Tyrese Haliburton Odds and Props: Bouncing Back in Boston

The Indiana Pacers will be kicking themselves for letting Game 1 slip away. More specifically, Tyrese Haliburton will be haunted by his inability to hold onto the ball as well as overall poor decision-making down the stretch of regulation that allowed Indiana to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The series hinges on Haliburton elevating his play even above that which nearly helped the Pacers steal homecourt advantage in Game 1. As such, my NBA picks for tonight’s Tyrese Haliburton odds hone in on his efforts to redeem himself.

While I expect certain adjustments in Game 2 of Pacers vs. Celtics to slow down his work as a distributor, I’m banking on a renewed sense of focus to guide Haliburton’s play on Thursday, May 23.

Tyrese Haliburton prop picks for May 23

• Tyrese Haliburton Over 3.5 threes (+102 at FanDuel)
• Over 3.5 threes + Over 18.5 points + Under 8.5 assists (+343 at FanDuel)

Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.

Tyrese Haliburton best bet

Tyrese Haliburton pick: Over 3.5 threes

It would be all too easy to focus on the final minutes of regulation when considering the outlook of Game 2, where the Indiana Pacers folded under the weight of their poor decision-making to choke away the win, but through a huge majority of the game, one thing was abundantly clear: the Boston Celtics defense could not stop the Pacers from getting good shots.

And that all stemmed from the fact that Tyrese Haliburton was in complete command of the offense and looking to absolutely bomb away from deep.

After a relatively quiet close to the regular season marred by a hamstring injury, Haliburton has been heating up round by round. He’s now up to 38.1% from three in the playoffs, the vast majority of which are off-the-dribble looks, and often from 1-2 feet behind the arc.

Haliburton is an offensive superstar, and he seems to be realizing that his scoring is essential to the health of the offense. If he’s not a threat to shoot, his teammates will face more attentive defenses and more difficult shots. 

He showed no hesitation in Game 1, taking 14 attempts from beyond the arc and cashing six of them. Just the fact that he attempted 14 threes in Game 1 is reason enough to be bullish on this prop. 

The Celtics know full well that stopping Haliburton is the key to unraveling the Pacers' high-octane offense, but they elected to contest his shots rather than deny him the ball entirely. They can live with him taking a high volume of above-the-break triples if it means he isn’t drawing two and kicking to the corner for even better looks.

Boston allowed more opponent 3-point shot attempts than all but two teams in the regular season. They think they can win the math game by allowing threes if they deny the paint. They might be right, but Haliburton is going to make them pay dearly for the trade-off.

Prop: Tyrese Haliburton Over 3.5 threes (+102 at FanDuel)

Tyrese Haliburton same-game parlay

Over 3.5 threes

Over 18.5 points

Under 8.5 assists

+344 at FanDuel

Banking on Haliburton’s increased scoring follows naturally from my belief about his increased aggression from deep, but my belief that Haliburton will be more productive as a scorer than a playmaker in Game 2 is based on a few different factors.

The Celtics know they have to take away something, and if they can’t slow Haliburton down as a shooter, they can at least make his passes more difficult. Haliburton really made hay attacking Luke Kornet in pick-and-rolls in the first half of Game 1, touching the paint and finding a roll man for assists several times. 

The Celtics then avoided allowing that matchup almost completely in the second half. Boston will try and pluck this sort of low-hanging fruit that should depress Haliburton’s playmaking numbers.

Inevitably, Haliburton is going to have his turnovers from Game 1 playing in the back of his mind. The desire to avoid mistakes should see him constrain some of his more ambitious passes, reducing his overall playmaking volume just enough.

Lastly, TJ McConnell played well again in Game 1, leading to more minutes where he and Tyrese shared the court together. However, TJ has to be on the ball in their shared minutes because Boston can simply not guard him from beyond the arc if he isn’t. That moves Haliburton into more of a shooting guard role, both bolstering his scoring numbers but also further limiting his chances to rack up assists.

Learn how to bet a same-game parlay with these helpful tips and strategies.

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