On Monday evening, Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers saw their 2023-24 NBA season come to an end with a (stop if you've heard this one before) crushing late-game loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference Finals series. Haliburton of course missed the final two games of this series after re-aggravating a hamstring that had bothered him earlier in the year, and although the Pacers hung right in there with the Celtics for those two games, ultimately the team's lack of maturity and experience manifested itself at the worst possible times en route to the losses.
Haliburton has big plans for this offseason, as he is set to be a member of Team USA as they look to embark for international glory at the upcoming Olympics in Paris which will begin later this summer.
Haliburton's hamstring injury called into question for some whether or not the star point guard would be available to partake in the festivities; however, it appears that the guard himself is optimistic on that front as the Pacers' offseason is now officially underway.
“Haliburton said he doesn't expect the injury to be a problem for the Olympics because he has six weeks to recover before he has to report to camp. Said he'll do the rehab work in Indy,” reported Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.
Indeed, there is still well over a month before Team USA will convene for the first time in preparation for the Olympic Games. Joining Haliburton for the festivities will be fellow NBA stars like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant, among many other notable names.
An upstart year
Tyrese Haliburton over the course of the 2023-24 season established himself as one of the best young point guards in the NBA for the Pacers. Haliburton burst into the national consciousness with a series of electric performances en route to the Pacers' appearance in the In-Season tournament championship back in December, where they eventually lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.
However, Haliburton's production would take a drastic downward turn after a hamstring injury sustained around the middle of the season which forced him to miss some time. Even after he returned, the All-Star starter was not able to match the numbers or impact he put up prior to the setback, leading some to wonder how that would translate to a playoff setting.
Haliburton's showing in this year's playoffs could be fairly categorized as mostly solid, but with definite room for improvement. There were times, particularly in the second round series vs the New York Knicks, where the Pacers star was hesitant to even look at the basket, let alone shoot the ball when he was open. However, Haliburton looked much more comfortable during the Pacers' home games throughout this run, more closely resembling the All-Star starter and electrifying point guard he was throughout much of this season.
In any case, the Pacers' offseason will officially get underway once the NBA Finals conclude in June.
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