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Tyrese Haliburton had himself quite the offseason; he may not have played a ton of minutes for Team USA in their gold medal run in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but being part of the team gave him the opportunity to learn from the best of the best — including Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry. But during the Indiana Pacers' opening night clash against the Detroit Pistons, whatever Haliburton learned over the summer didn't seem to work.
In particular, the Pacers star revealed following the Pacers' 115-109 win over the Pistons that he tried to put into practice one of Curry's pieces of advice, but he won't ever do so again after he suffered through a rough shooting night.
“He convinced me to try out pregame naps, because I told him I don't nap. And he told me to try it out and text him after the game… So he'll be getting a text from me shortly. No more pregame naps for Tyrese,” Haliburton said, per Tony East of SI.
At the very least, it's important for Haliburton to be able to tell himself that he did try another way of doing things. The Pacers star surely rationalized it in his mind by telling himself that, if it did work for Curry, then perhaps it could work for himself too.
Alas, Haliburton shot the ball poorly on opening night; his three-ball was off all night long, and he simply redeemed himself by making a triple when it mattered the most. With the Pacers up by just three with around 20 seconds to go in the fourth, Haliburton nailed a dagger three to put the game out of the Pistons' reach.
Tyrese.
Haliburton.
dagger. pic.twitter.com/4vIYy9CyNJ— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) October 24, 2024
Nevertheless, with Haliburton not playing up to his usual standards, it's safe to say that he won't ever be preparing the way he did for the Pacers' clash against the Pistons ever again. And why mess with what was working? If not taking naps was what allowed him to be at his best, then perhaps he should stick to the routine that his body is familiar with.
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers hit a few speedbumps but get by the Pistons
This current iteration of the Pistons aren't anywhere close to being the pushover that they were last season. Nevertheless, these are the games that the Pacers should be taking care of if they were to continue their rise atop the Eastern Conference. For a while in the fourth period, it seemed as though they were going to trip on a banana peel on opening night.
But in the end, the Pacers got the job done. They got the stops when it mattered the most, which Myles Turner deserves plenty of credit for, while Pascal Siakam and Bennedict Mathurin came up with huge baskets, setting the stage for Tyrese Haliburton's dagger shot.
Mathurin was a livewire, and he looks like he's a man on a mission as he returns from the injury that ended his 23-24 season prematurely. Without his contributions, the Pacers may have started off the season 0-1 instead.
