Tyrese Haliburton has made the leap, and the Thunder should be terrified

TO MOST NBA fans, casual or avid, Tyrese Haliburton's superstar leap has taken place over the past few weeks.

There was the homage to Reggie Miller at Madison Square Garden in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. The almost statistically perfect 32-point, 15-assist, 12-rebound, five-steal, zero-turnover game in Game 4 against the Knicks. And then, of course, the shot he hit with 0.3 seconds remaining in Game 1 of the NBA Finals to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-110, which silenced the loudest fanbase in the league Thursday night at the Paycom Center.

Afterward, Haliburton charmed in his postgame interviews, as only a certain caliber of superstars can, joking with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt that "we were late to the party, too" when the host admitted he didn't see the potential of this Indiana Pacers team early in the season at Christmas when they were under .500.

He even brought his first signature Puma shoe -- released earlier in the day -- to the podium with him and joked about how the kicks were the "secret sauce" to his penchant for hitting big shots at such a high rate.

This season he has hit an astounding 13-for-15 game-tying or game-winning shots in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime -- the best field goal percentage in a single season since play-by-play was first tracked in 1996-97, per ESPN Research.

But to those who know Haliburton best, this superstar leap has been years in the making. And it started inauspiciously, on a random Saturday in late January in Philadelphia.

HALIBURTON DIDN'T KNOW it at the time, but he was in his final weeks with the Sacramento Kings.

What he did know was that there was something missing from his game. Or maybe a lot of things. Because he was averaging only 13.8 points a game that year, and those aren't the kind of numbers a young player in line for a maximum contract extension over the summer puts up.

His agent Dave Spahn contacted renowned NBA skills trainer Drew Hanlen to see if he would meet with his client and consider working with him. Hanlen agreed to meet but immediately put conditions on the professional relationship.

In his book, "Stop BSing Yourself," Hanlen wrote: "The biggest thing holding [Haliburton] back was his lack of scoring aggressiveness. So I presented a challenge to him. I told him that if he wanted to work with me, he had to have 14 field goal attempts the next night against the Sixers."

Haliburton remembers that dinner well.

"He told me I have to believe in myself before he believes in me," Haliburton told ESPN after Game 1 on Thursday night.

Unbeknownst to him, Hanlen had been studying his tape for several weeks, because he also worked closely with Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, and the Sixers had engaged in trade discussions with the Kings on a trade that would've involved Haliburton and Ben Simmons.

Hanlen loved Haliburton's passing ability but worried his lack of aggression in scoring would limit the impact of his brilliant passing. Embiid encouraged Hanlen to keep studying the film, because Haliburton had certain aspects of his game the big man had never seen before.

So in that game on Jan. 29, 2022, Haliburton did exactly what Hanlen challenged him to do. He attempted 19 shots, made 11 of them and finished with a then-career-high 38 points.

He was traded to the Pacers 10 days later.

He has been working with Hanlen ever since, and the theme has never changed.

"The big quote that we always say is, 'Sometimes being too unselfish is actually being selfish,'" Hanlen told ESPN Thursday night, as he waited for Haliburton by the Pacers family room in Oklahoma City. "When he's unselfish, it actually negatively impacts his teammates' success and negatively impacts his team's success.

"The more aggressive he is, the more his team wins."

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Haliburton walks through his Game 1 winner with SVP

Tyrese Haliburton tells Scott Van Pelt what was going through his mind in the final moments of the Pacers' thrilling Game 1 win vs. the Thunder.

CONFIDENCE HAS BEEN a fickle flame for Haliburton over the years -- hard to picture after his boisterous interviews and celebrations on the court this season. But just a few months ago, he was as low as Hanlen had ever seen him.

Being the only player on the Olympic team who didn't get any playing time shook him. So did a lingering hamstring injury, which kept him from training all summer. He came into the season without his usual burst, physically or emotionally. And it showed in the Pacers' slow start.

That's what made his comments to Van Pelt after Thursday night's win so ironic. "We were late to the party, too," reads a whole lot differently knowing just how much Haliburton struggled to get his confidence and aggressiveness back earlier this year.

Even the signature shoes he brought to the podium with him have a double meaning. When Haliburton was at his lowest this year, he worried he didn't deserve to have the honor of a signature shoe.

"He's always used negativity and doubt to fuel him," Hanlen said. "But then he started buying into it and believing it. We had to get him past that."

ON WEDNESDAY, HALIBURTON texted Hanlen a post from @studio7Inbox -- an X account with 269 followers -- that broke down the Pacers wins per shot attempts by Haliburton.

Break down of Pacers wins per shot attempts by @TyHaliburton22 from the start of the szn thru the playoffs:
9 or fewer: 5-6
10 or more: 47-21
14 or more: 30-13
15 or more: 29-10
16 or more: 20-5
17 or more: 15-2
20 or more: 4-0@PUMAHoops #YesCers

Hanlen had no idea how Haliburton found that post, but he was glad that was what Haliburton was thinking on the eve of his first Finals appearance.

"We came up with a slogan, which is the orange thing," Hanlen said. "Which just means look at the orange thing. Look at the rim as much as you possibly can.

"You wouldn't tell some players to be overly aggressive because you think then they're going to start hunting for bad shots. But for Ty, we trust that if he gets downhill and puts himself in the right place, he'll make the right decision."

The end result of all this is that while it appears Haliburton is having a superstar turn in these playoffs, it's one that began three years ago -- and one that still needs tending.

After Haliburton shot only seven times in the Pacers' Game 5 loss to the Knicks, Hanlen flew to Indianapolis to help him prepare for Game 6. They watched film, and when Haliburton went to bed, Hanlen gathered any orange thing he could find in the house and left them outside his door.

He found a bag of Goldfish, a giant box of Reese's Puffs cereal, a Number 3 sized basketball, a giant carrot, an orange bag of Guittard dark chocolate and Kind peanut butter clusters.

Haliburton woke up and had to step over all the "orange things" just to leave his room.

"That's all he talks about," Haliburton joked. "24/7, all day every day. It never stops with that guy."

Clearly the message is getting through. Because as Haliburton walked out of Paycom Center Thursday night, he asked how many shot attempts he took in Game 1.

Thirteen.

"Damn," he said. "[Hanlen's] not going to be happy. I know I was terrible. I made the shot and everything, but there's a lot of room for improvement. I can be better."