Overrate That: A Look Back At Tyrese Haliburton’s Phenomenal Playoff Route To The 2025 Finals

Voted 'Mr. Overrated' by his peers, but leading the Pacers to the finals. Here's a look at Haliburton's electric playoff campaign.

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images).

Known by his peers as the most overrated player in the NBA. But known by fans across the world as an entertainer. Tyrese Haliburton, as a basketball player, is a truly polarising character.

However, within the 2025 playoffs, Haliburton has been phenomenal, with several memorable moments – guiding the Indiana Pacers on an underdog run to the NBA finals.

So as the basketball season comes to its near-conclusions, here is a look back at Tyrese Haliburton’s best 2025 NBA playoff moments.

Round One: Hali-Time

(Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images).

After being involved with the golden medal-winning US men’s national team at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Haliburton came into the season as a man with a point to prove. Maybe not handed the minutes that he believed he would’ve deserved under Jason Kidd and was dumped out of the playoffs, 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals by the Boston Celtics.

Throughout the season, the point guard averaged 18.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 9.2 assists from 47% field goal. Leading the Pacers to the fourth seed in the East and a first-round tie with the Milwaukee Bucks. By facing the Bucks, the Pacers were coming up against one of the league’s best players, Giannis Antetokounmpo, while Damian Lillard began the series, remaining out due to a blood clot. On home court, it was Indian that dominated the early stages of the series, winning games one and two by comfortable margins.

Haliburton did not quite dazzle, combining in both games for 31 points, but the guard was perfectly moving the rock – recording 12 assists in both games in Indianapolis. It’s also safe to say that the face of the Pacers franchise was feeling himself, Haliburton talking trash to the Bucks’ absent guard Lillard on the bench. In the third clash, Lillard returned, and Milwaukee returned home, protecting home court and beating the Pacers 117-101, with Antetokounmpo providing 37 points and 12 rebounds.

But as the team would later find out in the playoffs, Indiana are a fantastic team on the road, as they claimed the fourth game in dominant fashion, with a 26-point lead. Haliburton once again not hugely shooting the ball but found his open teammates, with 15 assists. After further tension in game three, Haliburton and Lillard seemed to have been developing an exciting playoff rivalry. However, in devastating fashion, in the 6th minute of game four, Lillard went down to a reported Achilles injury.

Now one win away from advancing and returning to home court, the game went to overtime, with Gary Trent Jr scoring a playoff career-high 30 points. But Haliburton rose up and truly put his stamp down on this series – a 30-point performance while leading the Pacers in OT, with a game-winning layup to make the scoreline 119-118. The Pacers had progressed in five and next was a series against this season’s leaders of the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Round Two: Caught The Cavs

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Looking back upon a superb regular season, one team that no one in the East wanted to face was the Cleveland Cavaliers, especially not in the second round. But as the fourth seed – that is exactly what the Indiana Pacers had to do.

Riding their momentum from the previous series, Indiana kicked off their second round in perfect fashion – beating the Cavs by nine points in Cleveland. Their floor general, Haliburton, was key once again in everything positive on the offensive side, contributing a playoff career-high 13 assists and three blocks - the guard also contributed 60.7% of their points in the fourth. But it was always going to get harder for the Pacers with the Cavs understanding the urgency and importance of getting a win at home.

That being said, it was Haliburton’s Pacers that stole another win in Cleveland, winning by just one point in a close game at Rocket Arena. Similarly to the first game, Haliburton led a Pacers fourth-quarter surge, scoring 11 of his 19 points in the quarter as Aaron Nesmith’s tip dunk secured the win. While they had been facing an all-star guard in Donovan Mitchell, the roster of the Cavaliers had been heavily depleted as Darius Garland had missed both of the opening games, and Evan Mobley was absent in the second.

Travelling to Indiana, the Pacers slipped up in Game Three, losing by 22 points before answering back with a 20-point victory in the bounce-back game. The Pacers were one win away from back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference finals, and their star made sure of it. 31 points for Haliburton in Game Five alongside eight assists and six rebounds, the point guard delivered fantastically for Rick Carlisle’s team to send them to the promised land.

Conference Finals: Suffocating The Knicks

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A historic and legendary rivalry. The Knicks and the Pacers meeting in the conference finals was always going to provide entertainment, but early on, this series had all the makings of an instant classic. Haliburton lit the fuse in Game One, the Pacers came back from a five-point deficit in the final 30 seconds of regular time – the point hitting a huge deep two-pointer that was originally ruled as a three and hitting the Reggie Miller ‘choke’ celebration.

Aaron Nesmith and Haliburton would be huge in OT as the Pacers stole game one at MSG. New York needed Game Two, but once again, it was the guys from Indiana winning on opposition soil. It was the Pascal Siakam show, the Cameroonian scoring 39 points, but Haliburton also provided 14 points and 11 assists.

Game Three provided hope that the series was back on, Jalen Brunson’s Knicks winning 106-100, but the fourth meeting between the teams was decisive. Haliburton played an all-time game, dominating the match with a triple-double – 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 15 assists as the Pacers protected their home court to take a confident lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

Again the Knicks’ fight back in Game Five did not last long as the Pacers booked their place in the NBA finals in Game Six, going back to Indiana and winning 125-108. Haliburton scored 21 points and despite his heroics in the series, was not awarded the MVP award for the Eastern Conference.

(Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images).

Looking forward to Thursday’s opener, Haliburton and the Pacers have a giant task of defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the NBA finals. The Thunder have been the favourites throughout the playoffs, but on the other hand, the Pacers have constantly been considered underdogs. This could help Indiana in the playoffs, playing with house money, but while he still has plenty to prove and play for – if the 2025 playoffs are anything to go by, Tyrese Haliburton is certainly not overrated.