The second that Tyrese Haliburton had spent the last 16 months ready for came on Wednesday evening, with his Indiana Pacers coming down to the wire on the highway against the New Orleans Pelicans in their first recreation of the 2026-27 NBA season.
And after everything he’d gone through to get back here — the surgical procedure to restore his ruptured Achilles tendon, the grueling rehab sophisticated by a nasty case of shingles, day after day of ready and straining and striving after being laid low just as he reached for the brass ring — Haliburton rattling sure wasn’t going to let it cross him by.
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With the rating knotted at 118 and a minute and a half remaining in regulation in New Orleans, Haliburton introduced the ball into the frontcourt, took a ball screen from teammate Pascal Siakam, and stared down Pelicans ahead Zion Williamson high above the 3-point arc. He crouched, lingered, tensed. He bought Williamson on a right-hand in-and-out dribble before hesitating and crossing back to his left, pushing off that surgically repaired proper leg as he created enough space to drive to the center of the ground.
Haliburton got his shoulders even with the recovering Williamson, absorbed the contact in the lane and leaned left, lofting a floater with his off-hand. It rattled home. The bucket, plus the foul, and as he sat up on the deck at the Smoothie King Center, the All-NBA level guard roared, letting 486 days’ value of pent-up emotion and frustration out for all to see.
The and-one free-throw gave the Pacers a three-point lead with 1:23 to go. The Pelicans would have two probabilities to tie the recreation and power time beyond regulation — a top-of-the-key 3-pointer by second-year guard Jeremiah Fears, and a left-corner strive by Williamson after an offensive rebound — but neither discovered the backside of the internet, permitting Indiana to end off a 123-120 win.
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After lacking seven of his first 11 field-goal makes an attempt through three quarters, Haliburton came alive in the fourth, scoring 13 factors on good 4-for-4 capturing in the ultimate body to help the Pacers come back in a recreation the Pelicans had largely managed in the earlier two quarters. Time and again, when the Pacers needed a good look, they put the ball in Haliburton’s arms, let him run the two-man recreation with Siakam, and pressured the Pelicans to strive to maintain up and get stops against their All-Star inside-out tandem. They could not:
Haliburton completed with 23 factors on 8-for-15 capturing to go with 12 assists in 34 minutes of work — his seventieth 20-10 recreation as a Pacer, and his first since Game 3 of the 2025 NBA Finals.
After sealing the win, Haliburton discovered himself overcome by emotion during his walkoff interview with Pacers sideline reporter Jeremiah Johnson:
“It means a lot to be back out here,” Haliburton said, tears streaming down his face as he struggled to discover the phrases.
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The Pacers trustworthy that traveled down to New Orleans to welcome back their chief were all too comfortable to offer their help:
After heading back to the locker room and taking some time before assembly with reporters, Haliburton took stock of what led to those feelings overflowing on the ground after the ultimate buzzer.
“I don’t think there’s been a point where I — like, I’ve had moments in private, especially early, when it was hard,” Haliburton said, according to Tony East of Circle City Spin. “You know, I don’t know. I just thought that this moment would feel super emotional for me. I didn’t think I was going to cry. I really didn’t. But I think it all just hit me kind of there when talking to Jeremiah, and seeing all those Pacers fans in the arena. We haven’t won here in, what, five years or whatever? And to see all those Pacer fans here in New Orleans for this means a lot to me. This organization, this city means a lot. And it just means a lot for me to be back doing what I love.”
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Asked what emotion particularly grabbed maintain of him, Haliburton thought for a second before saying, “I think just an appreciation.”
“You know, perspective is everything,” he said. “And as the game was going on, I was struggling a little bit. I was tired, and just not playing well. We weren’t playing well. I think I was kind of sitting there in that moment, and what got me going again was just … like, I’ve had those moments before, where it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, I need this game to get done. I need to breathe so I can get to tomorrow, next game, whatever.’ And in that moment, I just kind of took a step back when I was on the bench there, and I was like, ‘Man, I’m back playing. Like, I’m back here. And I just want to live in the moment as much as I can.'”
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