Heading into March, Haliburton played two disastrous games. In the first game against the Pelicans, he was 0-of-7 from the field, 0-of-6 from three-point range, and only scored a single point or even had only 3 assists, which can be regarded as the worst game of Haliburton's career.
In yesterday's loss to the Spurs, Haliburton was 0-of-6 from the outside, shooting 4-of-16 from the field, with 12 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. Although he took 16 shots, Haliburton gave the impression that there was no desire to attack on the court, and the aggression on the offensive end was greatly reduced.
Haliburton's style of play is not the kind with a particularly strong ability to solve. Now that Haliburton has completely lost the threat of a breakthrough, he can't throw in the outside line anymore, and the fight is even more uncomfortable. Defensively, he's shot 4-of-23 from the field in his last two games and 14-of-17 from the opposite side defensively.
Haliburton's performance, which was so different from the first half of the season, was that injuries were a major factor. On January 9, Haliburton suffered a hamstring injury. On January 20, I couldn't sit still and forced a comeback, and after playing a game, I still didn't feel right, and I rested again until the end of January.
He returned on January 31 and played only 22 minutes, and just after just 20 minutes or more, he withdrew from the game. In the next three games, Haliburton only played more than 20 minutes, and his body was not yet ready to play.
Prior to the injury, Haliburton was averaging 24 per game2 points 43 rebounds 127 assists and 49 percent shooting6%, three-point shooting rate 404%。After forcing his comeback, Haliburton averaged just 14 per game7 points 27 rebounds and 86 assists and shooting percentage dropped to 448%, three-point shooting percentage fell to 344%。
As for why Haliburton forced a comeback with a hamstring injury, I already mentioned it once when Embiid was injured earlier. Although Embiid has mentioned many times that he doesn't care about MVP, anyone with a discerning eye can see that he just wants to make up 65 games when he plays the Warriors with injuries and doesn't want to lose his qualification for awards.
The same goes for Haliburton, but compared to Embiid, Haliburton has a more realistic factor in money. Before the start of the season, Haliburton signed the Pacers with a super-cap salary for a designated rookie.
This contract is now five years 2$5.9 billion, if Haliburton is named to the All-NBA team this season and gets the MVP or DPOY, then the contract can start from 5 years and 205.9 billion rose to 5 years 2600 million, a gap of 54.1 million.
The real gold of 54.1 million is there, judging from Haliburton's performance in the first half of the season, as long as he makes up 65 games, he will definitely be in the best team, after all, his backcourt vote for the Eastern All-Star can be said to be unbeatable.
But after nearly a month of sluggish performances, Haliburton's average per game has now dropped to 208 points 113 assists. His assist-to-turnover ratio is still excellent, and his assists per game are still the first in the league, and there is no possibility of chasing Young, who has almost been reimbursed for the season behind him.
But considering that this season's All-Team selection is no longer a position, will you still rank a sluggish Haliburton in the top 15 of the league? Therefore, the worst situation of Haliburton this season is "no people and money", the money is gone, and the loss of money may not be the most important thing, and the worsening of hamstring injury is not a joke.
Both Harden and Paul have experienced hamstring injuries and both need a lot of time to recover. Haliburton may no longer feel the pain in his hamstring, but he doesn't feel the strength in his leg when he breaks through and shoots.
Haliburton's style of play itself belongs to the kind of dodgy play, and it needs to rely on explosiveness to shake off the opponent. Now plagued by a hamstring injury, his explosiveness has plummeted, so he has lost most of his attacking threat.
And once Haliburton doesn't have the bonus of offensive threat, his passing naturally doesn't have the magic of the first half of the season. The opponent knows that you are not an offensive threat, and will not easily let go of their defenders to help defend, a series of chain reactions.
The Pacers played a historic offensive efficiency in the first half of the season, with plenty of switching offense and plenty of distance to run that challenged Haliburton's physical limits, and his legs were still overwhelmed. Now there are more rounds in the league, the numbers are better, but the burden on the players has also increased.
Coupled with this fateful 65-game hard target, Haliburton is not right to play now, and if he doesn't play, his previous efforts will be wasted, and he can only stick to the rest of the regular season. You have to avoid getting hurt, otherwise it's all in vain.
Of course, you can accuse Haliburton of being desperate for money, but that's more than $50 million, and no one will give it up easily. It's just that injuries and illnesses were originally natural disasters, but now they have become man-made disasters, and the gains outweigh the losses.