Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Game 3, Turner

Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton walked out of his post-game press conference on Sunday with a noticeable limp, but he took part in practice on Tuesday and wasn’t limited at all, tweets Jamal Collier of ESPN. Speaking to the media after practice, Haliburton suggested he has no major health concerns.

“I’m fine. Really just a lower leg thing. I’ll leave it at that,” Haliburton said, per Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files (Twitter link). “I don’t think there’s anything more to elaborate. I feel fine and I’ll be ready to go for Game 3.”

Haliburton has made 50% of his shots from the field through two games against Oklahoma City and knocked down a game-winner in Game 1, but has been limited to a relatively modest 15.5 points on 13.0 attempts per night and hasn’t gone to the free throw line at all. He has also turned the ball over eight times in two games against Oklahoma City’s top-ranked defense after averaging 1.9 turnovers per game in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Here’s more on Haliburton and the Pacers:

• Haliburton had just three points at the half in Game 2 after scoring six first-half points in Game 1. He said on Sunday night that he and the Pacers need to figure out how to get off to faster starts going forward. “They got a lot of different guys who can guard the ball, fly around,” he said, according to Collier. “… I just got to figure out how to be better earlier in games. Kudos to them, they’re a great defensive team. But [I will] watch the film, see where I can get better.”
• Center Myles Turner is optimistic about Indiana’s ability to further unlock Haliburton, even against a tough Thunder defense, per Collier. “With Tyrese, there’s plenty of formulas to get him going,” Turner said. “There are things we went over in our game plan that we didn’t execute well enough (in Game 2). We’ll get them in the paint. We have been one of the better teams scoring in the paint all year and we have to establish that early. We only had four or six points in the paint in the first half, and that’s not Pacers basketball.”
• James Boyd of The Athletic takes a look at the ups and downs that Haliburton has experienced on and off the court since being traded from Sacramento to Indiana and considers what it would mean for him and the city if the Pacers can win a title this year.
• In the wake of reports linking multiple Eastern Conference rivals to Turner, Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required) examines what it might cost the Pacers to re-sign their starting center in free agency this summer, as well as the ripple effect it might have on upcoming decisions on players like Bennedict Mathurin and Jarace Walker. Although the Pacers seem intent on keeping as much of their rotation together as possible going forward, reserve forward Obi Toppin may be viewed as a “luxury item” if the team brings back Turner on a deal in the range of $30MM per year and wants to shed a bit of long-term salary, Dopirak notes.