Tyrese Haliburton embraced his role because the heel twice last yr at MSG, each when the Pacers knocked out the Knicks in seven games within the second round of the playoffs and over the summer in a clash with Jalen Brunson at a WWE event.
Haliburton’s level of hatred from the Garden crowd doesn’t match the wrath the Recent York fans felt for Indiana predecessor Reggie Miller back within the ’90s, but it surely should take one other step forward with the Pacers facing the Knicks within the playoffs for the second straight yr, starting Wednesday night with Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
“Needless to say, it’s a variety of fun, man. I believe last yr the series was a variety of fun, forwards and backwards, it felt like no person could win two in a row until we were in a position to do it [in Games 6 & 7],” Haliburton said earlier this week.
“Going into the series, I believe that [the MSG fans] didn’t just like the [Pacers] organization, but I don’t think there have been certain guys that their fans didn’t like.
“But now they don’t really like us an excessive amount of. So it’s all fun with it, man, and like I said, excited so as to add more chapters to this storied rivalry and just proceed to be an element of it. I sit up for playing in that constructing, and I sit up for the group environment. It’s an excellent thing.”
Haliburton also joked that “perhaps it’s an excellent thing that my dad won’t have the opportunity to go,” after his father, John Haliburton, was banned by the Pacers from attending games for confronting Giannis Antetokounmpo on the court after the Indiana eliminated the Bucks in Game 5 of the primary round.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks within the 2025 NBA Playoffs
Sports+ subscribers: Join for Contained in the Knicks to get day by day newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts concerning the series.
The 2-time All-Star point guard averaged 21.3 points and seven.0 assists within the second-round series against the Knicks, and he’ll renew his friendly rivalry with Brunson now for a likelihood to succeed in the NBA Finals.
The 2 guards are close after being teammates on Team USA on the FIBA World Cup in 2023, although only Haliburton was named to the U.S. Olympic team last summer.
Additionally they each participated within the WWE event on the Garden last June, with Brunson chasing Haliburton out of the ring with a folding chair. Haliburton responded, “I’ll be back” and “you don’t need to see me again.”
“It was exciting, obviously you guys know I’m a diehard WWE fan,” Haliburton said. “I’m still attempting to get [former wrestler] Triple H to return to a game. I’m working on it. Yeah, it’s pretty cool that happened [last] summer and here we’re, so it’s a reasonably cool storyline.
“I’m sure it goes together with everybody that thinks there’s a script.”
Haliburton added that he has “a extremely good relationship with WWE and Triple H,” so once they asked him to attend the event on the Garden he jumped at the possibility.
“It was like, ‘No doubt, I’ll be there.’ But I had no idea Jalen was going until I got there,” Haliburton said.
“They were like, ‘Where’s Jalen?’ So I called Jalen and was like, ‘Are you coming?’ And he was like ‘Yeah,’ so I said, ‘Oh, so we’re really doing this, like, we’re tying all of it in.’
“I had no idea ’til we got there. I believe he knew, but I had no idea. But, yeah, that was a reasonably cool moment. Obviously it was a lifelong dream of mine to do anything with the WWE and to do it there, and to be booed and all that stuff was a variety of fun. A great time.
“We had talked about it on the World Cup, so I all the time knew he was into it, so it was pretty cool that they were in a position to pull it off with none real leaks or anything.”
Now, each Haliburton and Brunson will look to assist their respective teams end lengthy droughts without reaching the NBA Finals.
The Knicks last went in 1999 and the Pacers in 2000, with each team defeating the opposite within the conference finals.
Miller played the first Garden foil in those days. Haliburton fully is leaning into that role now.
Tyrese Haliburton embraced his role because the heel twice last yr at MSG, each when the Pacers knocked out the Knicks in seven games within the second round of the playoffs and over the summer in a clash with Jalen Brunson at a WWE event.
Haliburton’s level of hatred from the Garden crowd doesn’t match the wrath the Recent York fans felt for Indiana predecessor Reggie Miller back within the ’90s, but it surely should take one other step forward with the Pacers facing the Knicks within the playoffs for the second straight yr, starting Wednesday night with Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
“Needless to say, it’s a variety of fun, man. I believe last yr the series was a variety of fun, forwards and backwards, it felt like no person could win two in a row until we were in a position to do it [in Games 6 & 7],” Haliburton said earlier this week.
“Going into the series, I believe that [the MSG fans] didn’t just like the [Pacers] organization, but I don’t think there have been certain guys that their fans didn’t like.
“But now they don’t really like us an excessive amount of. So it’s all fun with it, man, and like I said, excited so as to add more chapters to this storied rivalry and just proceed to be an element of it. I sit up for playing in that constructing, and I sit up for the group environment. It’s an excellent thing.”
Haliburton also joked that “perhaps it’s an excellent thing that my dad won’t have the opportunity to go,” after his father, John Haliburton, was banned by the Pacers from attending games for confronting Giannis Antetokounmpo on the court after the Indiana eliminated the Bucks in Game 5 of the primary round.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks within the 2025 NBA Playoffs
Sports+ subscribers: Join for Contained in the Knicks to get day by day newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts concerning the series.
The 2-time All-Star point guard averaged 21.3 points and seven.0 assists within the second-round series against the Knicks, and he’ll renew his friendly rivalry with Brunson now for a likelihood to succeed in the NBA Finals.
The 2 guards are close after being teammates on Team USA on the FIBA World Cup in 2023, although only Haliburton was named to the U.S. Olympic team last summer.
Additionally they each participated within the WWE event on the Garden last June, with Brunson chasing Haliburton out of the ring with a folding chair. Haliburton responded, “I’ll be back” and “you don’t need to see me again.”
“It was exciting, obviously you guys know I’m a diehard WWE fan,” Haliburton said. “I’m still attempting to get [former wrestler] Triple H to return to a game. I’m working on it. Yeah, it’s pretty cool that happened [last] summer and here we’re, so it’s a reasonably cool storyline.
“I’m sure it goes together with everybody that thinks there’s a script.”
Haliburton added that he has “a extremely good relationship with WWE and Triple H,” so once they asked him to attend the event on the Garden he jumped at the possibility.
“It was like, ‘No doubt, I’ll be there.’ But I had no idea Jalen was going until I got there,” Haliburton said.
“They were like, ‘Where’s Jalen?’ So I called Jalen and was like, ‘Are you coming?’ And he was like ‘Yeah,’ so I said, ‘Oh, so we’re really doing this, like, we’re tying all of it in.’
“I had no idea ’til we got there. I believe he knew, but I had no idea. But, yeah, that was a reasonably cool moment. Obviously it was a lifelong dream of mine to do anything with the WWE and to do it there, and to be booed and all that stuff was a variety of fun. A great time.
“We had talked about it on the World Cup, so I all the time knew he was into it, so it was pretty cool that they were in a position to pull it off with none real leaks or anything.”
Now, each Haliburton and Brunson will look to assist their respective teams end lengthy droughts without reaching the NBA Finals.
The Knicks last went in 1999 and the Pacers in 2000, with each team defeating the opposite within the conference finals.
Miller played the first Garden foil in those days. Haliburton fully is leaning into that role now.
