Tylese Halliburton has been the catalyst behind the Indiana Pacers’ stunning run in the 2025 NBA playoffs.
Due to Halliburton’s incredible clutch play, many fans believe that Pacer has a realistic chance to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder.
However, it appears that Halliburton’s incredible playoff run has lifted the Pacers Star bar. The media expects double the NBA All-Stars to bear an offensive burden in every game.
Unfortunately, the Pacers’ Game 2 loss was a brutal memory of Halliburton not being the star they scored. NBA analyst Howard Beck recently shared his thoughts about the same thing.
The late NBA legend Kobe Bryant is often considered one of the greatest scorers of all time. Obviously, Mamba has plenty of scoring feats to come with playoff time.
In fact, at the height of his NBA career, fans regularly expected Kobe to take over the game and win for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ringer Howard Beck recently pointed out that NBA fans have similar expectations for Halliburton following the Pacers’ 123-107 defeat in Game 2.
“And now there will be accusations and hot take. Blowhard demanding that Halliburton shoot more, attack more, and magically transform himself into some kind of Kobe Bryant clone,” writes Beck.
He added: “That’s because they are conditioned to what you would expect from an NBA superstar, especially in the finals.
In Game 2, Halliburton scored 17 points while shooting seven-thirds from the field. It was an efficient scoring night, but expectations for Hari ended up scoring 25-30 points every night.
In addition to his rant, Beck said Halliburton wasn’t like Bryant. However, his playing style is similar to those of Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, and Rajon Rondo.
All three legends were incredible point guards, but they rarely influenced the team with an astonishing score average.
“But it’s not Halliburton. Certainly, his stardom is tied to his creepy shotmaking. But he’s not a scorer in trade,” Beck continued.
“He’s Jason Kidd, Steve Nash and Rajon Rondo over James Harden, even the sophisticated man who asks him to carry the offense on his own,” the NBA writer concluded.
Beck’s comments can certainly be supported by looking at Halliburton’s career scoring average compared to the aforementioned NBA legend.
| Player name | Career scoring average |
| Tyreese Halliburton | 17.5 points per game |
| Kobe Bryant | 25.0 points per game |
| Jason Kidd | 12.6 points per game |
| Steve | 14.3 points per game |
| Rajon Circle | 9.8 points per game |
Beck’s rating makes sense as Halliburton is far from reaching Bryant’s level in terms of scoring. Also, given that Hari still has much of his career ahead of him, the Pacers star’s scoring average could plummet even further by the time he retires from the league.
After all, even during his fantastic 2025 postseason run, Halliburton averages 18.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game.
