Tyrese Haliburton’s slump comes at a bad time for the Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers may have just suffered worst loss of the season against the New Orleans Pelicans. After going down 26-48 in the first quarter, Indiana’s comeback attempts were in vain, as their efforts to cut their 31-point lead to as little as 11 in the second quarter were quickly met by a response from the Pelicans who would end up largely taking them to victory, finally winning with a final score of 102-129.

It’s hard to find a specific negative to focus on in this match, as everyone except Jarace Walker was a real negative, but it would be foolish not to focus on Tyrese Haliburton, who probably had the worst match of his career. Friday.

Since his hamstring injury in January and subsequent recovery, Haliburton has been pretty off his game. In the 32 games prior to the injury against Boston, Haliburton averaged 24.2 points, 12.7 assists and 4 .3 rebounds on almost 50/40/90. However, since the injury leading up to the game against the Pelicans, Haliburton has struggled quite a bit. Not counting the game in which he was injured, in the 14 games since he has averaged just 16.2 points, 9.6 assists and 2.6 rebounds on 46/36 shooting. /77, much worse numbers across the board.

However, Friday’s performance against New Orleans was undoubtedly the worst game of Haliburton’s entire professional career, let alone his career with the Pacers. Normally scoring somewhere in the 20s in every game, Haliburton is no stranger to off nights. Just two games before the Pelicans game, he scored just nine points in a loss to Toronto where it could be argued that his comeback in the final minutes cost Indiana the victory.

18 days prior, in another loss to the Warriors, Haliburton played even worse, scoring just five points in a 22-point loss and shooting 2/7 from the field. However, in those games he at least scored. Whether it was a bucket or two, Haliburton made sure to put the ball in the basket a few times for good measure.

Unfortunately, that was not the case on Friday. For only the second time in his career and the first time in a Pacers uniform, Tyrese Haliburton was held completely scoreless in a game. In nearly 23 minutes of action, Haliburton fizzled in every aspect, scoring zero points on 0/7 from the field and dishing out just three assists with a plus/minus total of -40, second-worst in the team just ahead. -43 from Pascal Siakam, although Siakam scored at least 12 points at 5/10 shooting.

It was, in a way, the culmination of some poor performances that got the better of Haliburton, as he struggled in previous games as well. In particular, the last four games produced perhaps one of the worst stretches of Haliburton’s Pacers career, as he averaged just 10.8 points, 8.3 assists and 2.3 rebounds on a split of 35.4/20/66.7.

Perhaps the most concerning part of these numbers, besides the low scoring and putrid efficiency, is that Haliburton is much less aggressive than he was before the injury. Before his injury, Haliburton was taking just over 17 shots per game. although since his injury he has only taken about 12 per game and has stuck to deep threes and long jumpers. than just driving to the rim and finish as before.

That culminated in Friday’s loss, where not only did he not score at all, but he only made seven shot attempts, including six threes and no layups. For someone who was shooting 73 percent around the basket the year before and a respectable 63 percent before Friday’s game, that’s not normal.

This has made people wonder if Haliburton is not yet fully recovered from his injury. As we know, hamstring injuries take a while to heal, and in Haliburton’s case, even though it was only a grade 1 hamstring strain, it was nonetheless from a strained hamstring, and his relatively quick return to court may have done him more harm than good.

Hopefully the hamstring doesn’t bother him for long, because at this point the performances start to become alarming, and with the Pacers now falling to eighth in the East with 21 games remaining, Haliburton will be needed more than ever. out there to give the team the star power it needs, especially since its upcoming schedule isn’t the easiest.

At this rate, though, it appears the Pacers are better off when Haliburton sits, as was the case in Monday’s game against Toronto. Most likely, this won’t become a serious trend, because stars go through meltdowns all the time, but it’s still a cause for concern, because these performances are starting to add up and could lead to disaster. Of course, part of the reason Haliburton is playing through injury is to reach the 65-game All-NBA threshold, which if he reaches it, he will reach An additional $50 million.

Of course, as fans we don’t know much and are really only relegated to speculation. Ultimately, the Pacers’ medical staff and Haliburton himself know best how to manage his recovery, and they will leave him out if they see fit.

For now, though, it’s a bit concerning and hopefully a pattern that will stop repeating itself, starting with Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs.