Is there something really that annoying about Tyrese Haliburton?<\/p>\n
Some New York Knicks fans celebrated their team\u2019s Game 5 win in the Eastern Conference finals by \u2026 putting a beating on a Haliburton dummy<\/a>?<\/p>\n Haliburton is the new player they love to hate in New York. And after this series, it\u2019s easy to see why.<\/p>\n Haliburton and his Indiana Pacers ended the Knicks\u2019 postseason run for the second straight season Saturday. He finished a 125-108 Game 6 win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse with 21 points, 13 assists, six rebounds and three steals and helped the Pacers return to the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years. Haliburton\u2019s final shot of the night, a 35-footer, blew the roof off Gainbridge, all with his dad in the stands<\/a>.<\/p>\n This season, Haliburton added his name to the basketball villains Knicks fans have been forced to stomach. Michael Jordan. Reggie Miller. Trae Young. You can even throw in Kobe Bryant and Steph Curry, who never played the Knicks in the postseason but made it a habit to put on a show in regular-season appearances.<\/p>\n Pascal Siakam was named the MVP of the series (a 5-4 vote against Haliburton<\/a>), but Haliburton averaged 21 points, 10.5 assists and six rebounds for the series. It can be argued that Haliburton has supplanted Young as the most hated active NBA player to visit New York.<\/p>\n Not just because he beat the Knicks again, but because of the swagger \u2014 or lack of it, depending on who comments \u2014 he did it with.<\/p>\n Haliburton borrowed Miller\u2019s choking taunt<\/a> in Game 1. He wore a hoodie with Miller\u2019s choking image<\/a> after eliminating the Knicks last year.<\/p>\n Haliburton hate, though, really should be about respect. And the player who was voted as the most overrated in the league<\/a> last month has given the Knicks and the NBA a lot of reasons to respect him.<\/p>\n Is Haliburton really a bad guy? Not even close. It\u2019s hard not to like him if you\u2019ve been around him. How can you hate someone who is closer to 1990s sitcom nerd Steve Urkel than an actual bad guy? There\u2019s even a video on social media showing the similarities between Haliburton and Urkel, played by actor Jaleel White.<\/p>\n \u201cFamily Matters\u201d was a show he watched growing up when it was in syndication. Haliburton dropped an Urkel impression<\/a>\u00a0during an interview last year.<\/p>\n I got to know Haliburton during his rookie season with the Sacramento Kings. He does have some nerd about him, and I say it with all respect and appreciation.<\/p>\n