Tyrese Haliburton is the Indiana Pacers hero after a clutch shot in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. This led to extensive praise, including former three-time final MVP Shaquille O’Neal.
Few people chose the Indiana Pacers to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. Of course, only one game passed, but the pacers do well themselves. The Pacers won on the Thunder home floor. This was considered by Gary Payton as the deciding factor for the final.
Indiana tracked most of the game, but took the right shot when counted. Tyrese Halliburton had a rough game one, but it’s out of the way for his heroes. He was the one who made the game-winning shots. Halliburton has once again proved he is one of the league’s best point guards.
Like most of his performances this postseason, he has proven to the NBA community that he deserves his spot. Shaquille O’Neal saw what was shot.
O’Neal can be a difficult critic to impress, as seen within the NBA for over a decade. One of the biggest things he cherishes is the player who step up to the plate if necessary. That’s what Halliburton did in Game 1, the final match against the Thunder.
He had a quiet night, scoring only 14 points in six-sixth shooting from the field. Most likely, O’Neill would want him to step up, as he told Jimmy Butler. But that doesn’t matter because he made the most important shot.
For those who played almost 20 seasons, O’Neill was familiar with the clutch moment. He was a teammate of Kobe Bryant, one of the NBA’s greatest clutch players of all time. Halliburton’s 2025 postseason run rivals some of the league’s best clutch scorers.
“I can say he’s not afraid of the moment. I respect not to fear the moment. A guy like me wasn’t a good free throw shooter so I didn’t want it all the time,” O’Neill said in the rich Eisenshaw.
“I played with people who always wanted that moment, Penny Hardaway was like that. We all know that Kobe was like that, D-Wade, LeBron and even Steve Nash were like that.
“The fact that he wants the moment, he steps up every time. When the outcome is usually favorable for him and his team, I have to respect it.
“But I’m not ready to call him the ‘next Reggie Miller’ or the Mamba mentality. I don’t want to do it yet…but he is definitely one of my favorite players.
A Game 1 victory should not satisfy Halliburton and the Pacers. They want to build on momentum and positive energy from their first victory. Halliburton wants to shock everyone once again after the clutch shots for the New York Knicks and its game one shot.
The Pacers know what this Thunder team can do. The Western Conference Champions won 68 games in the regular season. This included two dominant victory over Indiana. Winning on one point is a small advantage, so Halliburton and the Pacers are preparing for a tougher challenge.
Thankfully, for Indiana fans, Halliburton didn’t have the best game. When he scored a 30-15-10 triple double, it was far from his historic performance against the Knicks. He wants to be productive as he is playing against the Thunder elite defense units.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Thunder are out for revenge, and the Pacers will do their best to endure it. Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle is working to expand his lead to 2-0 when he returns to Indianapolis.
