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Par Joël Pütz | Journaliste sportif
Despite being in the NBA Finals and leading his Indiana team, Tyrese Haliburton remains one of the league’s most controversial players. When asked to weigh in on the matter, his teammate TJ McConnell didn’t hold back.
He couldn’t have chosen a worse time to make that blunder. With the series tied between the Pacers and the Thunder, Tyrese Haliburton was guilty of a cataclysmic performance in Game 5. Only 4 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and a game that ended without a single made basket, the star clearly crippled his team, which now finds itself with its back to the wall.
Given his leadership status both in the locker room and on the court, the point guard is inevitably the first to be singled out by critics. While his coach, Rick Carlisle, admitted that he was impaired during the game, it wasn’t enough to put out the fire. It’s no surprise, since the former Kings player isn’t unanimously praised in the NBA, not even among his own peers…
TJ McConnell defends Tyrese Haliburton against other NBA players
A few weeks ago, the latter had designated him as the most overrated player in the league, an ugly humiliation to which Haliburton nevertheless responded with an impressive playoff run. He can also count on his teammates to defend him, starting with TJ McConnell. The Pacers blue-collar player did not hesitate to speak frankly on SiriusXM when we asked him:
Certainly unfair. Not true. The whole ‘overrated’ thing. I still can’t wrap my mind around it. It’s one of the worst takes I’ve ever heard in my life. The guy is the furthest thing from overrated. He’s an incredible teammate. He’s shown the world throughout these playoffs what kind of player we see on a daily basis. But people don’t see what type of person and teammate he is.
When someone says stuff like that about our franchise guy, you wanna go to bat for him every single day. He’s done a great job of blocking out all that noise and just focusing on our team. That’s who Ty is.
His leader will surely appreciate the declaration of love. It must be said that it’s justified, since despite his underperformance in Game 5, Haliburton remains a player who led Indiana to the NBA Finals and its second consecutive conference final. No one could have predicted this before the start of the season, so whether his franchise becomes a champion or not, it seems inappropriate to call him an overrated player.
