Tyrese Haliburton speaks out on his clutch gene: ‘I have all the confidence in the world to make these shots’

Thanks in large part to star guard Tyrese Haliburton, the Indiana Pacers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in Tuesday’s Game 2 of their second-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Pacers were down by 20 points in the first half and trailed by seven with less than a minute to play, yet the team ended up winning by one point.

Haliburton sealed the win for Indiana, as he made a 3-pointer to give the Pacers a one-point lead with just over one second remaining. He ended the contest with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 on 3s.

After his incredibly clutch shot that was crucial in the Pacers taking a 2-0 series lead against the East’s No. 1 seed, Haliburton spoke on his late-game play and revealed that he has a whole lot of confidence in himself.

“I’m at peace,” Haliburton said. “I’m at peace with my game. Understanding that I’m trusted in these moments. I have all the confidence in the world to make these shots. My teammates and my coaching staff give me that confidence, and just trying to make plays out there.”

Haliburton has come up big for the Pacers in clutch moments throughout the campaign. He has made all but one of his 11 shots to tie the game or take the lead in the final two minutes this season.

Haliburton has been the driving force behind a Pacers offense that has lit up the Cavaliers through the first two games of the best-of-seven series. Indiana scored 120-plus points in both of the contests at Rocket Arena and finished with a whopping 121 in Game 1.

While Haliburton is leading the Pacers in points per game against Cleveland, Indiana has scored the ball by committee. Six players in total for Indiana are averaging at least 14 points per contest thus far, and forward Aaron Nesmith has particularity stepped up his game as a scorer. He averaged 12.0 points per game in the regular season, and he’s averaging 20.0 points on 64.3 percent shooting from 3-point range versus the Cavaliers.

Haliburton and the Pacers can all but end the Cavaliers’ title hopes with a victory in Friday’s Game 3. Cleveland would be in a 3-0 hole with another loss, and no team in playoff history has come back from such a deficit to win the series. Plus, only a handful teams have forced a Game 7 after falling in such a hole.