Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers look to wrap up series at Madison Square Garden
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Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers attempts a lay up against Miles McBride of the New York Knicks during the third quarter in Game 4.
PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK – Tyrese Haliburton has steered the Indiana Pacers to the doorstep of their first National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals appearance since 2000.
After a historic individual performance in Game 4, he is focused on ending the Eastern Conference Finals in style on May 29 (May 30, Singapore time) when the Pacers visit the New York Knicks at the famed Madison Square Garden leading 3-1.
“I’m excited about it,” Haliburton said. “It will be a lot of fun. It’s a tough environment to play in. We’ve got to be ready. It’s one more game.”
Haliburton’s outing for the ages included 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds without a turnover, the first time a player achieved a 30-15-10-0 statistics line in NBA post-season history.
He also made five three-pointers and had four steals in the 130-121 home triumph.
Haliburton’s propensity for running the floor is proving to be a huge advantage for fourth-seeded Indiana.
“He’s a great player. It’s as simple as that,” Knicks star Jalen Brunson said.
“It’s on us to try to limit him as best as we can. It’s now time to get back to the drawing board and get ready for Game 5.”
Third-seeded New York’s lone win in the series occurred when they rallied from 20 points down to win Game 3. Karl-Anthony Towns was the captain of the comeback, with 20 of his 24 points coming in the fourth quarter.
The Knicks will be monitoring Towns closely ahead of Game 5 after listing him as questionable due to a knee injury.
While there is doubt regarding his health, he is pretty certain when asked about the team’s 3-1 series deficit, saying: “As a team, we all have to do better. It’s all of us. We have to do a better job to make it difficult for each one of them to score.”
The Knicks have also had a problem with turnovers leading to easy transition points; they have committed 58 turnovers in the series, an average of 14.5 per game.
“As a team, we just need to tighten the screws when it comes to that,” Brunson said. “If they were aggressive turnovers, they’d be different. But passive turnovers is not us.”
Brunson is averaging 33.3 points in the series and has topped 30 three times.
As for Indiana, Pascal Siakam has been a stellar sidekick to Haliburton with productive efforts of 39 and 30 points.
The Pacers have also won six consecutive play-off games on the road as they look to close out the series in the rabid New York atmosphere.
Haliburton is not worrying too much about following up an epic one-of-a-kind outing with something similarly special.
“I’m just trying to play the right way,” he said. “I just want to impact winning.”
On May 28, the Oklahoma City Thunder, sparked by 34 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012 by routing the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-94.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA Most Valuable Player, added eight assists and seven rebounds as the Thunder captured the Western Conference Finals series 4-1. They will host Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 5. REUTERS, AFP
