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The Indiana Pacers had an opportunity to truly take control of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New York Knicks on Tuesday, but they instead lost by 30 points.
Their season is now on the line as they head back home for Game 6, which will take place on Friday.
Tyrese Haliburton, who looked like one of the NBA’s newest stars over the last year or two, scored just 13 points in Game 5, while the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson had yet another 40-plus-point game.
On ESPN, Austin Rivers called out Haliburton for not being aggressive when his team has needed him to be.
“Haliburton got that nod over [Jalen Brunson] for the Olympics … it hasn’t even been close throughout this series.” @AustinRivers25 on what the the Pacers need from Tyrese Haliburton to force a Game 7 pic.twitter.com/nOFvnbldHg
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 15, 2024
Earlier in this series, Haliburton had been a leading light — he scored 34 points with nine assists in Game 2, and he followed up that performance with 35 points in a Game 3 win.
However, in Game 1, he mustered just six points on six shot attempts.
Early this season, he was putting up gaudy numbers while making the Pacers into a very competitive team, not to mention an exciting one.
They led the league in scoring and several other offensive categories, and the acquisition of Pascal Siakam at midseason was supposed to bring them one step closer to championship contention.
However, Haliburton’s scoring average and efficiency dropped after the Siakam trade, and that trend continued in the first round of the playoffs versus the Milwaukee Bucks.
He will clearly need to lead the way with not just a big scoring performance but also by pushing the pace and getting teammates good shots consistently if his team is to have a real chance of coming back to win its series against New York.
The post Austin Rivers Calls Out Pacers Star Ahead Of Game 6 appeared first on The Cold Wire.