Tyrese Haliburton struggled to find his shooting touch Friday night. So he looked for other ways to impact the game — a thunderous slam dunk off a rebound, finding open teammates and patiently waiting for a chance to make a statement. Then in the waning seconds of overtime, Haliburton wanted the ball.
The All-Star guard completed a three-point play with 1.6 seconds left, capping his first postseason triple-double in his first home playoff game to give the Indiana Pacers a 121-118 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Indiana leads the best-of-seven series 2-1, with Game 4 on Sunday in Indianapolis.
“You know I was going to shoot it no matter what,” Haliburton said. “What I was going to get was really based off of feel there. Khris [Middleton] pushed Pascal [Siakam] up to tell Patrick [Beverley] to go under, and as soon as I saw Patrick kind of turn his head, I reacted and everything opened up across the middle and I finally made a shot. I couldn’t buy a bucket tonight.”
Haliburton was just 8-of-22 from the field and 1-of-12 on 3-pointers. But he did just about everything else right, finishing with 18 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds as two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo again sat out for Milwaukee because of a strained left calf.
The Pacers also have their first lead in the playoffs since Game 3 of a first-round matchup against Cleveland in 2018. Indiana hasn’t won a series since reaching the 2014 East finals.
“It was a really fun game and overtime. What more could you ask for?” Haliburton said. “It was a really fun atmosphere.”
Damian Lillard added 28 points and eight assists, most coming after he hurt his left knee in the first quarter and then aggravated an Achilles injury late in the fourth quarter.
The teams then traded baskets, ties and leads over the final 7½ minutes of regulation, with Siakam’s putback with 19.1 seconds left giving the Pacers a 109-106 lead.
But Siakam missed the ensuing free throw, Middleton answered with a midrange shot and the 3 to tie it. Siakam’s long 3 to win it hit off the back of the rim at the buzzer.
It was more of the same in overtime until Haliburton broke free for the midrange shot that drew a foul and led to the decisive three-point play.