Tyrese Haliburton has the Indiana Pacers on a historic offensive pace during the NBA playoffs, and his stellar play came on the heels of a conversation with WNBA legend Sue Bird, to whom he turned for advice on balancing his scoring ability with his facilitator role. Few mentors are as well-versed in that field as Bird, who accumulated three WNBA assists titles throughout her legendary career as a superstar point guard.
The advice Haliburton received from Bird seemingly paid dividends. The Pacers star logged eight double-doubles across 14 playoff games and improved on his regular-season averages with 19.4 points and 9.8 assists per game. That is more than half a point and assist greater than he logged on a per-game basis prior to the postseason.
“Clearly he’s figured it out,” Bird said on the “Taylor Rooks X” podcast. “I think my favorite part about watching Tyrese in this run is, yes, the clutch play, the big moments. But it’s been a little up and down at times, and that’s the reality. I think a lot of times, you talk about top players, you talk about All-Stars and you see their great play, but it always comes with a bad quarter, a bad game, a bad stretch. It’s really how you respond to that. To me, that’s always the differentiator between good players and great players.”
Not every game has been a masterful performance, but Haliburton bounced back from his rare off nights to put the Pacers in position to reach the NBA Finals. In the second-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, for example, Haliburton responded to a four-point clunker with an average of 22 points over the ensuing two games to clinch the series.
“Who can respond to the tough stretches?” Bird said. “Because we all have them. And I think you’re seeing it in real time — not just in series, but in games — where he may not have the best stretch ever, but he’s finding ways to win the game, he’s hitting the big shot, he’s finding his teammates.”
By the numbers: How Tyrese Haliburton and Pacers offense stack up against ‘Showtime’ Lakers of 1980s
Douglas Clawson
By the numbers: How Tyrese Haliburton and Pacers offense stack up against ‘Showtime’ Lakers of 1980s
Haliburton again notched a bounce-back effort in Wednesday’s Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. On the heels of a loss to the New York Knicks, Haliburton sparked a victory with the first 30-point, 15-assist, 10-rebound triple-double in playoff history.
With Haliburton directing traffic, the Pacers averaged 118.5 points per game this postseason. That is the second-highest scoring mark since the 1987 Los Angeles Lakers. They have yet to score fewer than 100 points in a game in the 2025 playoffs, and the last time they failed to hit the century mark was all the way back on Feb. 4.