoo Sports activities in July. “I perceive that folks don’t need to see Indiana win something. They don’t need to see us do properly. As a small-market crew, for almost all of my life, Indiana has been checked out as boring or regardless of the case could also be.
“I just go into games understanding it’s whoever’s in the locker room, whoever’s in that travel party, against the world.”
In an nameless ballot printed final month by The Athletic, NBA gamers voted Haliburton as essentially the most overrated participant within the league.
However the two-time All-Star is within the midst of one other robust playoff run.
Haliburton enters Wednesday evening’s Recreation 1 towards the Knicks on the Backyard averaging 17.5 factors and an NBA-best 9.3 help per sport this postseason.
He made a game-winning 3-pointer within the waning seconds of a Recreation 2 win over the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, then iced that second-round collection with a Miller-esque 31 factors on 10-of-15 taking pictures, together with 6-of-10 on 3-pointers, in Recreation 5.
“We text every day,” Haliburton mentioned of Miller after final 12 months’s Recreation 7 towards the Knicks. “He’s been a good mentor for me.”
And Pacers followers love him.
After a video of Knicks followers aggressively heckling a person sporting Haliburton jersey in New York final week went viral, Haliburton invited the fan to Recreation 4 of the Jap Convention Finals in Indiana.
“Everybody in our organization wants to make sure you’re taken care of,” Haliburton informed the fan, Hans Perez, throughout a video look on Monday’s episode of ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” “All the team’s excited to meet you. It’s all we’ve been talking about.”
That gesture wasn’t very villain-like.
“Whatever the media puts on me is what’s put on me,” Haliburton mentioned in that 2024 interview with Yahoo Sports activities. “At the end of the day, I just want to be known as a guy who gives his all.”
