Haliburton Thrives In ‘Mom’ Role As Pacers Shock Cavs In Game 1

Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton doesn’t mind being a “mom” to his teammates.

Speaking after his team pulled off a major upset by defeating the Cavaliers, 121-112, in Game 1 on the road, Haliburton spoke of how his role is to cater to the needs of the team.

“That’s my position, I feel like I facilitate at a high rate, just try to get guys involved,” Haliburton said. “Just try to make the right play, take care of the ball as much as I can and just help lead the team.

“Like I’ve said many times, being the point guard is like being the mom. Your job is to take care of everybody.”

Haliburton was tremendous in Game 1, finishing with 22 points, 13 assists, a steal and three blocks. With the Cavs missing their own star point guard in Darius Garland, Indiana had a huge advantage in that position battle.

Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson also sang Haliburton’s praises after the game.

“Tyrese is a master, he’s like a hockey distributor, kinda banging it [the ball] around,” Atkinson said. “That’s hard, they’re an excellent offensive team and I think we struggled not only with their pace, but their ball movement.”

Game 2 of this series will be Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST.

Haliburton Continues To Write Off ‘Overrated’ Claims

Through six postseason games, Haliburton is now averaging 18.3 points, 11.8 assists, 1.2 blocks and just under a steal. He has struggled with his 3-point shot thus far at just 27.7 percent. Watch out if that comes around.

Haliburton created offense at will against the Milwaukee Bucks and extended that into Game 1 of this series. The pick-and-pop game with Myles Turner is working to perfection, as the big man is shooting 37 percent from deep.

In the previous series, Indiana’s pace and Turner’s ability to shoot from the outside had head coach Doc Rivers benching Brook Lopez. Now, it appears Indiana is dead set on presenting the same conundrum to Cleveland and Jarrett Allen.

This is the fascinating aspect of the postseason, where every marginal weakness is put under a magnifying glass and teams have to respond accordingly.

Will we see more of Evan Mobley at center moving forward? Either way, Cleveland’s first path to improvement is probably having Garland back in the lineup again.