The second-round series between the Knicks and the Pacers has been a spicy affair. With officiating disputes, fines, obscene chants, star-studded courtside presence and a boatload of points; this series has everything. Tyrese Haliburton on Friday added a new one with his sneaky move after scoring over Miles McBride.
The Pacers guard was caught on camera gesturing “too small” to Deuce but avoided a tech thanks to his stealthy approach. You can watch it here:
The footage soon went viral as comments poured in, slamming Hali for his action. Here are some of the comments posted on X (formerly known as Twitter):
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The night ended with a 116-103 win for the Pacers, but Haliburton was far from his inspiring best we’ve seen in the previous two home games. The 24-year-old scored 15 points, chucked up 6 rebounds and handed 9 assists. Pascal Siakam led the line for the Pacers with a 25-7-5 stat line.
Tyrese Haliburton’s gesture had added significance to it given Miles McBride’s pre-game comments. After Haliburton’s 13-point performance in game 5 of the series, McBride said, “Obviously he didn’t go scoreless, and he was still impactful in a way. So my goal is for guys to go scoreless and to make as minimum of an impact on the game.” While McBride failed to keep the All-Star guard scoreless, Haliburton had his own motivation to score the jumper over the 23-year-old.
With the Pacers leveling the series at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the series now rolls onto game 7, which will be a messy one, believes Tyrese Haliburton.
Tyrese Haliburton Discusses His Expectations From Game 7
So far in the series between the Knicks and the Pacers, no team has won a road game. This tips the balance in favor of the Knicks, as the series finale will be at Madison Square Garden.
After Friday night’s game, Haliburton talked about his expectations for game 7 and said, “Now it’s a one-game series. It’s for all the marbles. Where else better to have a Game 7 than at the Garden? No team has won a game on the road in this series. We’ve got to be ready to go.”
“I got nothing to lose,” said Haliburton. “Unload the clip…Doesn’t mean shooting 30 shots…I watch the game, watch a lot of film…Can I get 2 feet in the paint…I don’t really trip off the box score…Game 7 gonna be unbelievable environment,” added the former Iowa guard.
So far in the series, Haliburton is averaging 20.5 points per game along with 4.3 rebounds and 7.2 assists. The ruckus New York crowd will surely be on his back for the entirety of Sunday’s game in what is anticipated to be a fitting end to this wild series.
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