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Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers handled their business through the first two games of their first-round series against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. After picking up a 19-point win on their home floor over the Bucks in Game 1 of this series, the Pacers held on to win 123-115 on Tuesday night.
Indiana now leads Milwaukee 2-0 in this series, but the team's success wasn't the storyline after this game. Instead, the attention was cast on Haliburton for reasons outside his performance on the court so far during the playoffs.
While reporters could have asked Haliburton about his success with back-to-back double-doubles against the Bucks or perhaps about his 21 points during Indiana's Game 2 victory, the spotlight was instead cast on anonymous players dubbing the Pacers guard as the most overrated player in the NBA.
Every year, The Athletic conducts a player poll with questions about teams and players around the league. This season, 158 players were included in this poll, and one of the questions was about the most overrated player in the NBA. With 14.4 percent of the vote, Haliburton is viewed as the most overrated player in the league by his peers, something he doesn't care about.
“I must be doing something right if that’s the case,” Haliburton said on Tuesday night in response to the poll. “I don’t have a big speech or comment on it. All I care about is this locker room and winning games, and we’re in position to go to Milwaukee and continue this series on. I'm not too worried about that.
“I know who I am. I’m confident in my own skin and not worried what anybody thinks. My teammates trust me — my front office and my coaching staff, so I'm good. I could care less.”
Despite only being 25 years old and in his fifth NBA season, Haliburton has constantly been put under the microscope by fans and his peers in the league alike. Many have questioned his ability to be the face of the Pacers even though he has been nothing but successful in Indianapolis, and fans have criticized his abilities as a result of being benched while with Team USA in the Olympics.
Tyrese Haliburton silences overrated label
So far against the Bucks in the playoffs, Haliburton has orchestrated the Pacers' success, tallying 24 total assists with only four turnovers through the first two games of this series. Winning is all that matters to the Pacers guard, which is why he isn't letting the outside noise from this player poll impact his mentality.
“I’m an emotional player, a guy who plays and likes to have joy, likes to have fun,” Haliburton stated, via James Boyd of The Athletic. “I know if you’re not a Pacers fan, a lot of people don’t really care about that. But I don’t give a f**k. I just want to win. That’s really just the way I feel, and I’m not gonna change who I am to please other people.
“I think I’ve had a lot of success by being me.”
After Tuesday night's Game 2 win, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle heavily criticized the anonymous player who are bashing Haliburton. Instead of directly commenting about Tyrese appearing as the league's most overrated player, the long-time NBA coach pointed out that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jimmy Butler, two MVP-like players in his mind, also appeared on this list.
“I wanna see the faces of those guys. That’s a bulls**t poll. The whole thing is bulls**t.” Carlisle said before ending his press conference and storming out.
The Pacers currently hold a 2-0 series lead over the Bucks. Haliburton has been vital to Indiana's success, and he will look to put his team in the driver's seat of the series on Friday night during Game 3 in Milwaukee.
