Tyrese Haliburton struggled in Game 2 of the NBA Finals as he scored just 17 points in 34 minutes.
The Indiana Pacers took a shocking 1-0 lead in the series as Haliburton led an all-time great playoff comeback in Game 1.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were then fully expected to bounce back, and did exactly that, winning by 16 points.
The biggest reason for the Pacers’ latest underwhelming performance was Haliburton’s lack of offensive output.
A former NBA All-Star was so disappointed with the point guard that he made an interesting comparison to the lowest point of LeBron James’ career.
Jeff Teague calls out Tyrese Haliburton for ‘passive’ Game 2 performance
Nobody expects Haliburton, or any other superstar, to play well in every game, but his intensity should always stay the same.
Too often, the 25-year-old will not take enough shots and instead cruise through games without making his presence felt.
Teague said he’s “never seen” an NBA superstar be so “passive” before retracting the statement and mentioning LeBron James’ famous meltdown in 2011.
“I’ve never seen a superstar not be aggressive,” Teague said. “I’ve seen LeBron have bad shooting nights… I take that back, I’ve seen LeBron in the Finals against the [Dallas] Mavericks. He wasn’t aggressive.
“My thing is, we’ve seen Tyrese do this against other teams. We can almost bank on two games out of the series, he’s going to be passive.
“In the regular season, he had games where he scored four points. This year, he had a game where he didn’t even score.
“We know that’s going to happen with him, but we just don’t know what games. So I’m glad he got that out there in Game 2.”
There is nothing wrong with Haliburton’s approach as a ‘pass-first’ point guard, but he must also look to score 20 points every night for the Pacers to win the championship.
LeBron James stats in 2011 NBA Finals vs Dallas Mavericks
LeBron James had already established himself as arguably the best player in basketball by 2011, so his NBA Finals performances were surprising.
James averaged almost 27 points per game in the 2010-11 regular season on 51 percent field goal efficiency.
The Miami Heat finished second in the Eastern Conference with 58 wins and were heavy favorites to beat the Mavericks in the Finals after an impressive playoff run.
Unfortunately, after a solid showing in the Heat’s Game 1 victory, James fell apart in the remainder of the series as Dirk Nowitzki’s team caused an upset.
The 40-year-old’s worst performance came in Game 4, when he put up just eight points on the road, and the Mavs eventually won the series in six.
