What Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton expects from himself in Game 2 against the Bucks
MILWAUKEE (WISH) — The Indiana Pacers are getting ready for a critical game on Tuesday night in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks jumped out to a big lead in the first half of Game 1 and never looked back, ultimately winning 109-94.
The Pacers understand the importance of game two because they do not want to fall behind 0-2 in the series.
To win though on Tuesday night, they’ll likely need a better performance from point guard Tyrese Haliburton. The All-Star still finished with 9 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds in the game one loss. He’ll be the first to tell you though he needs to play better on Tuesday.
“I just need to be better,” Haliburton said. on Monday. “Just a bad game for me overall. Give them all the kudos in the world, like they’ve got a good coaching staff. They got good defenders, physical guys. But, I can be a lot better, and I will be tomorrow (Tuesday).”
Maybe the biggest stat from Sunday night regarding Haliburton’s performance is that he only shot the ball seven times, going just 4-of-7 from the field. The seven field goal attempts are the fewest number of shots in a game for Haliburton since the March 1st contest against the New Orleans Pelicans.
“There’s plenty of ways to get Tyrese going,” Pacers center Myles Turner said on Tuesday. “I think the biggest thing with Tyrese is just him seeing a couple shots go through, getting his confidence.”
The Pacers have confidence as well in the face of the franchise entering Tuesday, since they’ve seen him step up to the challenge so many times already in his NBA career.
“He’s an All-NBA player,” Pacers power forward Pascal Siakam said. “He’s an All-Star. He knows what to do. Obviously, they’re going to throw everything at him. We got to do a better job just getting him open shots. But, he knows what to do.”
The blue and gold also realize it’s a team game. Sure, Haliburton is hoping to have a better performance, but so does everyone on the roster.
“It’s a team effort,” Turner said. “It’s not just, ‘Tyrese go play better.’ It’s more of we have to find ways to get him more incorporated in the offense, find ways to get him open a bit more.”
Game 2 will tip-off at 8:30 p.m. EDT inside Fiserv Forum.