While the Indiana Pacers have tumbled down the standings following a strong start to the 2022-23 campaign, their future remains blindingly bright, and it's thanks in large part to Tyrese Haliburton's presence as their franchise player. On Thursday night, Haliburton showed once again why he's on track to be one of the best point guards in the association for years to come.

With the Houston Rockets putting up a strong fight, Haliburton had to will his Pacers to victory using his incredible control of the game's tempo. And he did just that with a floor general masterclass, dropping 29 points and a career-high 19 assists to lead the Pacers to a 134-125 overtime victory over the Rockets that allows them to draw ever more closely with the Washington Wizards in the race for the final play-in tournament spot.

However, following the game, Tyrese Haliburton's perfectionist side came to the forefront. The Pacers' franchise cornerstone admitted that he didn't play particularly well in the fourth quarter, which contributed to the Pacers' inability to take care of an 11-point lead in the payoff period.

“I was awful finishing the game for us. They depend on me to close games, and I didn't get any buckets in the fourth so I had to wake up in overtime,” Haliburton said in his postgame interview with Bally Sports Indiana's Jeremiah Johnson. “Shout out to my teammates for allowing me to do that.”

One of Tyrese Haliburton's most incredible qualities as a table-setter is that he manages to tally his gaudy stat lines within the flow of the game.

“It's just all coming through the flow of the game. I don't feel like I'm ever hunting anything. I might have tried to get my 20th assist in the end there, but they were fouling and stuff,” Haliburton said with a wry smile.

It's not too often that someone manages to pull off a 30-point, 20 assist game, which the Pacers floor general came close to doing. Haliburton would have been just the 11th player in NBA history to do so, joining the likes of Luka Doncic, Russell Westbrook, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, and Isiah Thomas.

Nevertheless, the Pacers, like Haliburton was in his interview, will be all smiles following a solid win tonight.