On Tuesday night, the Indiana Pacers eliminated the East’s top-seed Cleveland Cavaliers in five games in their second round playoff series thanks in large part to an outstanding performance from point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Most notable was Haliburton’s second quarter in which he hit all five of his 3-point attempts, scoring 15 of his 31 points to help the Pacers erase an early deficit, not to mention greatly impress Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James.
As is always the case when he isn’t playing, LeBron has been locked in on the NBA Playoffs and Haliburton’s performance on the road to take out the Cavaliers was an outstanding one. And it was one that should quiet doubters of the point guard, of which there are many, especially with Haliburton being named the NBA’s most overrated player in a recent anonymous NBA player poll.
And James made sure to throw that back in people’s faces as the Lakers superstar took to social media to call out all those who labeled the Pacers’ star overrated and praise him as someone any player should want to play with:
Hali fkn hooping!!!! Where the lames who said he was overrated??!! Quiet as hell. That boy NICE and even more someone everyone would love to play with!
@mindthegamepod
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 14, 2025
LeBron being on the side of Haliburton and loving his game shouldn’t come as any surprise as the Lakers star’s game is centered around his passing and vision, making the right plays and getting his teammates involved. Haliburton is the engine for this Pacers team and can completely affect the game without being a premier scorer, though he is more than capable at that as well and now Indiana finds themselves in their second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals.
A player being labeled as overrated is always subjective, but Haliburton seems to have used that as a bit of extra motivation and is now proving a lot of people wrong as he continues to lead his team to postseason success. And James is enjoying every moment of it.
Lakers’ LeBron James explains why he always makes the ‘right play’ in clutch situations
LeBron James surely sees some similarities between himself and Tyrese Haliburton as both are always looking to get their teammates involved and make the right play, regardless of the situation. LeBron, in fact, has come under scrutiny throughout his career for making the right play in clutch situations instead of just forcing up a shot.
But the Lakers star recently spoke about why he does this in the “Mind the Game” podcast. James made note of how he was taught to play the game a certain way and it always brought him great success at every level so he will always stay true to what got him to this point.
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