Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton Compares Himself to Jesus

After improbably advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season, two-time All-Star Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton has gotten pretty confident about his own abilities.

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Haliburton reflected on the criticism that has been levied his way over the years. Notably, an anonymous poll of his NBA peers by Sam Amick and Josh Robbins of The Athletic proclaimed the 6-foot-5 Iowa State product to be the league's most overrated player.

Haliburton netted 14.4 percent of the 90 NBA player votes cast. The 25-year-old Olympic gold medalist appears to have taken umbrage with that designation and internalized the criticism during the Pacers' playoff push.

Things took a turn for the weird when Haliburton appeared on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" to unpack Indiana's surprising five-game semifinal series defeat of the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.

During the interview, which is well worth hearing in full, Haliburton made a bonkers proclamation about his own trials and tribulations.

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Haliburton compared himself to Jesus Christ.

"I have critics in what I do," Haliburton said. "Jesus had critics. We all got critics."

In 73 healthy games for the 50-32 Pacers this past regular season, Haliburton averaged 18.6 points on .473/.388/.851 shooting splits, 9.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds a night.

Across Indiana's first 10 playoff games (the club has won each of its first two best-of-seven series 4-1), Haliburton boasts averages of 17.5 points on .474/.338/.794 shooting splits, 9.3 dimes, 5.5 boards, 0.9 blocks and 0.7 steals per.

Indiana will next face off against the winner of the New York Knicks-Boston Celtics semifinal series, which New York currently leads 3-2 after a surprise 127-102 Boston home blowout on Wednesday night.

With six-time All-Star power forward Jayson Tatum sidelined for the rest of the playoffs due to an Achilles tendon tear, the Celtics' chances of defending their 2024 championship seem to have died. But that doesn't mean they're quite dead yet in the playoffs.

Last year, with a healthy Tatum, the Celtics swept the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Given the lack of Tatum and a severe lingering viral illness for starting center Kristaps Porzingis, in combination with Indiana's improved play, Indiana might have the competitive edge were the two teams to reunite in this year's Eastern Conference Finals.

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