Tyrese Haliburton didn’t make the trip to OKC last season, not interested or ready to visit the Paycom Center where he suffered a career altering Achilles injury on the biggest NBA stage available.
Nearly nine months later, a healthy Haliburton showed up ready to move past that moment both physically and emotionally.
That he did and then some.
Haliburton started the game in OKC right where he left off. Running the show, draining threes and pushing the Pacers to an early lead while teaming up with Ivica Zubac to put the league on notice that not only can these two guys play well together, they can do so at an elite level.
Haliburton made a trio of threes, scoring 11 points with 2 assists in his initial seven minute stint of play. One of those first quarter threes came courtesy of a screen from Zubac who added 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in that same seven minute stretch.
In the second quarter, Zubac set a screen that swallowed up Jared McCain, allowing Haliburton to make another three in rhythm off the dribble. Opponents will need to work on a switching scheme if they want to drop on Zu while he’s setting screens on the perimeter or it will be the Pacers easiest way to create a shot. McCain started bear hugging Zu to try to keep him from rolling which was unnecessary. However, Zu may want to start selling that contact from the smaller defenders to add in a foul on the play.
Mark Montieth pointed out the wild familiarity of Haliburton’s first quarter effort showing he did indeed pick up where he left off.
Haliburton ended up scoring 24 points in his 18 minutes of burn while Zu had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Regular season ready, put ‘em on ice until heading to New Orleans.
The Pacers were dealing with some nagging injuries which had Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard, TJ McConnell and Jarace Walker out. McConnel has an undisclosed ailment but on Thursday, Rick Carlisle said he hopes he’ll be ready for the opener. Nesmith is dealing with a hamstring issue and will not play against the Bucks on Friday despite being able to practice on Thursday and appearing ready to roll next week.
It appears Nembhard and Walker were resting without any reported additional injury concerns. Those two may want to play the preseason finale and no doubt, Walker should play plenty if he’s feeling good. Nembhard? Maybe a first quarter stint before shutting it down.
Regardless of how the the Pacers close preseason against the Bucks, the regular season opener in New Orleans is now a few days away and the Pacers appear ready to roll to begin the season. Consistency will be key to get through the first 20 games but after a highly entertaining preseason performance, this squad is ready to continue that extremely watchable brand of ball when the games start to count
Rick Carlisle hopped on JMV’s afternoon show on Wednesday for an interesting chat. Check it out here: Rick Carlisle on JMV
Pacers vs. Bucks
Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
When: Friday, October 16, 2026 - 7:00 p.m. ET
TV: DAZN
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan
Odds: Pacers -9.5
Projected Starters
Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Ivica Zubac
Bucks: Ryan Rollins, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kyle Kuzma, Myles Turner
Injuries
Pacers: Johnny Furphy (knee) - out
Bucks: TBD