NEW YORK — Tyrese Haliburton led the Indiana Pacers to the best shooting performance in NBA postseason history last time he played in Madison Square Garden.
He couldn't make any shots at all in his return.
The All-Star point guard was scoreless in a 123-98 loss to the New York Knicks on Friday night and fell to 1 for 16 for the season from 3-point range.
Haliburton sat the entire fourth quarter, giving him plenty of time to think about turning things around before the Pacers' home opener Sunday against Philadelphia.
“Like I said, we’ve got an off day tomorrow,” Haliburton said. “I’m going to go in the gym and the great thing is I’m going to get a lot of shots tomorrow and I’m going to get a lot of shots on Sunday and I’ll be ready to go on Sunday."
Haliburton scored 15 points in a season-opening victory at Detroit, though he shot 6 for 18 overall and 1 for 9 behind the arc. He missed all eight attempts Friday, seven of them 3s. He also had only five assists, less than half his 10.9 average that led the NBA last season.
Hounded at times by Knicks newcomer Mikal Bridges, the runner-up for the 2022 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Haliburton felt his struggles kept the Pacers from getting into a rhythm offensively, which allowed the Knicks to get easy transition baskets on some of their misses.
“Again, it probably starts with me honestly, and I’ve got to be better and I’ll be better,” Haliburton said. “At the end of the day it’s a bad game and a loss and we move on.”
It was the first meeting between the teams since Game 7 of last season's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Haliburton scored 26 points and the Pacers shot 67.1% from the field in a 130-109 victory.
“Listen, the last time we were in this building, collectively we probably played the best game of the season,” Haliburton said. “And today will be the worst game of the season for us.”
Haliburton added that “this ain’t panic mode at all” and Pacers coach Rick Carlisle didn't seem worried about his star's struggles.
“Sometimes you have nights like that in the NBA,” Carlisle said. “And so look, he’s fourth or fifth-year player. I mean, nights like this are going to happen to the best players in the world.”
