Nickel: Tyrese Haliburton's ability to affect Bucks-Pacers Game 2 went far beyond scoring

Tyrese Haliburton dismantled the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 of their first-round NBA playoff series.

Oh, not in the obvious way with a tsunami of buckets.

More like in the soccer way, with 12 points, 12 back-breaking assists, as well as several other passes that were like second assists that led to another teammate’s assist. In other words, in totality, Haliburton had a hand in maybe one-third of the Indiana Pacers’ offense Tuesday night.

And then Haliburton beat the Bucks with his unmatched leadership. He was constantly talking up teammates on the bench, or pulling together guys on the court during dead ball periods, or relentlessly pushing for up-tempo basketball from everyone in gold.

Just 24 years old, in his first playoff series, the Oshkosh native has the youthful legs, the can’t-sit energy, premier offensive skills, court vision and an unsettling sneer to aggravate the playoff-veteran Bucks just enough to unravel them Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum, 125-108. The series is even at 1-1.

It’s unclear if Haliburton was further motivated by a disgusting racial slur he said was directed at his brother during Game 1 on Sunday, but it is obvious that Haliburton wasn’t thrown by the self-appointed assignment: steal a win on the road and make sure everyone stood witness.

It's hard to find any fault with the way the Bucks guarded Haliburton in Game 2.

The Bucks primarily sent 35-year-old guard Pat Beverley to match up with Haliburton, and in his nine years of playoff experience – in 13 series, Beverley has played in 67 playoff games – he's a pro and it shows. Beverley worked around Indiana's solid screens, used his athleticism to stay in step with Haliburton, and either contested or shadowed Haliburton. Haliburton was 4 of 10 shooting from the field partly as a result of Beverley.

But the Bucks also threw four others – Malik Beasley, Jae Crowder, A.J. Green and even Damian Lillard – on Haliburton at times. The Bucks all chased him. Lillard even drew a charge on one of Haliburton's jump passes. But Haliburton won that battle because he never stopped moving.

Even when he's supposed to be resting on the bench during timeouts, Haliburton stood, half listening to the huddle, half scanning the rest of the scene like a predator.

How to stop Tyrese Haliburton's passing

Haliburton is the NBA-leading assist maker and in Game 1, after the Bucks had a whole week-plus to strategize how to try to stop Haliburton, they relied on deflections or denials to try to keep Haliburton from possessing the ball.

“You have to get deflections, you have to get your hands on him; your hands on the ball,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “He’s not like a scoring guard where you’re just trying to take his right hand away, and then (if) you take that away, you take him out. “

The Bucks always have known that Haliburton is a pass-first 6-foot-5 kind of guard. So while he was held to nine points in the Game 1 win by Milwaukee, he still had eight assists.

“Haliburton, in a lot of ways, would rather pass. He wants to make guys better,” Rivers said. “It doesn’t upset him if he has a game of five shots. He’s cool with that as long as everybody’s in it. So with coverages, if you give him room, he’s going to pick you apart. We have to understand that.

“Pat Beverley and Malik Beasley did a pretty good job of ‘denying’ when they could (in Game 1). We had some smart denials and then we then had some we can’t deny them; we have to allow them because we allowed (Pascal) Siakam, sometimes in those denials. Siakam saw the whole floor.

“We have to be smarter of when we do it and when we don’t do it.”

In Game 2, the Pacers shot better and that allowed Haliburton to be so creative in his passes. Some were little dishes that were so fast. Another was a long-distance arc launch to Myles Turner.

After losing the first game, Haliburton clearly learned from what he didn't want to repeat in Game 2. That's a credit to a very young player.

"I thought their scout was good," Haliburton said after Game 1. "... They’re a good team, they guard well, but honestly a lot of it is on me more than anything."

There have been other recent Bucks killers

The Bucks have faced three big, speedy, lengthy perimeter players who just shredded them – and ended their seasons – in recent playoff history. But those are generally remembered as monster scoring performances for the most part.

Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat went off in 2023. He averaged 37.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists in destroying the Bucks in a gentleman’s sweep of 5 games in the first round. His scoring line was ruthless: 35, 25, 30, 56, 42.

Jayson Tatum of the Celtics wasn’t quite as gaudy with his numbers in 2022, but that series was demanding on everyone and he was just powerful. He averaged 27.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 7 games in the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals. His scoring line was 21, 29, 10, 30, 34, 46 and 23.

Kawhi Leonhard crushed the Bucks in 2019. He averaged 29.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 6 games in the Eastern Conference finals. He was hot throughout and his scoring line was strong against Milwaukee: 31, 31, 36, 19, 35 and 27.

Milwaukee faces a different kind of threat in Haliburton in 2024, who looks to create and pass first. The Bucks know it won't be as simple as guarding him as a shooter.

More: Nickel: Bucks and Pacers status? It's complicated

Tyrese Haliburton's personality shines through

When Haliburton played in Milwaukee on New Year's Day, he relished his first win as a pro in Fiserv Forum. It was a great homecoming for him. He drew a huge crowd of fans, too − more than 100 people waited for him after the game.

After Game 2 on Tuesday, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle spoke to the media. He was asked: "Speaking of Tyrese, he's not only making his first playoff appearance, but he's home, there's all the extra pressure. Were you curious to see how he would handle that from a leadership position? I mean, he's always talking to guys during dead ball, talking on the bench; how would you assess his leadership ability?"

Carlisle's response was kind of interesting. He talked more about how Haliburton engaged in conversations with everyone else besides his teammates:

"I don't concern myself with Tyrese. There's some guys that are, in the heat of battle ... having a conversation with somebody is something that relaxes them. You know, Kevin McHale was like that; I played with him for three years. I mean, he would do that stuff during the game in the Finals, talk to people on the sideline, he talked to the referees, talked to the other team.

"It's just today, the day is a different age. With with all the social media and all the digital presence, these guys are are on display constantly. And so it's just second nature. It's not, it's not the old days of, everybody, you know, keep a great attitude, don't smile and all that − it's not like that. I mean, you know, it's important that our players enjoy competing, enjoy playing with each other, and enjoy go through the hard things with each other."

More: Is Bucks-Pacers a rivalry? Oshkosh native Tyrese Haliburton says not yet

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tyrese Haliburton affected Bucks-Pacers Game 2 with more than scoring