Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle’s postgame conference was a poor effort at hiding Tyrese Haliburton’s failure.
The Indiana Pacers secured a 2-0 lead against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Considering the Pacers were headed home for Game 3, many expected a 3-0 lead in the series. However, the Cavs utterly dominated the Pacers as they handed a 126-104 defeat in Game 3.
It was a result of the Pacers’ poor start to the matchup as the Cavs outscored the home team 34-13 in the second quarter.
It’s not over until one team has won four games in a series. Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle understands it perfectly as he didn’t get ahead of himself despite a 2-0 lead in the series.
Carlisle also showed his leadership skills during the postgame conference after Game 3. The veteran head coach surprisingly took responsibility for the loss and vowed to be better.
“It was a very poor effort at the beginning of the game, for too many parts of the game. It’s on all of us. We all own it. Pretty clearly, I didn’t have these guys ready for this. So I take responsibility for that,” Carlisle admitted.
“Ty had a rough game, I got to do more to get him involved, get him shots, get him in better positions to defend better. All those kinds of things.
“The guys had an amazing week. It’s one game. If he [Tyrese Haliburton] was up here, he’d say, ‘I’ll be better,’” he added.
While Carlisle taking responsibility was great, Haliburton’s poor performance was still the biggest reason behind the Pacers’ Game 3 loss.
For what it’s worth, Haliburton was phenomenal in the first two games of the series. In fact, he was seemingly on the path to proving his critics wrong.
However, being the face of the franchise, he can’t completely disappear during an important matchup.
Unfortunately, that’s what happened in Game 3. Haliburton finished the night with just 4 points, 0 rebounds, and 5 assists in 30 minutes of playing time.
On top of that, he shot an abysmal 2-of-8 from the field while being a minus-20 on the floor. The final nail in the coffin was Haliburton skipping the press conference after the game.
Considering he has been very vocal when the Pacers have won games, it was a poor sign of leadership and could ruin the locker room morale ahead of the important Game 4 contest in the series.
