Tyrese Haliburton working through increased attention and pressure from defenses for Indiana Pacers
Tyrese Haliburton is a perfectionist. He hates to miss too many shots and is visibly frustrated after almost all of his turnovers. But in recent games, the Indiana Pacers star has been missing more shots than he usually does and has a higher turnover rate than he did earlier in the season.
The reason is simple. After an unbelievable start to the campaign, opposing defenses are giving Haliburton way more attention. With blitzes, traps, presses, you name it, Haliburton is dealing with more defensive presence than he ever has before.
"No, no," Haliburton said while shaking his head at his locker on Wednesday afternoon when asked if he's ever seen this level of blitzing before. He's been talking with his trainer about it and how to best respond.
In short, he's being defended like a star. Teams have started to realize how much they can slow the Pacers down if they overload Haliburton. Prior to the In-Season Tournament, Indiana's general was averaging 26.9 points and 12.1 assists per game. Those numbers have dropped to 16.5 and 12.0, respectively, since the Pacers trip to Vegas.
Haliburton is also averaging 4.3 turnovers per game since the blue and gold played in the NBA Cup finals. That's almost double his average from before the tournament. There's a lot of things holding Haliburton back, but he feels as if the turnovers are self-inflicted.
"I'm turning the ball over more. I don't know how much that has to do with defenses and more to do with myself," Haliburton said. 19 of his 26 turnovers since December 11 have been characterized by the NBA as a bad pass turnover. He can clean that part of his recent struggles up.
What Haliburton has to adjust to is the new ways he is being defended. Opponents are blitzing him often, and they do it differently every game. Some of them stick up on him even as he retreats with the ball. Other teams pressure him before recovering at the first convenient timing.
"They're trying to be physical. They're trying to get into him," Pacers guard Buddy Hield said.
Every little nuance is something Haliburton will adjust to. He enjoys the chess match of NBA coverages. But the sheer volume of traps coming his way has at least forced him to think. His reactions to those coverages aren't supernatural yet.
"They're guarding me to make decisions quicker," Haliburton said.
Blitzing a ball handler comes with risks. It can create a four-on-three situation if the rock gets out and moving quickly. If Haliburton is pressured by two defenders after a pick, the roll man could be open with space to make a decision. Indiana's opponents are forced to be in rotation if they blitz.
The coverage is great against the best playmakers and outside shooters, two skills that are among Haliburton's best. But the Pacers haven't been able to punish the weak spots of those blitzes yet.
"Part of it is obviously making shots," Pacers center Myles Turner said of what the team can do to succeed when Haliburton is getting pressured as much as he currently is. The star guard has quality assist and potential assist numbers during the current stretch.
It's more so his scoring, shooting, and turnover numbers that have been impacted by the blitzes. Haliburton is a pass-first player, so getting rid of the ball when he has two defenders on him is his instinct. But the star guard scores with high efficiency, and he does so largely on shots he creates for himself. With that option hindered, life is harder for the Pacers.
"I've never been blitzed like this. It's new for me. I'm watching a lot of different film on a lot of different guys who get blitzed pretty regularly," Haliburton said. "That's been cool. I think I've just been missing. Missing a lot of opportunities, a lot of shots."
Haliburton likes to reject screens to attack space, but he can't do that as often when there is a defender lurking on both sides of a coming pick. Defenses are trying to get to him first and let others beat them. That has been successful in recent weeks in slowing down the scoring of the All-Star guard.
The 23-year old is shooting 28.6% on three-point shots in that stretch, and he's taking seven outside jumpers per game. That number was closer to nine before the In-Season Tournament. Teams are getting him out of rhythm from beyond the arc in a way they weren't before, which has impacted his scoring numbers significantly.
"I think just like, how long are you going to stay in the blitz? Are they going to blitz until I pass? Are they going to blitz until I shoot? Everybody runs stuff differently. If I'm holding defenses longer, what are you going to do?" Haliburton said of what he's reading and what decisions he has to make now. Those are the reads he will get better at with more reps.
Haliburton gets pressed often so that he can't see as much going on up the court. That has happened all season, and Haliburton says it doesn't bother him much. That type of pressure has been there all season for the fourth-year guard.
But the blitzes and aggression he is seeing now from opposing defenses are slowing him, and the Pacers, down. Indiana's offensive rating before the end of the NBA Cup was 123.5. It's been at 118.2 since then, a number that is currently below the league median in that stretch.
Haliburton knows his shot isn't falling and that his decision making has been off. Some of that is on him. But some of that is the new ways he is being defended, and the Pacers recent struggles have coincided with the newer looks defenses are throwing at him.
"It's been interesting to see how teams are doing it differently," Haliburton said on Wednesday. He thinks that is an awesome part of the NBA, and he's confident he will figure those coverages out over time. But he also knows that he's got to be better, and him bursting through these adjustments will change Indiana's fortunes quickly.
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