All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton recorded his first NBA triple-double while former Celtics first-round draft pick Aaron Nesmith scored 14 points for Indiana.
All that Tyrese Haliburton wanted before the season was to get his first taste of playoff basketball.
Monday night’s NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinal seemed like the perfect dry run.
So the 23-year-old All-Star guard registered the first triple-double of his career, completed a tiebreaking four-point play with 1:33 left and heard the large, raucous crowd chanting « M-V-P! M-V-P!” near the end of Indiana’s 122-112 victory, which ousted league-leading Boston from the tourney.
“It means the world to me to represent Indiana and this organization,” Haliburton said after acknowledging he struggled to breathe during the first half. “I don’t even know if it was as much about what was at stake, as what they did to us the last time. I think that (51-point loss) left a bad taste in our mouths. »
This was one felt far sweeter even if he needed a halftime assist from an inhaler.
Haliburton scored 16 of his 26 points in the second half and finished with 13 assists and 10 rebounds.
