Dwyane Wade has made his ideas on Tyrese Haliburton abundantly clear.
Like basketball followers throughout the globe, the Corridor of Famer went ballistic as he watched Haliburton hit the go-ahead jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining to offer the Pacers an 111-110 win over the Thunder in Sport 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.
“Superstar!” Wade declared on a livestream. “Superstar! Superstar! Superstar!”
As Haliburton’s pull-up midrange went down, Wade jumped out of his chair and commenced yelling in disbelief.
Numerous followers certainly had an identical response to the insane shot.
Besides, in fact, for the 18,203 at Paycom Heart in Oklahoma Metropolis, who have been understandably shell-shocked, devastated and silent.
Haliburton had simply 14 factors within the win, however Wade’s “superstar” declare is difficult to dispute after the clutch shot – and the Indiana guard’s exceptional run of big-time moments on this playoff run.
The 2-time All-Star has hit a tying or successful shot in every of the Pacers’ 4 playoff collection – with every new second even crazier than the final.
First was a go-ahead layup with 1.3 seconds left in Sport 5 of Indiana’s first-round collection towards the Bucks, which clinched the Pacers’ gentleman’s sweep of Milwaukee.
Subsequent was a game-winning step-back 3 in Sport 2 of the second spherical towards Cleveland, after Haliburton deliberately missed a free throw and grabbed his personal rebound.
Then got here the circus shot that despatched Sport 1 of the Japanese Convention finals towards the Knicks to extra time, which fell on the buzzer after taking a sky-high bounce off the again iron to cap a ferocious fourth-quarter comeback, earlier than Thursday’s heroics in his NBA Finals debut.
Haliburton’s “superstar” standing has been a typical matter of debate all through these playoffs.
He’s the most effective participant on a Pacers staff that now finds itself main the Finals, 1-0, however doesn’t have the gaudy stats of a number of the league’s different headliners.
Haliburton is averaging 18.5 factors per sport within the playoffs – the Twenty sixth-highest mark amongst postseason performers and the second-highest on Indiana behind Pascal Siakam (20.9).
However Wade – a three-time NBA champ and 13-time All-Star – didn’t hesitate to stamp Haliburton with the “superstar” label nonetheless.
The shot – which can go down in NBA Finals historical past – left him with little doubt.
