Tyrese Haliburton always wanted pressure, now he'll finally get it in Game 7

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INDIANAPOLIS - An hour after the Pacers pulled out a 116-103 victory over the Knicks in Game 6 on Friday, Tyrese Haliburton was on a table in Indiana's locker room at Gainbridge Fieldhouse while a masseuse worked on his lower back. The Pacers guard has been playing through back spasms throughout the playoffs, and after delivering 15 points and nine assists to help keep Indiana's season alive, his recovery and preparation for Game 7 had already begun.

"I expect probably the most unbelievable environment I've ever played in in an NBA game," Haliburton said a few minutes earlier. "The Garden is a crazy place."

And Haliburton has been on a crazy ride.

The 24-year-old has experienced seemingly every emotion throughout this series as he oscillates between looking like the face of a franchise and a player who's still trying to grow into that title. Haliburton had troubling performances in Games 1 and 5 that warranted questions of whether he was built for big moments, only for him to reflect, recalibrate and respond with much better outings a few nights later.

"He watches film relentlessly," said teammate T.J. McConnell, who stepped up as well with 15 points off the bench in Game 6. "The stuff that people don't see, we'll have a 10 a.m. shootaround and he's been in the gym for an hour and a half already, working on his game and getting shots up. He has a hunger to just want to be great and want to better and fix the things from the game before … and he fixes it almost instantaneously."

The stakes of this playoff run have come with an extra layer of scrutiny for Haliburton, as every decision he makes on the hardwood doubles as a headline in the newspaper the next morning. The weight of that pressure may seem unfair at times, but this is what Haliburton has always wanted, even if he initially wanted it in a different city.

After being drafted 12th by Sacramento in 2020, Haliburton envisioned ending the Kings' 16-year playoff drought as one of the pillars of their franchise. He never got the chance.

He was traded to the Pacers midway through his second season in exchange for All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis. Two days after the trade became official, Haliburton arrived in Indianapolis scarred yet determined - ready to take his new team to new heights while opening his heart to a new city.

"(I'm) somebody who just loves hard," Haliburton said at the time " … It hurt when I got traded because I loved being there and loved the people, but coming here I'm gonna do the same thing. … They're another organization taking a chance on me when they have no reason to, so I'm gonna put everything I got into this."

Two full seasons and two All-Star appearances later, Haliburton's all-in approach has steered the Pacers to a Game 7, with a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in a decade.

"He's changed things for the better for this franchise and for this city," McConnell said. "When you got a guy, who's your franchise guy, that really gets people involved … it's easy for everyone to rally around a guy like that. He's obviously an unbelievable player, a franchise player, but as a teammate and a person, he's one of the best I've ever been around."

Haliburton's ascension has been invaluable to the Pacers' resurgence and extended playoff run this year, but he hasn't done it alone. Myles Turner has repeatedly blocked and dunked on Bucks and Knicks players this postseason like he's playing a giant-sized game of Whac-A-Mole. McConnell Aaron Nesmith have hounded Jalen Brunson with full-court defense. Andrew Nembhard drilled arguably the biggest shot of the series with his deep step-back 3 to seal Game 3.

GO DEEPER

How Pascal Siakam came up big as Pacers did the little things to force Game 7

All of them have had moments of triumph, but the player most responsible for ensuring the Pacers would catch a flight back to New York for Game 7 is Pascal Siakam. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle initially said the door to land Siakam, acquired in a January trade with the Raptors, was opened by first trading for Haliburton. Since walking through that door and joining the All-Star point guard in Indiana, Siakam has made himself at home on several occasions - none bigger than in Game 6.

Throughout a back-and-forth first half, Siakam took the reins and broke the game open with eight points and two assists in the second quarter, highlighted by a personal 5-0 run to extend the Pacers' lead to 57-48. The two-time All-Star finished with a team-high 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while helping to extinguish any potential Knicks comeback in the second half.

"He's a tremendous player," Carlisle said. "We got him because we wanted to make the playoffs and be able to advance in the playoffs. We're trying to build something special here, and we think he's a special person along with being a special player."

Siakam is one of a few players on the Pacers' roster who've experienced a Game 7. He was a part of one of the most iconic Game 7s in league history, when Kawhi Leonard's buzzer-beater lifted Toronto past Philly in the second round en route to the Raptors' first championship in 2019. The last time the Pacers appeared in a Game 7 was in 2018, when they lost to LeBron James and the Cavs in the first round.

"It's gonna take everything," Siakam said. "A lot of crazy stuff is gonna happen. We just gotta stay within what we do, and as long as you come into the game with pure energy, just playing as hard as you can and staying together, I think that's what's most important."

After years of watching other teams play in Game 7s, including the Kings last year, Haliburton looks forward to finally testing himself on the biggest stage yet. It won't be easy, but then again, none of this journey has been. The Pacers lost 10 straight games to end Haliburton's first season with the franchise, in 2021-22, and even when it all seemingly came together this year, there were times when it nearly fell apart while Haliburton battled through hamstring and back injuries.

So far, Haliburton has refused to let the rope go in this tug-of-war series that's resulted in the home team being victorious every game. Now, Indiana must buck that trend and do something it hasn't done since 1995, nearly five years before Haliburton was born: Win a Game 7 at basketball's Mecca.

"We know the storied history of this rivalry between these two franchises, and now we're adding another chapter to that," Haliburton said. " … And historically, me as a basketball watcher, Game 7s are always so ugly. So, I expect an ugly game, and I expect whoever plays harder to win."

 (Photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)