OKLAHOMA CITY — After getting off to slow start in the first half for a second consecutive game, the Indiana Pacers and Tyrese Haliburton were not able to pull off another comeback Sunday night, dropping Game 2 of the NBA Finals 123-107 to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Haliburton finished with 17 points and 6 assists, but was limited to 3 points and 3 assists on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half as Indiana fell behind 59-41. It matched Indiana’s lowest first-half point total of the playoffs, as the Pacers shot just 35% as a team in the opening frame.
While Haliburton gave credit to Oklahoma City’s swarming defense — he had five turnovers, his most in any game this season (regular season or postseason) — he also acknowledged he needed to find ways to be more impactful from the opening tip.
“This is who they are defensively,” said Haliburton, who walked with a noticeable limp when exiting his postgame news conference. “They got a lot of different guys who can guard the ball, fly around … I just got to figure out how to be better earlier in games. Kudos to them, they’re a great defensive team. But [I will] watch the film, see where I can get better.”
Before Haliburton’s game winner at the end of Game 1, he also struggled to get much going through the first half, putting up 6 points and 3 assists on 2-of-4 shooting.
A key for Oklahoma City has been limiting Haliburton’s ability to get in the paint. According to ESPN Research, Haliburton touched the paint on 9 of his 100 touches (9.0%) in Game 2 after touching the paint in 7 of his 108 touches in Game 1 (6.5%), his two lowest percent of touches to come in the paint in 18 playoff games this season.
“Our offense is built from the inside out,” Haliburton said. “We got to do a better job getting downhill. They collapse and then make plays there, but I thought we could improve a lot there. But they’re flying around. They got great point of attack defenders. They got great rim protectors. They’re a great defense.”
Despite his highs and game-winning shots, Haliburton has had moments during this playoff run when opponents have found ways to limit him offensively. During Games 3 and 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round, he scored a combined 15 points. He scored 8 points in a Game 5 loss in the conference finals against the New York Knicks.
But Haliburton has also found a way to respond to increased attention from defenses.
“With Tyrese, there’s plenty of formulas to get him going,” Pacers center Myles Turner said. “There are things we went over in our game plan that we didn’t execute well enough today. We’ll get them in the paint. We have been one of the better teams scoring in the paint all year and we have to establish that early. We only had four or six points in the paint in the first half and that’s not Pacers basketball.”
Haliburton did break free and start to find a rhythm in the fourth quarter, but not soon enough for the Pacers to mount a comeback. He scored 12 points in the final quarter on 5-of-6 shooting (2-of-3 from 3) and dished out two assists, production he hopes can carry over into Wednesday night’s Game 3.
“Through the course of a series, even in the games that you lose, you’re trying to learn from them, see where you can get better,” Haliburton said. “We had some success there, me playing off the pitch a little bit more, flying around rather than if I’m in that high ball screen, which I feel like I am really successful at, but that gives them a chance to really load up, pack the paint.”
The Pacers now head to Indianapolis for the city’s first NBA Finals game since 2000, with the series tied at one game apiece.
“There are many different ways that you can choose to digest what’s in front of you,” Haliburton said. “We just focus on taking it a day at a time. You got the split. You feel good about that. But we definitely wanted to play better tonight.”
