Jalen Brunson vs. Tyrese Haliburton, two players who are already famous for being underrated, is a primetime-ready matchup that is currently on primetime. And naturally for the two of them, still could be being overlooked.
The drama unfolding in this second-round series between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, which resumes with Sunday's Game 4 and the Knicks ahead 2-1, has plenty of shiny objects, including history, vying for attention .
There have been three last quarters of great intensity in which the winning team has come back; a series of injuries; complaints from night referees; and the playoff heroics of role players like Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and Andrew Nembhard that have made these games instant classics.
Of course, Brunson and Haliburton have also left their fingerprints throughout the series. But what they're really doing, participating in an All-Star boxing match, has been lost in the rest of the noise. And it could be the preamble to a multi-year battle in the Eastern Conference: two leading point guards on rising teams with a longer history than either of them has had.
“I don't think it's as much about me against him as it is about our teams against each other,” Haliburton said after the Pacers cruised to a 111-106 victory in the final minute of Game 3 on Friday. “He's doing what he has to do for his team to win games, and I have to do that too to give my team the best chance to win. So, it's less about matchups and who scores or who does what. That is for [fans] to talk. “We just try to win games.”
Despite dealing with a right foot injury that forced him off the court in Games 2 and 3, Brunson is averaging 32.7 points and 5.7 assists on 50% shooting.
The foot injury interrupted Brunson's historic four-game 40-point streak in Game 2. But in Game 3, even with his limited mobility, Brunson hit a key 3-pointer with 40 seconds left that tied the score.
Haliburton, for his part, came into the series battling spasms and was absent in Game 1, scoring just six points. Playing in the postseason for the first time, he vowed to bounce back…and he has. In the second game he scored 34 points with 9 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. In the third game, he scored 35 points with 7 assists and 2 steals.
Haliburton was hit twice Friday night, colliding on a drive to the basket with Knicks guard Miles McBride and hitting his tailbone on the court. Then, on a transition play in the fourth quarter, Haliburton sprained his right ankle. He limped after the competition, needed both handrails to walk down the two steps of the postgame lectern, and moved gingerly in the locker room as if he had really been in a boxing match.
“Overall my body hurts right now, but, I mean, there are guys hurting too,” Haliburton said. “So we have to understand that everyone is suffering right now.”
It is not a prototypical face-to-face rivalry. Brunson and Haliburton typically don't protect each other. They play with different styles: Brunson is more methodical and comfortable in isolation with a lot of dribbling, while Haliburton is a quick passing specialist who prefers to play with speed. Haliburton smiles throughout the game. Brunson could smile in July. Haliburton is loquacious in media environments. Brunson is discreet and responds carefully and without much fanfare.
“I have all the respect in the world for him and the way he plays,” Brunson said of Haliburton, right on the mark. “He goes out there, plays the right way and does what he has to do.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who coached Brunson for two seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, said of the matchup: “It's pretty clear that skeptics are something they both welcome. And when people doubt them, they try harder.” “.
But there's also something more to the Brunson-Haliburton story lurking beneath the surface.
In April, Team USA announced its roster for the Paris Olympics. The venues were highly coveted and one of the reasons Haliburton and Brunson spent their summers with Team USA at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2023. Brunson even rescheduled their wedding almost at the last minute to join the team.
But it was Haliburton – not Brunson – who received the invitation from Paris. He surprised Knicks fans, among others, as Brunson had an explosive season that saw him finish fifth in MVP voting, higher than any player on Team USA's roster.
“I'm just focused on the playoffs,” Brunson said flatly when the team was announced. “I didn't even look at the list.”
American basketball showed interest in Brunson from the beginning, both in 2015, when he was selected to represent the country at the U-17 World Cup in an event he ended up dominating, and in the 2023 World Cup cycle.
Last year, national team coach Steve Kerr not only named Brunson a top pick for the senior FIBA World Cup roster, but basically handed him the keys as team leader and starting point guard before he had even a single practice.
Kerr and his partners, USA Basketball CEO Grant Hill and national team director Sean Ford, had their reasons for not extending the invitation to Brunson in April. They explained it to Brunson when they called to communicate his decision before the teams were announced. And they were not unreasonable.
Brunson played well but didn't stand out in the World Cup, it was thought, averaging 11 points and four assists on 50% shooting. But Kerr ended up playing against Haliburton, who came off the bench more often late in games.
The international game seems to favor Haliburton's style more than Brunson's. Haliburton is also three inches taller, a trait Team USA prioritizes in international competition. It is also possible that Brunson could be added to the roster this summer as several players on the team are suffering from injuries.
The two have become friends since landing on Team USA last year, and Haliburton, who played at Iowa State, joked that while competing on the national team with former Villanova teammates Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges, he was a “substitute Donté.” – referring to DiVincenzo, the Villanova product who wasn't on the team. When Haliburton and the Pacers made the playoffs last month, the first call he received was a congratulations from Brunson.
Therefore, the aspect of his rivalry with the national team will probably remain out of the spotlight, even if it will not be forgotten, especially by Brunson.
But this whole arc, Haliburton vs. Brunson, might just be beginning.
“I think we both would probably tell him that we already know each other,” Haliburton said. “We know what we can do.”
