“We got our work cut out for us. Playing against the MVP, playing against one of the best offenses in the league, the best team in the league. We’ve gotta be prepared next series,” said Tyrese Haliburton in anticipation of the upcoming NBA Finals. A final obstacle remains now between the 25-year-old and his first Larry O’Brien trophy, which won’t yield that easily. After all, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in Assist-to-turnover ratio, Fewest turnovers, Opponent turnovers, etc. Attempting to break their defense will be a tough task. However, if a renowned analyst is to be believed, then Haliburton excels in that one trait that might put him on top of OKC during the upcoming series.

Former ESPN Radio host Ryen Russillo recently appeared as a guest on Bill Simmons’ long-running podcast. As the conversation shifted to the Finals, Russillo highlighted that “When you get Haliburton going, and once he starts seeing like what you want to do, like his familiarity with the opponent, and this will come into some of the finals preview stuff, like once he starts like getting to play the same team over and over again, for that guy and how brilliant he is, as a player, like you’re just going to be at a disadvantage because of his size, and his passing, and then, you know, once he starts adding the shot in there”.

The player must have certainly been playing like this as a habit for the former radio host to catch it. The fact that Tyrese Haliburton gets sharper the more he plays the same team was seen throughout this postseason. The same player that was making 10 points in Game 1 against the Milwaukee Bucks made 26 in Game 5. 22 points in Game 1 turned to 31 in Game 5 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the field goal percentage going up from 60.0% to 66.7%, and the 3-point percentage going up from 33.3% to 60%.

In the Conference Finals, the Pacers lost Game 5 amidst reports that the Knicks cut down on some of the mistakes they made in Game 4 that allowed Haliburton and his teammates to get their transition game going. Jalen Brunson and co were much sharper in the halfcourt, rarely letting Haliburton penetrate the lane to set up opportunities for himself or the Pacers squad. This led to the 25-year-old’s 2nd-worst performance of the ongoing post-season, as he made only 8 points through 2-7 (28.6%) field goals, 0-2 (0.0%) 3-pointers, and 4-5 (80.0%) free throws.

In the next game, Haliburton turned things around. He shook off early shooting struggles to finish with 21 points and 13 assists. Haliburton took the time in the first quarter by going scoreless, then warming himself up with 8 points in the 2nd, which also included a memorable dunk after teammate Andrew Nembhard stole the ball. After accumulating just 10 points through the first 3 quarters, Haliburton added 11 in the final one.

OKC is already making special plans for Tyrese Haliburton. As Mark Daigneault said at Sunday’s practice session, “Yeah, he’s a great player. He stirs the drink. He’s got an unbelievable ability to score. Which I think creates a lot of the passing. You think back to guys like Nash was like that. The passing is what you think about, but the threat of scoring is what creates those advantages and opens up the passing”.

From the looks of it, Tyrese Haliburton might need just one game against them to adjust to their offense and defense. Therefore, even if we don’t end up seeing a miracle from the star in Game 1, we can surely expect a fiery response in Game 2. Given this ability of his, and his overall contribution, one wonders how the player ended up not receiving the Conference Finals MVP title. As it turns out, opinions are divided on whether he deserved it or not, with our two hosts themselves discussing it.

Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo Question Tyrese Haliburton’s ECF MVP snub

Should Tyrese Haliburton have won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP title? That is the question asked by many in the immediate aftermath of the Indiana Pacers’ advancement to the NBA Finals. Pascal Siakam certainly deserved the honor, having established himself as the team’s highest average points scorer in the six-game series. Despite this, no one can deny that the Pacers might not have been where they are now without some of Haliburton’s explosive performances and use of pick-and-roll to get the better of Karl-Anthony Towns’ defense. Therefore, it is easy to get divided over this recent MVP choice.

Right after Ryen Russillo made his remarks about Haliburton’s habit, he said, “I can’t believe Siakam won Eastern Conference Finals MVP over Haliburton in this one. I was as surprised as Haliburton, who took a step forward to grab the trophy, and it wasn’t his”. While that moment was funny, it also highlighted just how confident the player was about his chances.

Bill Simmons revealed believing that the race for ECF MVP was ‘dead-even’ for him, “except for the part that he made one of the crazy shots in recent playoff history, and I thought that was going to swing it to him. Because of that game one three, plus because Siakam was awesome in game two, awesome in game four, and awesome in game six”. All of that, plus the fact that the player had to defend someone like Karl-Anthony Towns, made Simmons also believe Haliburton should have been voted in. The reason they believed Siakam was favored was because his performance in Game 6 won everyone over.

“When he decided to put this thing away last night, it was him, and I think the voters like looked at the three-point percentage, those that voted for Siakam, and went ‘All right you know he…. Siakam lit it up from three, i’ll give it to him’” said Ryen Russillo. “And I just…. there’s too many times in these finals and conference finals MVP awards where I think it’s too much stat counting on the votes, and you’re not really looking like who at this time, through six games, was the most valuable to the team”.

Ryen Russillo drew a comparison between Tyrese Haliburton and Stephen Curry by highlighting how the 3-point leader lost the 2015 Finals MVP title to Andre Iguodala. He believed that Iguodala was only favored because he had to guard LeBron James, while the fact that Stephen Curry had to figure out getting through double teams was overlooked. Bill Simmons brought out his own example by referencing Tony Parker winning the Finals MVP over Tim Duncan in 2007.

“Parker in 07 was terrible where it’s like ‘Okay he scored, they swept. He had a lot of points’. Duncan’s the best player in the league he’s the whole reason they’re there. He’s the guy in the meetings Cleveland’s like “We got to figure out this Tim Duncan thing” said Simmons.

Well, the good thing is that Tyrese Haliburton still has the chance to secure the Finals MVP title. Whether he will do it by improving game after game is something that remains to be seen.