Haliburton ready for 'backs against wall' NBA Finals test

The Manila Times

Haliburton ready for 'backs against wall' NBA Finals test  ‘It's the Finals, man. I've worked my whole life to be here and I want to be out there to compete, help my teammates any way I can,’ says Tyrese Haliburton, who vowed to be ready for Indiana's must-win NBA Finals game six after being hobbled by injury during the Pacers' 120-109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.   AFP VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net  Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  Soundcloud: https://tmt.ph/soundcloud   #themanilatimes #tmtnews #worldnews

Transcript

00:00I miss NBA Finals. It's the Finals, man. I've worked my whole life to be here and I want to

00:04be out there to compete, you know, help my teammates any way I can. You know, I was not

00:11great tonight by any means, but, you know, it's not really a thought of mine to not play here.

00:17You know, if I can, you know, walk, then I want to play. So, you know, they understand that and,

00:24you know, is what it is and, you know, got to be ready to go for game six.

00:28The thought is if you lose, the season's over, you know, so our backs are against the wall.

00:34You know, we take pride in playing at home in front of our fans and our fans are amazing. So,

00:40you know, we know they're going to come out with a ton of energy, you know, in game six,

00:44you know, so we're going to have to be able to respond, be better and look forward to,

00:49you know, the challenge. You know, we got to take this a day at a time. Our backs are against the

00:52wall. I mean, you got to look at game six, like it's a, like it's a game seven, you know, losing

00:57season is, you know, if you lose, your season's over. So, you know, we got to go in and,

01:00and, you know, take care of business, just approach the game the right way.

01:04He's not a hundred percent. It's pretty clear. But I don't think he's going to miss

01:10the next game. And, you know, we were concerned at halftime and he insisted on playing. And I

01:17thought, I thought he made a lot of really good things happen in the second half, but he's not,

01:22he's not a hundred percent, you know, and there's a lot of guys in the series that aren't.

01:27I just leave. I think the playing with force, yes, it puts pressure on officials to make a call.

01:33But at the same time, like halfway through the year, this was part of like me and Mark,

01:38like just talking about like what it's going to take. And just like, while I was like figuring

01:42out my game, a lot of it was not looking for a foul and just being able to finish through contact.

01:45And from there, if you finish through contact and make the shot, then the foul,

01:49you don't really need the foul. And that's kind of like the way I've been like approaching it is

01:53just being aggressive and getting in the rim and just playing through a lot of the contact.

01:58And then if it's a foul, not, if it is a foul, then great. But just the kind of force that I

02:03play with on a daily basis is I think what gets me to the line. And, you know, some nights I won't

02:07go to the line and I still had to finish. Get in front of them, keep them from driving,

02:11communicate better, have help when necessary.

02:17You know, in today's game, the drives to the rim, you know, most of them happen at the point of

02:24attack and we could do better. We got, nobody's asking about turnovers. We had 23 turnovers for

02:3032 points. I mean, that's the game. So, you know, we got to, we got to do a heck of a lot better there.

02:37Great force. I mean, that's the word. And we've used that word with him in his development. And

02:43when he's at his best, he's, he's playing with that type of force. And that was an unbelievable

02:48performance by him just throughout the whole game. I mean, he really was on the gas the entire night,

02:54applied a ton of pressure, but he made a lot of the right plays. And we're going to need a similar

02:59type of approach in game six.

03:07We're going to need anxiety.

03:08OK.

03:29The power is, there's no thoughtless.

03:34You

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