Hoops Tonight - Tyrese Haliburton is having a CLUTCH playoff run for the ages

Jason breaks down exactly how clutch Tyrese Haliburton has been in the 2025 Playoffs including his game winners against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks, and now Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder. He explains just how good Hali has been and why it's been a playoff run to remember.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Welcome to course correction, brought to you by Microsoft.
Just like star players and teams navigating performance hurdles, business

(00:22):
decision makers today are under immense pressure to get things right.
They must rise to the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities.
Microsoft empowers these visionaries with AI solutions, simplified cloud and
data management and trustworthy responsible AI. And when you're in
the NBA, you have your own hurdles to face. In
this segment, we will highlight the player every week that

(00:43):
has risen to the occasion when his team needed in
whatever challenge you're facing. Microsoft empowers you with the expertise
to say, bring it on. This week's player of the week.
You guessed it is Tires Halliburton. Tyres Haliburton is on
one hell of a run in the twenty twenty five
NBA Playoffs. He just hit his fourth unbelievable buzzer beating

(01:07):
shot that put his team in position to win a
game they had no business winning. He has made twelve
clutch shots in this postseason run. Again, that's what the
score within at least five points with five minutes or
less remaining in the game. That is second only to
Jalen Brunson, who by the way, has five more makes
in clutch situations but on twenty more attempts, so in

(01:31):
terms of volume and efficiency, no one's come close to
Tyrese Halliburton in this postseason run. He also has just
eight assists to just one turnover in those situations. That's
the most assists out of anybody in clutch situations in
this postseason run. And the Pacers are now eight and
one in the nine games that they've played in this
postseason run that have come down to clutch situations. That

(01:55):
is the best winning percentage at this volume in recent
NBA Since NBA dot Com started tracking this information in
nineteen ninety seven. The only teams that have come close
to that level of ruthless clutch efficiency are the twenty
sixteen Calves and the two thousand Lakers, who both went

(02:17):
seven to one in clutch playoff games. Both teams ended
up winning the title, by the way, for whatever that
is worth, but even that is underselling even if we
focus on I saw. I was scrolling through Instagram yesterday
and I saw the highlight reel of all four of
his game winners back to back. And I've watched it
a few times as that it's come across my feed,

(02:37):
and every time I see it, I'm just completely blown
away because it's just unlike anything we've seen in NBA
history for a guy to do this in four completely
different series. But even that, even focusing on that, is
just massively underselling the overall job that Halliburton has done
in this playoff run of creating offense for his team.
First of all, I've been talking a lot about how

(02:59):
his ham's is healthier than it used to be. He's
been way more explosive getting to the rim in this
particular playoff run. The dead giveaway statistically, here is his
rim attempts. Last year in the postseason. Tyree's averaged just
two point seven shot attempts per game at the rim.

(03:19):
This year in the postseason four point one a time
and a half as much. That's a substantial increase in
his ability to get to the rim with basically the
same roster. It's a product of that gained explosiveness that
he has off the dribble that didn't exist last year
when he was dealing with his hamstring right This, in

(03:41):
combination with his pull up shooting, is also made him
a substantially more effective switch beater, which has unlocked an
ISO part of his game, which was also completely missing
last year and last year's playoff runt, Tyree's scored in
ISO just five times in three rounds. Including passes, he

(04:03):
generated just twenty four total points in the entire playoff
run in ISO situations. This year, he's literally been the
most efficient ISO player in the entire playoff field. He
has personally made seventeen shots in ISO again compared to
just five last year. Including passes, He's generated eighty points

(04:27):
in ISO situations. That's more than triple what he did
last year. Among the twelve players in this playoff field
who have logged at least fifty isolation attempts including passes,
his one point one point eight points per possession is
the most efficient out of all of them. But even

(04:48):
the box score doesn't come close to capturing the impact
of this team. Tyrese is the embodiment of the identity
of the Indiana Pacers. His biggest strength as a basketball
player is his quick decision making ability. He understands his role,
which is just to create advantages for his team, and

(05:11):
he's such a quick processor that he identifies every available
opportunity every kick ahead pass, every simple swing pass to
beat nail help, every simple kickback after he runs some
guard guard screen and the guy slips out of the action,
every skip in pick and roll. His willingness to get
the ball up the floor quickly and get it moving

(05:33):
early in the possession is what breeds the rhythm and
flow of this PACER's offense. We don't see Tyrese Halliburton
have stretches like what Shay had in Game one where
he dribbles the air out of the ball and stifles
the rhythm of his own team. Tyrese's entire basketball personality

(05:53):
is contagious. Everyone on the roster is invested. Miles Turner
keeps calling it the power of French and I can't
think of any better way to put it. We've been
joking around. I've seen it all over the website. It's
a hilarious clip the other day of the scene from Avatar,
and it was like, it was like if you walk
in on the Pacers in the halftime locker room and

(06:14):
it's them doing that crazy dance and Avatar, because the
joke is it's devil magic, right, It's voodoo. It's the
Pacers are up to some crazy shit. Tyre's Halliburton is
the voodoo magic for this team. The personality he has
imbued in this roster, and the willingness to commit to

(06:35):
this larger goal of being, this rhythm and flow, fast
paced ball and player movement style of offense, the quick
decision making, the willingness to make the extra pass, even
just the unwavering confidence. Tyree's has taken a lot of
the big shots late in games this year, but so
has everyone else. You want to know why Jalen Brunson

(06:59):
has twenty more clutch attempts because he takes every one
of them. On the pacers, Aaron E. Smith feels empowered
to rise in fire. Andrew Nembard feels empowered to rise
in fire. So does Miles Turner, so does Pascal Siakam.
They all are part of this journey on the offensive

(07:21):
end of the floor, and Tyree's is the guy that
imbues that confidence, that unwavering belief in their ability to
just come back from any deficit, to knock down any
type of shot. It's just it's been remarkable to watch
and again, like Tyrese Haliburton, to me is the embodiment

(07:43):
of that identity with this team. That's it for this
week's course correction. Remember Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to
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