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Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers upset the Milwaukee Bucks 128-119 in their NBA In-Season Tournament semifinal matchup on Thursday. In doing so, the Pacers punched their ticket to Saturday’s championship game, leading the All-Star to celebrate on social media.
Following Thursday’s win, Haliburton took to X, formerly known as Twitter, where he shared a clip from the 2001 Keanu Reeves-led baseball film “Hardball.” In the clip, a group of children can be heard chanting about going to the championship.
“We goin' to the 'ship, what? We goin' to the 'ship, what?” the children say in the clip.
In what marked the biggest game of his four-year career, Haliburton came up big. He finished with a team-high 27 points, seven rebounds, 15 assists and three 3-pointers on 57.9% shooting.
With the win, Indiana improved to 6-0 in the tournament, including a 4-0 group-stage finish in East Group A. Haliburton has been dominant throughout, as he continues to make a name for himself on the national stage.
Through six tournament games, he is averaging 27.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 13.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 4.8 3-pointers per game on 51.8% shooting.
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers ready to take home NBA In-Season Tournament championship
Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers may have already proven their skeptics wrong by advancing to the In-Season Tournament’s championship. However, it doesn’t appear that they are satisfied.
During his postgame Interview on Thursday, Haliburton spoke about how his team is ready to prove that its success is “not a fluke.” He added that when firing on all cylinders, Indiana can challenge any team in the league.
“As long as we play the right way, we know we’re going to be in every basketball game,” Haliburton said.
After 20 games, the Pacers rank first in the NBA in offensive rating (123.5). They will look to continue their offensive dominance during Saturday’s finals matchup against the LA Lakers.
Indiana will have a chance to become the first-ever In-Season Tournament champions.
