Tyrese Haliburton’s clutch numbers in NBA Playoffs put Kobe Bryant and other legends to shame

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Tyrese Haliburton’s clutch numbers in the NBA Playoffs are surpassing the greatest players of all-time

The Indiana Pacers are never beating the ‘team of destiny’ allegations. The Pacers have been living on the edge throughout their charmed run in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and their magic is still going strong in the NBA Finals against the best team in basketball.

The Pacers shocked the Thunder, 111-110, in Game 1 with another miraculous win in the final seconds. Indiana’s historic comebacks have all followed a similar pattern: the Pacers get down big, claw back with some hot shooting to close the deficit, and then Tyrese Haliburton takes them home. It happened again in Game 1 with another mind-blowing Haliburton dagger to win it. At this point, he’s leaving NBA legends in the dust with his run of clutch play.

The Pacers didn’t take their first lead in Game 1 until Haliburton’s shot swished through the net with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. Just getting the game to one possession took some witchcraft: Indiana trailed by 15 with under 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, and they were down five points with 90 seconds left. The Pacers needed to make all of their clutch threes, and they did. The Pacers needed the Thunder to miss some makable shots, and that happened too. They also needed Haliburton to continue his unbelievable playoff run with another game-winner to put them over the top, and of course he delivered.

Haliburton has hit a game-winner in every series so far. Somehow, they keep getting more ridiculous.

Haliburton closed out the Milwaukee Bucks in the first-round with driving scoop shot around Giannis Antetokounmpo. He stunned the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the second round by missing a free throw down two, collecting the rebound, and ripping a step-back three for the win. His amazing game-tying shot in Game 1 against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, complete with a Reggie Miller tribute, completed another wild comeback to force overtime before Indiana pulled away victorious. He already has another dagger in the NBA Finals after only one game.

Haliburton has more clutch shots in the final five seconds of playoffs games on this run than Kobe Bryant did his entire career.

The Pacers keep cheating death in these playoffs, and Haliburton is their Houdini. Just to win one game with a wild comeback and a buzzer-beater on a playoff run will be remembered forever.

To do it four times in the same postseason? That’s the type of stuff that gets sportswriters like me making hokey ‘team of destiny’ references. How else can you explain this?

There’s some temptation to say we should have seen this coming. Haliburton was hitting clutch shots all throughout the regular season. I’m partial to his “Four Verts” game-winner against the Bucks in March, but there are so many more from where that comes from.

Per Tom Haberstroh, “Haliburton is 13-of-15 on shots to tie or go ahead in the final 2:00 this season” after hitting the game-winner against the Thunder in the NBA Finals. That stat doesn’t seem possible, but it’s very real. Watch all of Haliburton’s clutch shots this season here.

In our NBA Finals preview, we wrote about two keys to this series: turnovers and corner threes. We said the Pacers had to avoid turnovers to have any chance against the Thunder; so much for that: Indiana turned the ball over 24 times to just six Thunder turnovers, and still won. A big reason why they were able to overcome that was because of their shooting from the corners: Indiana shot 10-of-16 from the corners in Game 1, including a big one by Aaron Nesmith with 2:39 left on keep Indiana in the game.

We called Thunder center Chet Holmgren the second-most important Thunder player in this series in our preview. He was terrible in his NBA Finals debut, finishing with six points on 2-of-9 shooting. Jalen Williams also struggled, shooting 6-of-19 from the floor for 17 points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was as spectacular as expected on the night with 38 points, but he missed his final shot — a mid-range gimme over Andrew Nembhard — that likely would have won the game for the Thunder given their foul up three strategy.

The Thunder were a huge favorite entering the NBA Finals at -700 to win the series in most sportsbooks. The Pacers immediately made it a series by pulling out Game 1, and now the stage is set for a classic NBA Finals.

Haliburton and the Pacers are simply unflappable in clutch moments. He’s performing at a level not even the legends of the game have touched. The Pacers can’t be counted out until they are dead and buried, and they keep finding new ways to escape. Whether the Pacers win or lose this series, what Haliburton has done in these playoffs deserves to be remembered forever.