Tyrese Haliburton produced arguably the greatest moment of the NBA playoffs thus far, and it gets even better when you see how the “Inside the NBA” crew reacted in real time.
The Indiana Pacers star Haliburton hit a shot for the ages on Wednesday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. After trailing by 14 with under three minutes left, Indiana got a unbelievable game-tying basket from Haliburton as time expired in regulation.
Haliburton had the ball knocked away and proceeded to launch a stepback prayer that bounced high off the back of the rim and then gently back down through the basket (video here). The Pacers then went on to win the game in overtime 138-135, stunning the Knicks on their home floor to take a 1-0 series lead.
On Thursday, a camera operator for “Inside the NBA” (who goes by the name of Slice) posted to Instagram a priceless video showing the entire crew’s live reaction to Haliburton’s shot. Take a look below (but watch out for the bad language).
There was certainly a lot going on in that video. Charles Barkley was out there celebrating (later dropping a loud F-bomb for good measure). Draymond Green (guesting for the show during the conference finals) was yelling, “Oh my god!” Kenny Smith immediately held up two fingers, seemingly knowing all along that Haliburton’s shot was a two. Shaquille O’Neal was playing the role of contrarian by holding up three fingers. And even the usually even-keeled Ernie Johnson was sitting there with his mouth agape.
While there is still a whole lot of series left to be played between the Knicks and the Pacers, that was the most epic reaction video we have seen since the one of Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon reacting to Deandre Ayton’s “Valley Oop” in 2021.
