Tyrese Haliburton is the man of the hour in the NBA. After hitting that ice-cold, game-winning shot to steal Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the whole world is buzzing about the Indiana Pacers’ electrifying young star. But just as Game 2 against the OKC Thunder was about to tip off, NBA legend and Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas dropped a comparison on NBA TV that’s got everyone talking. He didn’t just praise Haliburton; he put him in the same rarefied air as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, but with a fascinating and powerful twist that’s all about the coach standing beside him.

Zeke, a two-time champion and one of the fiercest competitors in league history, was breaking down what makes this Pacers team so dangerous. He pointed to the crucial dynamic between a superstar player and a championship-level coach. And that’s when he delivered this bombshell of a statement: “Kobe Bryant did not become Kobe until Phil Jackson got there. Jordan did not win until Phil Jackson got him.” Whoa. Let that sink in for a second. 

Zeke’s comparison hits just right for this Pacers team. Tyrese Haliburton is the brilliant, unorthodox, rising superstar. He’s got all the talent in the world, a unique playmaking style that has critics scratching their heads but leaves defenses scrambling. He’s the raw talent, the force of nature. And who’s his “Phil Jackson”? His head coach, Rick Carlisle. And honestly, it all adds up!

He immediately pivoted to the coach in this series, saying, “Well, you got a coach in this series by the name of Rick Carlisle, 65 years old.” He pointed out Carlisle’s deep bag of tricks, noting that in Game 1, he ran a “triple stagger that none of these OKC players hadn’t seen before.” It basically caught the younger OKC team completely off guard, leading to a crucial open shot.

Moreover, the Pacers’ unique offense as something totally different from what most modern NBA teams are built to handle. “OKC is playing against an old school offense,” Zeke explained. “Five, six, seven players in double figures. Sometimes they come down and they don’t even dribble the basketball in half court. They pass and move and cutting.” He’s talking about what the Pacers themselves call their “wear-down effect.” It’s not about one guy doing everything, it’s about using their insane depth – going 11 players deep in the playoffs! – to just run you into the ground for 48 minutes, daring you to keep up. As Pacers sparkplug T.J. McConnell put it, “it’s just playing to exhaustion. That tires other guys out… it’s hard to play against us for 48 minutes.”

So, Isiah Thomas’s powerful statement wasn’t just a simple comparison. He’s saying that just as Phil Jackson unlocked Jordan and Kobe, Zeke believes Carlisle might just be the key to unlocking a championship for Haliburton. In fact, after the game, Haliburton immediately gave credit where it was due, proving Zeke’s point about that crucial player-coach bond. “We got the stop and coach [Carlisle] trusts us in those moments to not call timeouts,” Haliburton said. “He trusts me in those moments, the guys trust me and I was just trying to make a play. So, man, basketball is fun. Winning is fun. That’s a great win for us.” That right there? A coach’s trust and a player’s talent coming together to win on the biggest stage. It’s exactly what Isiah Thomas was talking about. As Game 2 gets underway, it adds a fascinating new layer to watch for. 

Is Hali really “Jordan and Kobe coded”? The insane clutch stats say yes

Consider this absolutely mind-bending stat. This season (regular season and playoffs combined), on shots to either tie the game or take the lead in the final two minutes, Tyrese Haliburton has shot 13-for-15. That’s an insane 86.7%. To put that in perspective, the rest of the NBA combined shoots about 38% on those same high-pressure shots. It’s been pointed out that a whole group of current and former All-Stars – including SGA, Paul George, Zion Williamson, and Zach LaVine – are a combined 0-for-25 on those shots this season. Haliburton isn’t just good in the clutch; he’s on another planet right now.

And it gets even crazier when you just look at these playoffs. Hali is 6-for-7 on shots to tie or take the lead in the final 90 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. According to ESPN’s Keerthika Uthayakumar, those six makes are the most by any player in a single postseason since they started tracking this stuff back in 1997. He’s literally been more clutch in these situations than entire teams combined!

But what about the plays that don’t end in a shot? The smart pass, the key rebound, not turning the ball over? There’s a stat for that, too, called “Clutch Win Probability Added” (CWPA), which basically measures how much a player’s all-around clutch play adds to their team’s chance of winning. And guess who’s at the top of that list for a single postseason since 1997? Yep, Tyrese Haliburton. His current mark of +2.54 wins added in the clutch is the highest on record, surpassing legendary clutch playoff runs from guys like LeBron James (in 2013 and 2018) and Dirk Nowitzki (in his iconic 2011 title run). So, when people ask if Hali has been better in the clutch than Kobe or Dame or Steph this postseason? According to this metric, the answer is a resounding yes.

It’s not just him, either; the whole Pacers team has adopted his ice-cold demeanor. They are an incredible 8-1 in “clutch” games this postseason (games within five points in the final five minutes). Their only loss came in that wild Game 3 against the Knicks where KAT went nuclear. Their .889 winning percentage in these tight games is the best on record for any team with at least nine clutch games in a single postseason, even better than the ’98 Bulls or the ’07 Spurs.

And the comebacks? They’re just absurd. The Pacers have won three games in these playoffs where their win probability was, at one point, less than 1-in-400! Their Game 1 ECF win against the Knicks? They had a 0.05% chance of winning at one point. That’s a 1-in-1,999 shot! To pull off one of those is a miracle. To do it multiple times? That’s not luck; that’s a pattern. That’s a team that is absolutely “Jordan and Kobe coded” when it comes to refusing to lose. So yeah, Isiah Thomas might be right. Pairing a coach like Carlisle with a player who is having one of the most historically clutch postseasons we have ever seen? That’s how you make a run at a championship.