Sixers’ stars praise Tyrese Haliburton after Pacers end their eight-win streak: ‘He was excellent’

Tyrese Haliburton is taking the NBA by storm this 2023/24 season. Philadelphia hasn’t been able to slow him down after two-consecutive matches, even though they did win their first battle. This Tuesday, the Pacers finally took revenge and ended the Sixers‘ eight-win streak which included a masterclass from their star player. 

Across both contests, the 23-year-old dropped in 58 points with 20-32 shots and achieved an outstanding 32 assists without committing a single turnover. Despite preparing a scheme to defend him in their second outing, the 76ers players admitted he was impossible to guard.

“He’s good. I mean, maybe it’s the name,” Tyrese Maxey joked around. “Nah, but he’s good, man. He’s great, honestly, man. What he does, what he does for that team, the way he keeps the energy up, the way he fights as far as getting the ball and getting his teammates the ball. And his teammates knocked out some shots for him as well today. So, they were solid.”

Tyrese Haliburton in his last two games:

32 AST
0 TO

UNREAL 🤯 pic.twitter.com/B2EoXnCa3f

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 15, 2023

This is precisely the reason why coach Nick Nurse assigned Nicolas Batum to guard Tyrese during the first game on Sunday, but unfortunately he wasn’t available for Tuesday’s match and Robert Covington ended up being the man for the job.

“I thought we were doing okay on some of the things but we just let him get going early. He had five threes in the first half where we just either miscommunicated a coverage or we went under when we were supposed to be going over and some of those things where we just kinda let him have a couple clean looks early. Then I think he was kind of off to the races,” said the Sixers coach.

Due to Philly’s rotation scheme, everyone got a chance to guard Haliburton at some point, and the team’s trainer believes Patrick Beverley did a good job of “turning his water off a little bit” down the stretch.

At the end of the day, Nurse believes it all came down to shooting efficiency. “I think in this league, you got to be able to keep some type of pace,” he explained. “It’s not like you got to win the three-point game, but you got to be relatively close. So yeah, we need to make a few more.”

Joel Embiid recognized Indiana’s incredible speed throughout the game and credited it to Haliburton’s ball movement

This Tuesday night, the Pacers showed a merciless tempo and synchronization when attacking, while Philadelphia tried their best to press and contain them. However, Joel Embiid is convinced that Haliburton’s quick distribution made them hard to guard.

“I mean, they’re tough to guard because they just run full speed,” said the league MVP. “I think one of the main things about them is just that obviously they’re young, but they’re so unpredictable. You don’t know what they do because they’re just always running a hundred miles per hour. But that’s what happens when you’re young and when you got a team like that.”

“But he was excellent,” Joel kept at it. “He made a lot of tough shots, whether those stepbacks and underhand running hooks. Those were tough but he’s an amazing player and he’s been doing a great job.”

Unless Philly encounter the Pacers once again in the In-Season Tournament’s knockout phase, they are only scheduled to face them one more time this campaign. This clash is marked for January 25 in Indiana, as Embiid hopes to get another shot at beating them.