Tyrese Haliburton just dropped one of the all-time great playoff performances, and — for the first time in several weeks — he did it in front of his father.
Looking to deliver a crushing blow to the Knicks, Haliburton’s Pacers outran New York130-121 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals to claim a 3-1 lead. And it was Haliburton’s historic triple-double that sparked Indiana to the victory.
Haliburton became the first player in NBA playoff history to record a 30-point, 15-assist, 10-rebound triple-double without committing a single turnover. He finished with 32, 15 and 12 — a career high in rebounds. He also became the first player in Pacers history with multiple playoff triple-doubles.
“I feel like we making up stats at some point to make me look better,” Haliburton joked after the game when asked to contextualize his performance. “I’m just trying to play the right way, man, I just want to impact winning. … I’m just trying to do that to the best of my ability. We’re building something special here. We’re having a lot of fun with what we’re doing. I feel like I’m at the forefront of that with a lot of these guys."
Attending his first game since he was told to stay away from home and road Pacers games following an on-court incident with Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo during the first round of the NBA playoffs, John Haliburton saw his son put on a show.
“I just wanted to put on a good performance,” Haliburton said. “I wanted to win the game. Obviously my dad being here is special. Growing up, my dad was reffing a lot on the weekends, so he didn’t get to come to many of my games growing up, so when he would come to my games, I would want to play well. So with him being in the building, of course I wanted to play well.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tyrese Haliburton, inspired by dad, has triple-double for ages
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