Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton On Game 5 Loss: ‘I Got To Be Better’

Indiana Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton was held to just eight points in Thursday night’s 111-94 road loss to the New York Knicks in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Pacers’ Starting Five Combined For Just 37 Points

The Pacers never led the Knicks in Game 5 and trailed by as many as 22 points. The loss also marked the first time this postseason that Indiana was held under 100 points.

“We’re a resilient group,” said Haliburton, who also had six assists, two steals, and a block. “We always want to respond when things don’t go well after a game like that. We understand what the stakes are. … We’re fine. There’s no need to panic or anything.”

Indiana’s starting five combined for 37 points, the second fewest for a team in a game this postseason, and the team had 20 turnovers, its most in a game during this playoff run.

#Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton following the Game 5 loss:

“We’re fine. There’s no need to panic or anything.” pic.twitter.com/SXhTHiuII1

— WISH-TV News (@WISHNews8) May 30, 2025

Pascal Siakam led the Pacers starters in scoring with 15, and Bennedict Mathurin scored a team-high 23 points off the bench. Obi Toppin, who had 11 points as a reserve, was the only other Pacers player in double figures.

“To start the game, we just didn’t have the right level of force, the right level of attitude necessary in this environment,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.

“It was a bad start; we never had a lead in the game. There were a multitude of things that were going wrong. There were stretches in the game where we got a little bit of traction, but never enough.”

Tyrese Haliburton Posted A Historic Triple-Double In Game 4

In Game 4, Haliburton recorded a historic triple-double — 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 15 assists, without committing a turnover — becoming the first player in playoff history to put up at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 15 assists without a turnover since turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78.

Haliburton also joined three-time MVP center Nikola Jokic and Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson as the only other players to post at least 30 points, 10 boards, and 15 dimes in a playoff game.

In Thursday night’s loss, Haliburton scored his eight points on just 2-of-7 shooting. His seven shot attempts were his fewest in any game this postseason, and he scored or assisted on 24% (23 of 94) of the Pacers’ points. In Games 1 through 4, Haliburton scored or assisted on 41% of his team’s points.

“I got to be better, and I’ll be better in Game 6,” Haliburton said. “We got to be better as a group. Our pace has to be better. That starts with me. I got to be better there. As a group, we’ve shown that we can have some success this playoffs. This was a rough showing for us tonight. So we’ll watch the film, see where we can get better and be great.”

Indiana still leads the series 3-2, and the Pacers have not dropped back-to-back games since March. Thirteen teams have come back to win a playoff series after trailing three games to one.

The Pacers host the Knicks for Game 6 on Saturday night.