Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers have run off back-to-back appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals, and have a very real chance at making their first NBA Finals appearance since 2000.
The Pacers have reached the Conference Finals in consecutive years for the first time since 2013 and 2014, but Haliburton's group has bigger goals in mind.
Tyrese Haliburton reveals why Pacers are different after eliminating Cavs
Tyrese Haliburton finished Game 5 leading the Pacers in scoring with 31 points, six rebounds, and eight assists on 10-of-15 shooting and 6-of-10 from three. It marked the first time in 10 games this postseason that the Pacers had a player score 30 or more points.
But through those 10 games, the Pacers are 8-2 with gentleman's sweeps over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks as well as Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers. They haven't necessarily needed a 30-point scorer in those games, with their depth on full display instead.
“It's just a balanced effort,” Haliburton said after the Pacers' Game 5 win over the Cavs. “We're different than every other team in the NBA. We don't just have one guy on the team who scores all the points. I think we defeat teams in different ways. We move the ball. The ball's probably got a lot of different guys making shots, making plays. We've preached our depth the last couple years, and it's paying off now.”
THE DAGGER FROM TURNER 🔥
THE WAVE FROM HALIBURTON 👋
THE PACERS ELIMINATE THE CAVS‼️ pic.twitter.com/NMf2QA0WTE
— ESPN (@espn) May 14, 2025
Through two rounds in the postseason, the Pacers have six players averaging at least 10 points per game with TJ McConnell (8.6 points) and Obi Toppin (8.5 points) just under 10 per game.
Pascal Siakam leads the Pacers in scoring at 18.8 points per game to go along with his 6.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists, but Tyrese Haliburton is second in scoring at 17.5 points to go along with his 5.5 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game.
“I had a great game, but I think a big part of that is guys were finding me, putting me in the right spots, and we didn't panic after that rough start to the first quarter,” Haliburton continued. “We knew they were going to throw a punch. We talked about that, we knew that they were going to throw a haymaker there, but I thought that we weathered the storm the right way and got going from there. Really proud of our effort and proud of this group.”
The Pacers will not advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they await the winner of the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. The Knicks lead that series 3-1 heading back to Boston, but with superstar Jayson Tatum suffering a torn Achilles, things aren't looking great for the Celtics.