Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers Still Heated Over Knicks Analyst's 'Wannabe All-Star' Comment
Never mind Reggie vs. Spike. It's all about Tyrese vs...MSG Network?
The New York Knicks' rivalry with the Indiana Pacers has fizzled out in the new century after previously serving as must-see TV in the 1990s. But the TV aspect might be playing a part again thank to Knicks analyst Wally Szczerbiak, whose comments from the teams' last get-together apparently remain on Indiana's bulletin board.
That's what the Pacers, set to visit Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG), appear to be implying as they arrive in Manhattan. Engaged in a surprising for an automatic Eastern Conference playoff spot, Indiana (23-18) has been ... well, paced ... by the antics of Tyrese Haliburton, the NBA's current assist leader at 10.3 per game who is also putting up a career-best in scoring (20.3 a game).
But that wasn't enough to impress Szczerbiak, a former NBA veteran who now provides Knicks gameday analysis in the MSG Network studio. When the Knicks and Pacers previously did battle in Indianapolis on Dec. 18, Haliburton's tough night from the field (5-of-16 despite a 15-point, 10-assist double-double) ended on a missed equalizer with just over a second remaining in regulation, allowing New York to escape Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a 109-106 win.
Haiburton had previously missed a go-ahead basket with 12 seconds left and Szczerbiak was all too keen to remind him of the misses on MSG's postgame show, referring to the third-year man as "Mr. Supposed, Wannabe, Fake All-Star." Like their shared 1990s enemy Michael Jordan before them, the Pacers appear to be "taking that personally." An on-air apology from Szczerbiak during the MSG pregame a few nights later has apparently done little to pacify relations.
In the lead-up to their visit to New York, Haliburton kept things casual, saying only "yes" when asked if he was looking forward to visiting Manhattan. T.J. McConnell, on the other hand, was a bit more direct in the Pacers' intentions to make a statement. While he didn't mention Szczerbiak by name, it's clear that the team wants to help Haliburton prove that he's worth of his first All-Star invite.
“I think there was some fuel to that fire after the Knicks game,” McConnell said. “Won’t name any names, but there was some fuel to that fire that sparked our All-Star to come out and take us to the next level. It started with Tyrese. He’s been phenomenal.”
To McConnell's point, the Pacers are 8-2 since the Knicks' visit and Haliburton has been a vital part of that success, averaging 22.9 points, 9.2 assists, and 1.9 steals in that span. That includes a career-best 43-point showing in a Dec. 23 win over Miami, coming five days after Szczerbiak's on-air skewering.
At the time of the verbal attack, Haliburton claimed to have heard Szczerbiak's name in passing, but claimed he "couldn't tell you where he played" or "what he did as a basketball player." Szczerbiak played 10 NBA seasons after arriving from Miami University as the sixth pick of the 1999 draft and was himself an All-Star in 2002 when he repped the Minnesota Timberwolves. He has worked with MSG Network since 2012 and occasionally serves as the Knicks' color commentary in lieu of longtime voice Walt "Clyde" Frazier.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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