(The original text was published on May 28, and the author is Michaelshearer of HoopsHype website. The content of the article does not represent the translator's views)
The basketball hovered in the air, like an oil painting hanging on the wall of the Louvre. It countered gravity and bounced so high that it lost its trace in the wide-angle broadcast footage of TNT TV. It is more like a meteor than an oil painting, fleeting. But unlike those celestial rocks, this more down-to-earth ball will always fall back. When basketball finally fell at an incredible angle and equalized the score of the Eastern Conference Finals G1, it became the latest proof of the theorem throughout the playoffs: Teres Halliburton has officially entered the top 5 superstars in the league.
Competition pattern
Maybe you think this statement is absurd, and I would have felt the same way a few months ago. Halliburton has neither eye-catching statistics nor the extraordinary physical qualities we usually associate with top superstars. But the facts in front of him cannot be ignored. With Halliburton's every key hero ball, every long pass that leads dunks, and every less surprising steal, the evidence that he has entered the top 5 of the league is accumulating.
At this time point, it is undisputed how many players are better than Halliburton? The regular season MVP Alexander is counted as one, and Jokic and Antetokounmpo are counted as well, although Halliburton chose to play against Antetokounmpo in the first round to hit the end of the series, which is quite symbolic.
And after these three, the list began to become uncertain. Doncic? Maybe. Curry has his advantage, but his state is declining and Halliburton is evolving. Halliburton has defeated Mitchell head-on, and is also replicating this suppression against Brunson. Vinbanyama, Edwards, Durant and James all have their own arguments, but none of them have absolute persuasiveness and may even be at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, Tatum's Achilles tendon injury made him temporarily withdraw from the discussion.
It must be admitted that most (and possibly all) of the above players have better regular season basic stats than Halliburton. But if you stick to traditional metrics such as scoring and rebounding, you will miss Halliburton’s true extraordinaryness.
Halliburton's extraordinary place
The Pacer point guard seemed to be in a fast forward state forever, and the basketball would immediately eject as soon as it touched its fingertips. I experienced a unique basketball pleasure by playing skills with Halliburton. If you are reading this article, I must have played basketball a bit, even if it was just a wild ball game with my friends when I was a student. You have probably experienced that inner tremor: when the five people fit perfectly like a puzzle, the vertigo caused by chemical reactions is unparalleled.
Halliburton alone can create this boiling effect, no matter who his teammates are. He transformed Nesmith into a 3D sharpshooter with a three-point shooting percentage of 40%; he truly liberated Topin, allowing the trapped beast who once sat on the Knicks to run all over the game, staged a series of dunks; and further inspired the peak state of veterans such as Turner and Siakam.
All discussions about Halliburton start with passing. Jokic has created a similar effect, and when teammates are convinced that their superstars can read correctly every time, off-ball cuts are more explosive and purposeful. Halliburton will never press the "Give Me" button as long as the "Give You" option exists. He led the league assist list last season and ranked third this season, and his passes can always be accurately guided.
This does not mean he won't score. Despite Halliburton's jump shot posture, he seemed to have only seen a shooting tutorial but never seen a real-life shooting. His elbows were too wide open and his feet were standing too close (why could it be so close?). This is indeed the least beautiful part of his game, but the scoring efficiency cannot be underestimated. His career three-point shooting percentage is 39% and his output is considerable. Although the playoffs' sights have declined slightly, if he is short at a critical moment, he will be at your own risk.
In sharp contrast to the jump shot is his picturesque throw. Like all great point guards, Halliburton can use it as a speed ball or main weapon depending on the situation. It is no accident that his finishing efficiency at the basket and in the middle and close range exceeds 95% of the players in the same position. He uses more angle skills than those taught by junior high school mathematics teachers, and he can even complete the shot with his left hand. There are two reasonable points in the two major doubts about Halliburton's doubts, but they both need to be viewed dialectically. First, he occasionally steals, such as the two consecutive games against the Cavaliers (including one victory) in total, only 16 shots. Do you remember that after Harden's performance in a critical battle, he used the excuse of "the ball just didn't pass it back"? This statement may be true for Halliburton. He is overly focused on activating his teammates' offensive launch, which sometimes leads to the inability to return the ball. But this characteristic is precisely the system's advantage, not the defect.
is particularly obvious in comparison with Knicks' Brunson: Halliburton averaged only 5.7 minutes per game in the regular season, far lower than Brunson's 8.6 minutes leading the league; the two men's numbers rose to 6.7 and 9.3 minutes respectively. Currently, 9 players have more ball-holding time than Halliburton in the playoffs, but are there really 9 players better at controlling the field decisions than him? I'm afraid neither of them can get together.
Halliburton insists on making the right pass and bears the consequences. This choice occasionally leads to suboptimal results, and sometimes the Pacers do need him to take over the game. But the halo effect produced by this attitude will penetrate the entire team: the micro level may be unfavorable, but the macro level will allow the team to grow vigorously.
At this moment, Halliburton's most underrated trait must be explored: he almost never makes mistakes, and such a phenomenal control has never occurred in NBA history. Halliburton's luxurious data in the G4 East Finals caused a sensation: 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds are shocking enough, but the accompanying 0 mistakes create a gap in history.
In contrast, Brunson made 7 mistakes in the first game of the series alone. Halliburton made only 6 mistakes in the first four games, one of which was full of jokes, and he deliberately passed the ball to Towns with only 0.2 seconds left in the game..
Halliburton's field control ability is historical. In the 75-year history of the NBA, only two legendary point guards, John Stockton and Chris Paul (both played for 20 years) have played more "15+ assists and 0 turnovers" games, and Halliburton has just finished his fifth season of his career.
The transformation of defense
The defensive end is indeed Halliburton's long-standing weakness, and this kind of worry is not groundless. In the regular season, he was a disaster on the defensive end (except for the weird blocking three-pointer skill). He was slow and his low-post defense was as fragile as a tissue, often allowing his opponent to offset his organizational offensive contribution through targeted attacks.
But Halliburton completely rewrote the script in the playoffs. Although he can never become a single defense gate, he has contributed at least 1 steal or 1 block in 13 of the past 14 playoff games. In the series against the Knicks, his "sticky" level of stealing is comparable to a child catching peanut butter. He also added 4 steals to the historical data sheet in the fourth game.
To be honest, Halliburton's defensive investment in the playoffs even made me "anti-irritated": the defensive intensity, which has always been rare from October last year to March this year, has now become the standard for every game.
To truly hold the top 5 in the league, Halliburton must continue this defensive intensity until the regular season. But at least he has proved that he can not only get rid of the label of "defensive loopholes", but also become a defender who changes the situation, which is a huge progress. The transformation of the defensive end made Halliburton's already dazzling offensive resume more convincing. According to the data model that estimates positive and negative values, even if the season starts slowly, Halliburton is still the fifth player in the league with offensive influence; LEBRON's advanced data system ranks him at 6th; HoopsHype's Global Rating metric lists him at 5th player in the playoffs, which obviously underestimates him.
Of course, becoming a top super giant is inseparable from endorsement of victory. He entered the division finals twice in the first five years of his career and has advanced to the finals this year. Regardless of whether the road to promotion is "easy", few of the peers can achieve team success so early. Although the Pacers have excellent lineup and excellent coaching team, there is no recognized high-quality second or third-ranking company in the team, which does not prevent them from winning 28 wins and 7 losses since March 11.
Last year, he was selected for the best team with half of his injured leg and was selected for the best team. This season he won this honor again with repeated hamstrings and back injuries. Halliburton, who has fully recovered from health, has become an unsolvable problem for his opponent.
Halliburton's "bold constitution"
Although this does not directly affect Halliburton's league ranking, it is worth emphasizing that he has rekindled the long-lost hatred of basketball. Fans always complain about the lack of hostile confrontation in the league today. Why are the players as close as brothers? Where did the anger and hostility that created legendary confrontation go? And Halliburton is leading the Pacers teammates to reshape this atmosphere.
Do you still remember the street dance movie "Dance Passion" in the mid-2000s? There is a classic scene (known in specific circles): the protagonist breaks into the dance scene, from Miami to New York, mocking the dance styles of each city, and this is how Halliburton exists.
Halliburton jumped to celebrate after hitting the key ball; shot the winning goal after a few seconds when the Cavaliers fans shouted "overrated" (the details that were ignored were: Mitchell desperately signaled the audience to be quiet, and he had a premonition that this would awaken a beast); he "stole" his opponent's sign to celebrate; he kept squirting trash; even his father joined the mouth fight on the sidelines.
Naturally (fortunately) not everyone bought it. Halliburton ranked first in the list when he voted for the "most overrated player" not because of his performance on the court. Cleveland hates him, Milwaukee and Detroit regard him as the number one public enemy, and my Knicks fan friends are arguing about who is more abominable to him or Trae Young. After the finals start, Thunder fans will surely join the camp to denounce Halliburton.
A player who can induce such malicious intentions must have extraordinary features. Mediocre people do not deserve to have black fans. Perhaps Halliburton has not yet truly entered the top 5 of the league, or perhaps public perception has not yet broken through the limitations of basic data. But at least, he was knocking on the door, and those who know Halliburton knew: it was only a matter of time before they broke into the door.
Original text: Michaelshearer
Compiled by: Li Taibai