Tyrese Haliburton has announced himself as a genuine NBA superstar under the bright lights.
Haliburton dropped 27 points with 15 assists and seven rebounds — and no turnovers — to see the Indiana Pacers take down the Milwaukee Bucks 128-119 and advance to the In-Season Tournament championship game.
The Pacers led by 12 at half-time in the Las Vegas showdown before Milwaukee came storming back into the game in the second half to set up a tight, back-and-fourth final quarter.
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That was until Haliburton’s layup extended Indiana’s lead to five points with 1:33 on the clock before the superstar guard iced the win with a massive stepback three-pointer with 49.1 seconds remaining.
Over his last two games, Haliburton has now recorded 53 points and 28 assists without a single turnover in an extraordinary feat as the Pacers have taken down the Celtics and Bucks — arguably the two premier sides in the Eastern Conference — en route to the In-Season Tournament championship decider.
“Tyrese Haliburton is putting the basketball world on notice that he has arrived,” NBA legend Reggie Miller said on the ESPN telecast.
Elsewhere, Myles Turner racked up 26 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks and Rick Carlisle’s squad improved to 12-8 overall.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (37 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks) led the way for the now 16-7 Bucks and Damien Lillard chipped in 24 points, four triples, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Indiana now awaits the winner of the Lakers-Pelicans clash later on Friday (all times AEDT) to determine who it’ll play in Sunday’s In-Season Tournament finale, which doesn’t count towards the regular season.
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