Sport 2 of the NBA Finals was a story of two stars.
Whereas Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lived as much as his MVP kind in his Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s 123-107 win, Tyrese Haliburton turned in a conspicuously quiet efficiency for the Indiana Pacers.
Haliburton managed solely 5 factors on 2-of-7 taking pictures with 4 assists by means of three quarters, after which the Pacers trailed 93-74.
“I’ve had two really poor first halves,” Haliburton stated. “I’ve just gotta figure out how to be better earlier in games. Kudos to them, they’re a great defensive team, but I’ll watch the film and see where I can get better.”
The Thunder boast the NBA’s stoutest protection, and so they’ve discovered success by throwing a number of defenders — together with Lu Dort, Cason Wallace and Jalen Williams — on the play-making Haliburton.
With the sequence tied 1-1, Haliburton is averaging 15.5 factors and 6.0 assists per recreation — down from the 21.0 factors and 10.5 assists that the purpose guard averaged in opposition to the Knicks within the Jap Convention Finals.
Maybe much more tellingly, Haliburton’s uncharacteristic 4.0 turnovers per recreation within the Finals are greater than twice the 1.7 he averaged within the earlier spherical.
“They’ve got a lot of different guys who can guard the ball, fly around,” Haliburton stated of the Thunder. “They’re really physical. Forced the officials to let us play a little bit more. Just got to do a better job of playing through there.”
Haliburton scored solely 10 factors on 9 shot makes an attempt within the first three quarters of Sport 1, although he completed because the hero in Indiana’s 111-110 victory with a game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining.
In Sport 2, Haliburton lastly bought going with 12 factors on 5-of-6 taking pictures within the fourth quarter, however it was too little, too late in a recreation that was already out of attain. He completed with a team-high 17 factors however had 5 turnovers and 6 assists.
“We had some success there, me playing off the pitch a little bit more, flying around, rather than if I’m in that high ball screen, which I feel like I am really successful at, that gives them a chance to really load up, pack the paint,” Haliburton stated.
“They got a couple steals in there. I had some really dumb turnovers tonight. They were kind of showing a soft blitz, sometimes a full blitz.”
Haliburton was hardly the one Pacer to have a tough Sport 2. Pascal Siakam shot 3-of-11 and completed with a plus/minus of -15, whereas Andrew Nembhard — Gilgeous-Alexander’s major defender — was a game-worst -17.
The Pacers completed with solely 34 factors within the paint as Oklahoma Metropolis pressured them into 3-point makes an attempt, the place they completed 14-of-40 (35.0%).
“People shouldn’t just look at [Haliburton’s] points and assists and judge how he played, or judge how any of our guys played, just on that,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle stated.
“That’s not how our team is built. We’re an ecosystem that has to function together. And stats, we’ve got to score enough points to win the game, but who gets them and how they get them is not important.”
However Haliburton is the Pacers’ engine, and he was considerably outplayed by the sport’s different big-name level guard in Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored an environment friendly 34 factors with eight assists.
Haliburton went scoreless and with out an help within the second quarter, throughout which the Thunder unleashed a decisive 19-2 run.
The sequence now shifts to Indiana, the place Sport 3 is scheduled for Wednesday evening.
“Any time you’re a lower seed in a playoff series, your job is to go try to get one on the road,” Haliburton stated.
“We got Game 1. Felt like we really let the rope slip there in the second quarter. There’s many different ways that you can choose to digest what’s in front of you. We focus on taking it a day at a time. You got the split. You feel good about that. But we definitely wanted to play better tonight.”
