Earlier in the season, the Indiana Pacers were the darlings of the NBA. Their run in the in-season tournament showed the rest of the league just how good they could be. Tyrese Haliburton was the catalyst for this run with his incredible passing and shooting.
Haliburton ran the most prolific offense in the league. He made it the most prolific offense because he always looked to get his teammates involved. He was able to do this more effectively when he had the three-point shot as his weapon.
Several times before getting injured, Haliburton could step back in threes on good defenders and drain them with regularity. His range sometimes also extended five feet beyond the three-pointer. His shooting opened up his drives to the lane, which in turn opened up drive and kick opportunities.
Since the All-Star break, the Pacers have been oscillating between victories and defeats. Every game there seems to be a different reason why they fail to win. One thing, however, remained constant during this time; Haliburton’s three-point shooting was poor.
In Thursday’s loss to Minnesota, he made just two of his seven threes. Before that, he was just 3-10, which is actually one of his best three-point shooting performances since the break. So far in March, he’s shooting just 17% from deep and 39% overall. That won’t be enough.
The Pacers currently occupy 8th place in the East. That would put them in a play-in game and risk facing Boston in a first-round series. Neither outcome is desirable. They need to pick up a few wins to climb at least to 6th place, where they are two games behind.
Indiana has a chance to win an entire game toward that spot as they face the team currently in that 6th spot on Sunday. If they can beat Orlando, they will be one step closer to being able to secure that spot at the end of the season.
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Unless Haliburton’s three-pointer is fixed, the Pacers could be locked out of a play-in game.
