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Tyrese Haliburton put the Knicks’ season on life support with a familiar face back in the stands: his father.
John Haliburton was back at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the Pacers’ 130–121 win over the Knicks on Tuesday to put Indiana up 3–1 in the Eastern Conference finals. The younger Haliburton had one of the best games of his career, registering a triple-double of 32 points, 12 rebounds and 15 assists to put the Pacers one win away from their first NBA Finals since 2000.
Sitting in a suite instead of courtside, Tuesday marked the elder Haliburton’s first game since he got in the face of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo after the Pacers won their first-round series.
John Haliburton heckled Antetokounmpo and waved a picture of his son at him, eventually leading for the two to be separated. Antetokounmpo took the high road, praising John Haliburton’s passion and his son’s performance while adding that the actions were uncalled for.
“Losing the game, emotions run high,” Antetokounmpo said. “Having a fan—which at the moment I thought it was a fan, but then I realized it was Tyrese’s dad. Which I love Tyrese. I think he’s a great competitor. His dad coming on the floor and showing me his son—a towel with his face on [it], [saying] ‘This is what we do. We do this.’ I feel like that’s very, very disrespectful.”
Tyrese Haliburton quickly admonished his father’s actions and said he’d contact Antetokounmpo, too.
“I don’t agree with what transpired there from him,” Haliburton said. “He needs to just allow me to play basketball and stay over there and I’ll come to him to celebrate.”
Days after the game, the Pacers banned John Haliburton from home and away games for “the foreseeable future.”
With John Haliburton returning Tuesday, his ban effectively lasted eight games: the five-game second round series against the Cavaliers and the first three games of the conference finals against the Knicks.
Tyrese Haliburton was asked about his father’s return to the stands after the game. He joked he was more excited to see a famous professional wrestler courtside.
“I know we’re saying ‘Free Pops’ and Pops is free, but he was not in jail,” Haliburton said after the game. “He happened to be in a very beautiful home, sitting very pretty watching NBA basketball. So yeah I was happy he was in the building obviously but Triple H was in the building. That might have been—I ain’t gonna say that was more special—but Triple H being in the building was pretty fire, too.”
