Tyrese Haliburton says he practiced the exact step-back move hours before hitting his dramatic Game 2 winner against the Cavaliers in the 2025 playoffs.
Tyrese Haliburton spent the morning of Game 2 of the 2025 Eastern Conference semifinals working on step-back jumpers to his left, hours before he hit one to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He described the workout to Reggie Miller in a 30-minute conversation released Thursday, in which the two went shot by shot through each other's biggest playoff moments. Miller's first question about Cleveland was whether Haliburton had missed his second free throw on purpose.
Haliburton Considered Missing the Free Throw on Purpose
The idea crossed Haliburton's mind the moment the first one dropped.
"I'm telling them, I'm like, as soon as I make the first one, I look, I'm like, 'Miss it,'" Haliburton said. "They're like, 'Absolutely not. Don't miss it.' So then when I missed it and grabbed it."
He did not miss it intentionally, he told Miller. It just came up short.
The Indiana Pacers were down 119-116 when Haliburton drew the foul on May 6, 2025. He made the first free throw, missed the second, and came up with his own rebound among a crowd of taller players under the basket.
Haliburton was still angry about the miss when the ball came back to him.
"I think Myles tapped it, but there was just so many big guys down there that I was, I wasn't even thinking," Haliburton explained. "I was just like, 'I can't believe I missed it,' but that's playoff basketball right there. You got to move on to the next play. And I was like, I got the ball, and I was thinking when I caught it here, I was like, 'Just shoot it.' I was like, 'Nah, I got to get out of here.'"
Haliburton Had Practiced the Step-Back That Morning
He dribbled out beyond the arc with Ty Jerome on him. On the film, Miller pointed out that Max Strus stayed home on Aaron Nesmith in help position while Pascal Siakam cleared toward the baseline.
Miller asked why Haliburton did not settle for a long 2 to force overtime, since Jerome was already beaten. Haliburton had told people all day that the step-back left would be there.
"All the things are going right in that moment," Haliburton said. "And you know what's funny is going into Game 2, I always work out early in the morning before the team gets to the gym, and we were working on step-backs left, because I was like, they're shading me left, I can really get down and get out to my left. So we worked on that morning."
"And I don't know what came to me," Haliburton continued. "It's so funny, we think about, we talk about it all the time, like, just for some reason that day I kept saying, 'I think step-back left's going to be there today.' And it just organically felt right to get back to my left hand and just shoot it."
The 3-pointer from the top of the key fell with 1.1 seconds left. Indiana won 120-119 and took a 2-0 lead in the series.
Pacers Erased Late Deficit in Cleveland
Cleveland had led by seven with 48 seconds remaining. Nesmith and Siakam scored to make it a one-possession game, and Andrew Nembhard stole an inbounds pass from Strus with 27.5 seconds left. The Pacers scored the final eight points in 47.9 seconds.
They had trailed by 20 earlier in the game. Donovan Mitchell scored 48 points for the Cavaliers, who played without Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and De'Andre Hunter.
Haliburton finished with 19 points and nine assists. Eleven of those points came in the fourth quarter. Myles Turner and Nesmith each scored 23.
"Ty hit another amazing shot to win the game," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after the game. It was Haliburton's second winner in a week. On April 29, he had scored the go-ahead layup with 1.3 seconds left in overtime to eliminate Milwaukee.
Haliburton Prepares for Return After Achilles Injury
Seven weeks later, an Achilles rupture in the Finals took away his entire next season. He said last month he was "chomping at the bit" to get back, and the Pacers open training camp Sept. 29 ahead of an Oct. 21 opener at New Orleans.
