Another game, another clutch shot by Tyrese Haliburton. The Indiana Pacers guard seems to have taken being called the most “overrated” player in the NBA to heart. And winning seems to be how he wants to prove this narrative wrong. Although tonight, Tyrese’s showboating could have backfired horribly, something he admitted himself as he gave credit to his teammates. But on the flipside, his coach made an audacious assertion when asked about his celebration.

After draining what Haliburton thought was the game-winning three-pointer, he unveiled his latest celebration – Reggie Miller’s iconic choking gesture. If you watched the Pacers play in the 1994 NBA Finals, then you’ll remember Miller doing it in Game 5. Nonetheless, tonight, it turned out that Tyrese pulled out the celly a little too early, as his foot was still on the line, a la Kevin Durant. And after the game, Tyrese owned up to his error when a reporter asked if he thought it was a three.

“Yeah, for sure. But quickly in my celebration, somebody said it was a two. And, yeah, then my focus just became winning it, you know, how we could win the game. And I thought we did a great job of sticking with it in overtime, just making big play after big play,” said the 26-year-old. But it seems his coach didn’t really mind his celebration, even if it was premature.

“I mean, at this time of year, you wanna go into the most hostile, the most difficult environments and test your mettle, and go against Brunson and KAT and Bridges and these guys. I mean, this is a difficult time of the year. So, it’s not a big deal to me. And Tyrese has earned the right to do whatever he wants,” declared Rick Carlisle, too, quashing any narratives about Haliburton getting overconfident or overzealous in his showboating. 

After all, the Pacers point guard is quickly proving that he’s one of the best players in the league. He’s bounced former MVPs and the current Defensive Player of the Year in this postseason! And he did it in style, averaging 19.6 points and 9.2 dimes in the last 10 games. But even he knew that he barely sidestepped major embarrassment tonight. And Hali actually credits his teammates for pulling his rear out of the fire tonight!

Tyrese Haliburton credits teammates for OT win in Game 1 against the Knicks

The Indiana Pacers were down by 23 at one point in tonight’s game. And even as the game wound down to its final 3 minutes and 14 seconds of regulation time, the Pacers were down by 17 points! Then Aaron Nesmith happened. We don’t know if he was doing his best Steph Curry impression or whether it was the hard work of shooting coach Jenny Boucek. But Nesmith rattled off three after three, making 5 in a row! 

This led to Haliburton being able to tie the game and push it into overtime so the Pacers could win it. And after the game, Hali gave his teammates props for stepping up. “You know, obviously, Aaron’s heroics are, I mean, I hope they talked about it. They can’t be talked about enough. You know, he was amazing down the stretch. Obi had a big put-back dunk. We just had a lot of different guys contribute, make plays. And yeah, just real proud of our group,” said Haliburton.

Now, with 31 points himself, it’s not like Hali sat around twiddling his thumbs while his teammates carried him. But Aaron’s 30 points off 8-9 shooting from beyond the arc deserve a shout-out. And it’s nice to see Tyrese leading the charge in giving Nesmith and even Obi Toppin some credit. Just goes to show how much of a leader he is.

And it’s under this leadership that the Indiana Pacers have now gone 1-0 up in the Eastern Conference Finals. With this win, they’re definitely in the right direction for the NBA Finals. So, it seems Rick Carlisle is right. Tyrese Haliburton has indeed earned the right to do whatever he wants!