“Oh my god” was certainly an appropriate reaction by Reggie Miller after Tyrese Haliburton recreated the former player’s iconic gesture during a celebratory moment. The Indiana Pacers managed to take Game 1 of their playoff series against the New York Knicks to overtime, all thanks to the 2x All-Star. The Pacers’ guard grabbed the ball after OG Anunoby made a free throw with 7.3 seconds on the clock. He maneuvered and got behind the line to make a clutch shot. That was so exciting that it brought the entire Pacers squad off the bench. Haliburton, in turn, marked the moment by recreating Miller’s infamous “choking gesture”. But the star guard is now regretting it, thanks to one misstep.

Tyrese Haliburton’s clutch shot will certainly go down in history as a memorable one. But unfortunately, since his toe was on the line, it was considered to be a 2-pointer, and not a 3. So, instead of straight-out delivering the Pacers the win, the shot took the game into overtime. In the end, it did not matter, as the Pacers won the overtime round 138-135. However, according to @Krisplashed, Tyrese Haliburton admitted that “If I would have known it was a 2, I wouldn’t have done it. I might have wasted it. If I do it again, people might say I’m aura farming.” Yikes!

Well, Tyrese Haliburton is not completely in the wrong to be worried. After all, as highlighted by Sports Illustrated reporter Jeremy Hanna, the Pacers star continues to remain one of the most criticized players in the NBA. A survey conducted by ‘The Athletic’ back in mid-April named Tyrese Haliburton as an ‘overrated’ player. After the survey, Cleveland fans ended up echoing this sentiment, chanting “overrated” during his Game 2 free throws. Donovan Mitchell had to even gesture for the fans to stop.

So the last thing Tyrese Haliburton would want is for his critics to get another reason to get on with their work. However, even those critics cannot deny that, despite the premature celebration, the clutch shot was nothing short of impressive. If Haliburton had not taken that shot, it would have been the New York Knicks celebrating their Game 1 win. So it wasn’t perfect, but definitely crucial. If you’d ask Rick Carlisle, he’d say that celebration was deserved. In his words: ““Tyrese has earned the right to do whatever he wants.” 

Miller had brought it to life 3 decades ago when the Pacers had squandered the Knicks’ 12-point lead in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. Now that the Carlisle-led side found itself in a situation a little too similar, pulling off a comeback from a 17-point deficit, Haliburton’s gesture made sense. But he isn’t on board. The guard was admittedly awaiting the perfect moment to execute it.

He revealed to TNT’s Allie LaForce, “Everybody’s been wanting me to do it, I was gonna hold it for the right time. That felt appropriate, and then, you know, it went to overtime. So, we’re gonna have to save it for later.” Despite being worried that his action would have been taken up as ‘aura farming’, Tyrese Haliburton was still a bit glad to have done it. After all, as he revealed, the best thing to take it out was when his idol was there to see it.

Tyrese Haliburton revealed using “choking gesture” to pay homage to Reggie Miller

After scoring 25 points in fourth quarter to beat the New York Knicks, Miller celebrated by using a “choking gesture” directed towards Spike Lee, aka a fixture at Knicks’ games and a constant trash-talker. Haliburton, thus, thought it apt to pull off the move now. Plus, getting to do it in front of Reggie Miller was just a bonus.

“I think that’s just a historic moment, and that was obviously more him versus Spike kind of the one-on-one and, uh, that just felt like it was to everybody, but to him too,” said Haliburton during the post-game presser. “I wanted…. I wanted him to see it more than anything. Uh, but I think it’s just really cool to continue to, you know, make my own history, and this group to make our own history, while also showing, you know, respect and love to the ones who came before us”.

Tyrese Haliburton certainly holds Reggie Miller in high regard. After all, the former player was the face of the Indiana Pacers for 18 years. He secured 5x NBA All-Star honors, was named to the All-NBA Third Team 3x, and was amongst the few who could give tough competition to the likes of Michael Jordan and other legendary players of the 90s.

Having already won Game 1 and pulled out the gesture, Tyrese Haliburton can certainly deliver the ultimate tribute to Reggie Miller by defeating the New York Knicks once again, going through the NBA Finals, and winning that championship title that the former player himself wasn’t able to bring to his team.