Tyrese Haliburton posts 1st triple-double, Pacers top Celtics

INDIANAPOLIS — After missing Saturday's win over the Miami Heat due to an upper respiratory infection, Indiana Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton didn't look like himself in the first half of Monday's tournament quarterfinal against the Boston Celtics.

“In the first half, I was dead,” Haliburton said later.

So at halftime, Haliburton — at the request of the athletic training staff — did something he had never done before: He used an inhaler.

As a result, when the second half started, it looked like itself again – and the Pacers looked like a totally different team. And, behind Haliburton's first career triple-double – 26 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists in 40 minutes – Indiana rolled to a 122-112 victory over the heavily favored Celtics to advance to the semis. -season tournament finals in Las Vegas. THURSDAY.

“It feels good to win,” Haliburton said with a smile, “especially in a game where no one expected us to.”

The Celtics, who entered the tournament with the best record in the NBA, were picked by many to win all three games this week and win the first-ever NBA Cup. Instead, they found themselves flying back to Boston early Tuesday morning following a flurry of plays from Haliburton after the second half left the Celtics searching for answers.

Never mind that Boston has the best defensive zone in the league with Jrue Holiday and Derrick White; all Haliburton did was score or assist on Indiana's first 19 points of the third quarter and 24 of the first 27 overall. He then buried a ridiculous four-point play on a deep 3-pointer when he was fouled by Jaylen Brown with 1:33 left, giving Indiana the lead for good – minutes only after he knocked Holiday out of his shoes with a ridiculous move and buried a 3-pointer right in front of the Indiana bench.

All told, it was a 24-minute burst that showed the basketball world why Haliburton and the Pacers entered the night with the NBA's best offense by an absurd margin of four points per 100 possessions – a gap plus greater than that separating the runners-up in the league. -and 10th offenses classified.

And while he was serenaded with “MVP” chants late in the second half, center Myles Turner – who has been with the franchise since 2015 and is its longest-tenured player – couldn't preventing it from soaking up an atmosphere that hasn't been seen in these parts for some time.

“The story, the backstory of it all makes it, you know, the most special,” Turner said. “And the fact that he got his opportunity, he's able to take it and run with it…I mean, it's just awesome to see where this franchise is, where I started, what 'she becomes and what she can potentially become.' It's the same level. Honestly, like I said, it comes down to atmosphere. I didn't hear any MVP chants, maybe when (Victor) Oladipo was there, but Ty really came in and took over and it's fun. “

It was less “fun” for Boston, which blamed itself for allowing a game to slip away – a game in which it held a seven-point lead at halftime and the Celtics had their chances to take control in the finals. minutes. But the Pacers have been a team all season that has surprised opponents with the hellish offensive pace they play with — and the Celtics, after letting Indiana trail when it shot 29 percent on field goals. 2 points in the first half, I learned that the hard way.

“We just have to be more connected defensively,” said Jayson Tatum, who finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds for Boston. “But, I mean, it's the NBA. Sometimes guys are going to make plays. He made some tough shots. So it's kind of two-fold.

“Guys get paid a lot of money to play basketball, and they’re pretty good.”

Haliburton certainly qualified as pretty good Monday night. Much was made of the fact that he had never played on TNT before this game, and the Pacers were not shy about expressing why this tournament was a great opportunity to put Indiana – and, by extension, Haliburton – on the map. national scene in an entirely new way.

The thing about the tournament during the season is that as you progress, you're going to play two more matches, win or lose, in the quarter-finals, against better opponents,” said the coach of the United States. Pacers, Rick Carlisle. “And so that's something that's great for us because we need high-level competition. It's really another thing that is a playoff basketball simulator. So that really helps us .And so getting the win tonight was important for a lot of the reasons that I mentioned.

“But I know it’s very special for (Tyrese) too.”

The Pacers will now savor their victory and watch and wait to see whether they face the New York Knicks or the Milwaukee Bucks in Thursday's semifinal in Sin City. But even though the mood was celebratory after Monday's victory, Haliburton insisted the goal was still far from being achieved.

“We wanted to be in this situation all year, and here we are,” Haliburton said.

“Now it's not just about being here. It's about winning.”

Tatum and the Celtics, meanwhile, had a few days to think about what could have happened.

“Yeah. I wanted to go to Vegas,” Tatum said with a sad smile. “I didn’t want to go home.

“I wanted to go to Vegas, so yeah, I'm mad. Next year, I guess.”