Tyrese Haliburton had 22 points, 13 assists, three blocks, three rebounds and a steal in the Pacers’ Stunning Game 1 Win over the Eastern Conference No. 1 Seed Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. In the 121-112 win, Haliburton also shot 60% from the field in this game, as he was the leader on the floor that the Pacers needed him to be for them to stay competitive in this series. Halliburton notches another strong performance in the Playoffs for a scrappy Pacers team.
Haliburton’s Performance In Depth
The Former Iowa State Cyclone joined a list of three players after Sunday’s Game 1. Only three players have had these numbers in the first six games of a single playoff run: 100+ points, 75+ assists and 35+ rebounds. Magic Johnson 6X, Rajon Rondo in 2009, and now 2025 HALIBURTON. Below is a Tweet showing this stat from @BetweenTheNums.
Hali has been excellent in these playoffs thus far after an up-and-down regular season for the Pacers, and he has elevated his game once again, like in the 2023-24 Eastern Conference Finals run last season. The Pacers are one of those underrated teams that no one thinks have a shot to do anything against these top teams in the playoffs, but Haliburton is the catalyst for this Pacers resurgence as of late, these last couple of years.
The three blocks by Haliburton in this game are something else to talk about in this game, as well as he gets some flak as a defender, but the fact that he had a great game defensively as well shows that he can step up in that phase of the game as well in the key moments. Haliburton was arguably the best player in Game 1 vs the Cavaliers, and that’s a great sign for the Pacers if they can keep that up going forward.
Final Thoughts
The Pacers pulled off this upset in Game 1 against a very hot Cavaliers team that was arguably the best this postseason in the first round, all thanks to Hali’s performance, along with some of the others in this game. However, Haliburton once again proved that he is not someone to underestimate. Look for Haliburton to have some dips in performance, but this performance showed that he is one of the best point guards in the playoffs right now.
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