Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton had a message for New York Knicks on his sweatshirt. What was it?
The ghosts of playoffs past came to haunt the Knicks on Sunday night and the Pacers’ star wasted no time resurrecting them, paying tribute to Reggie Miller.
While the Knicks will have good reason to be frustrated by their playoff exit due to the immense amount of injuries that the team suffered over the course of their post-season run, there is some degree of poetic irony in the idea that it was the Indiana Pacers who put the nail in the coffin. Indeed, the Pacers and Knicks do have quite a colorful history when it comes to their clashes, not the least of which was Reggie Miller’s infamous ‘8-in-9 game’ which was punctuated by the choking gesture that he made to die-hard Knicks fan and film director Spike Lee.
A bit of context about Knicks vs Pacers
As we already established, the Knicks and Pacers are two teams between which no love has been lost, and that was on full display in their Eastern Conference semifinals series which came to an end in Game 7 on Sunday night with the Pacers winning 130-109 at Madison Square Garden. This was a series that had everything in it from early Knicks dominance to accusations of referee favoritism by the Pacers, to a plethora of Knicks injuries to a resurgence by Indiana which ultimately led them to victory and a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals where they will face the Boston Celtics.
Tyrese Haliburton’s ‘choking’ sweatshirt is expert-level trolling
This is all to say that in every way the clash between the Pacers and Knicks lived up to expectations. That’s where we get to Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton who was a central figure for Indiana throughout the series. On the night, the All-Star guard scored 26 points on 10-for-17 from the field, including 6-for-12 on 3-pointers along with six assists. Yet, it’s not Haliburton’s contribution that we’re here to touch on, but rather his sense of fashion.
There was no way to avoid cracking a smile when it came to the sweatshirt that Haliburton was seen in post game which featured an image of Reggie Miller’s infamous choking gesture. Asked about the sweatshirt postgame and Haliburton admitted that he had got the sweater just two days before, while declining to expand on its meaning too much. “We text every day. He has been a good mentor for me,” Haliburton said. “I’m just wearing a hoodie, I like to be comfy on the plane.”
As for the man himself, Miller didn’t waste a moment before taking to Instagram where he shared a clip of Knicks star Josh Hart taking a shot at him during Game 2 of the series. The Pacers legend then went on to advise Jalen Brunson and Co. to “heal up together on some beautiful beaches in Cancun.” Brunson of course became the latest in a string of injuries on the Knicks’ roster after he was forced off the court with a fractured hand in the third quarter of Game 7.
Of course, while Haliburton was the highest scorer on the team, the Pacers had no less than 6 players in double digits when it came to points. Truthfully, Indiana’s 76.3% shooting was the highest percentage we’ve seen in a single half of a postseason game since 1997. It was truly a team effort. “I knew today is Game 7, unload the clip,” Haliburton said. “Have no regrets, because I would hate to be pissed all summer about not shooting the ball today. For me, it was just about coming out and playing the right way.” With that, we turn our attention to the coming Eastern Conference Finals which will tip off on Tuesday night. Don’t miss it!