Tyrese Haliburton, from Indiana Pacers, is the perfect escapist of the NBA
Tyrese Haliburton strips once again the chains against the public’s astonishment. He is a basketball player, an NBA star, but if we narrowed his eyes, if we manage to capture the essence, if we return to the child we ever went, we will understand that it is something else: Harry Houdini raising his arms at the astonishment of the world. The passage of agony to ecstasy. Of pragmatism of a result closed to the emotion of the unpredictable.
Haliburton is the perfect escape. It is a custom -made film script. Full humanity beating artificial intelligence: the wonder of the unthinkable. Attend, Mr. viewer. Storm. The Close Up technique: it cannot be slower. 3, 2, 1. Abracadabra. The basketball we love standing up. The screaming that breaks midnight. The take -off of the seat at the Paycom Arena. The jump above an armchair in Buenos Aires. In Medellín. In Mexico. In Europe. And in the United States too.
There are regular seasonal players. And there are playoff players. Haliburton is, in itself, a lesson: do not let anyone give you limits. Do not succumb to the opinion of the rest. You never give up. They said this boy was overvalued. He had erratic passages. It seemed to fall. But he fulfilled a maxim that defines it: work in silence so that his actions do all the noise. He kissed the floor, yes. But just to take envy.
The difference is never made by those who start things. They are always made by those who finish them.
Haliburton is the return of Reggie Miller to Indiana Pacers, a quarter of a century later. We do not talk about numbers, we talk about emotions. What is sport if this is not? Basketball is surgical precision. Haliburton uses the ball with the ductility of a surgeon with scalpel, all above a formula one. There was no shot to tie or win in the last five seconds in this Playoffs course. It is ridiculous: 4-4, against a 3-16 of the rest of the NBA. Throughout the history of the league, no one achieved something like that four times in the same postseason. It is unique. Think about Bill Russell to LeBron James, with a scale in Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.
Do we take dimension of what happened or will we continue thinking about coincidences?
Haliburton is the dagger, but it’s not just him. Indiana Pacers is a teamwith Pascal Siakam as a reference, with Andre Nesmith as stamp of whoever gets in front, Andrew Nembhard with cold blood, Myles Turner among giants. All for everyone. Rick Carlisle has a lot to do with that: feeding a spirit of constant redemption that achieves impossible. Recurring voracity. Five disadvantages of 15 points or more lifted the paers in these playoffs. It is a real madness. It has been transformed into a team that you cannot tell last words: you have to liquidate it before it is lifted. Leaving a spark can make the forest built.
Each defeat that this group of Pacers had in previous seasons were steps towards victory. It always works like this, you can’t burn stages. Nothing teaches more than frustrations. Time. Something that is scarce in this era. Something that always defines and defined this sport.
Indiana recovers the decisive ball. Obi Toppin already knows what he has to do. Haliburton prepares to melt the watches once again. The needles play in their favor. Unsarbated, vertiginous, original. Expressive. He complains, laughs, he suffers. Enjoy. A Salvador Dalí with a basketball ball in his hands. The story will be judged once again. The sequence plane involves everyone: companions, rivals and public. The one on the court and the one who lives it thousands of kilometers away.
Michael Jordan’s last second shot to Utah Jazz in game 1 of the 1997 finals. Hakeem Olajuwon to Orlando Magic in game 1 of the end of 1995.
And Haliburton’s before Oklahoma City Thunder in game 1 of the 2025 finals.
Welcome, once again, to the NBA in which the wonderful thing happens. Welcome to NBA 3.0, Tyrese Haliburton’s kindness.
