The Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers are more similar than they seem.
They’re both overlooked and have a big chip on their shoulders.
They’re both teams with deep rotations and a myriad of scoring options.
And they both have leaders with plenty to prove in the playoffs.
With that in mind, Donovan Mitchell shut down the narrative about Tyrese Haliburton being overrated.
When asked about the Pacers’ All-Star PG, he had nothing but praise for his colleague:
“He’s the head of the snake,” Mitchell said. “There’s a lot of respect for [Tyrese Haliburton] and what he brings over there. At the end of the day, if people want to say [he’s overrated], they want to say that, but, you know, we don’t look at it that way. We understand how important he is to that group. He’s a threat, and we’ve got to make sure we try to find ways to neutralize him.”
Haliburton has been a somewhat polarizing figure this season, as his scoring numbers have been far from impressive, and his shooting splits haven’t been as efficient either.
Nevertheless, we’re talking about one of the savviest playmakers in the game, and he dictates the pace of the game for the Pacers’ up-tempo offense.
Haliburton also proved to be made for big moments in his last game, as he took over down the stretch to pull off an epic comeback in overtime to beat the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
He talks a big game, and some might feel like he has yet to earn his stripes in the league, and that’s a fair assessment, but that doesn’t mean he’s overrated.
At the end of the day, this series might come down to whether Haliburton or Mitchell can get buckets down the stretch.
They both need their supporting casts to thrive, but we’ve seen players take over and change the course of a series many times in the past as well.
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