Latest / Bleacher Report / Tyrese Haliburton Talks Game-Winner & Comeback vs. Thunder in Game 1 _ 2025 NBA Finals

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Tyrese Haliburton Talks Game-Winner & Comeback vs. Thunder in Game 1 _ 2025 NBA Finals · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi Tyres all the way in the back of Malika
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Andrews ESPN. The only lead change of the entire game
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: was your game winner. And they say one time is luck,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: two times as a habit, three times it's the truth.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: So what's the fourth time that you're able to take
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: control of the game like that in the NBA Finals.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know. I think we're just
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: a really resilient group. We just do a great job
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: of just you know, sticking sticking in and just you know,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: settling into the game. And you know, through the course
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: of the game, it kept getting you know, it felt
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: like it could get ugly, it could you know, who
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: knows where this game is heading. I thought we did
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: a great job of just walking them down. You know,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: when it gets to fifteen, you know, you can panic,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: or you can talk about how do we get it
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: to ten, how do we get it to five? And
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: from there? So, you know, I think all series, that's
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: what we've preached as a group is, you know, when
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: we get down big, let's just find a way to
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: incrementally get it down. And we got fifteen, and we
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: got it to eight pretty fast, and that gave us confidence.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: We kept getting stops, kept Miles and Andrew made big
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: play after big play down the stretch. Miles got a
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: wide open look on the wing, missed that one, but
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: we just stuck with it. Andrew was huge down the
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: stretch and we got a big stop there, and you know,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: they had a lot of confidence in me to make
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: that shot. So I don't I don't know, I don't
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  Speaker 2: know what you say about it. I just know that
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  Speaker 2: this group is a resilient group, and uh, you know,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: we don't give up to zero zero on the clock.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: I had a pretty good idea. Yeah.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Over here on the right, ter Rick mentioned that you
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: guys huddled up during the challenge there and just basically
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: said we get to stop here, We're going to go.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: It's one how much you know, confidence and faith do
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: you have in those situations to not just need a
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: time out to stop? And then was that a spot
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: on the floor that you sort of were trying to
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  Speaker 3: get so we normally kind of see you go to
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  Speaker 3: that middle of the middle of the floor.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Literally, Yeah, I think our conversation was more of a
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: hypothetical because we thought Pascal got followed there. You know,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: I was surprised there wasn't a call there. You know,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: we didn't really know, you know, a time on the clock.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: We saw a reset to fourteen rather than a full
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: shot clock. So at first we're to about do we
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: trap twice and foul? And then we said, okay, there's
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: difference on the clock. Let's just be solid, get a
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: stop and then rebound and run. And uh, you know,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: we came up with it, don't I don't even know
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  Speaker 2: who came up with the rebound. You know, the ball
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: ended up in all his hands and then he passed
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  Speaker 2: it to me. So I thought we just did a
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: great job of sticking, sticking with it and just you know,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: staying solid, you know, and that situation we I mean,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: we had a couple of dumb files. I had a
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: couple of dumb files there laying the fourth cent of
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  Speaker 2: the free throw line. But we just you know, showed
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: our chest. We're solid. Had to get a big rebound there.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: That's a big rebound, especially with the guys on the
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  Speaker 2: court they have with Door and Crusoe crashing the glass,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: and you know, we got the rebound and just made
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  Speaker 2: a play on the offensive side. So yeah, I'm I'm
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: obviously confident in in my ability and feel like if
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: I can get to you know that spot, I feel
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: very comfortable in there. So yeah, just you know it, shout.
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  Speaker 2: I've worked on a million times and I'll work on
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  Speaker 2: a million times more. So Yeah, we just have have
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: confidence in that shot.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: First shore on the left, Ty, you guys turn it
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: over twenty five times, Shay go for thirty eight. This
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: team is thirty six and one in this building with
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: a fifteen point lead this year, Like, this is not
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: the formula. You don't win a game and then some
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: guys don't make don't have these moments once in a lifetime.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: You've had four in six weeks. Where what is the
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: secret sauce? Where is this coming from from this group?
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  Speaker 4: And you can say you believe, and obviously you do,
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: but it seems like the belief is much higher in
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: this group than it has in probably a lot of
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: other groups over the last few years.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question. The secret sauce today was
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: these but now I was playing. But I think as
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: a as a group, like I've said many times, you know,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: after you have a run like last year and then
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: you get swept in Eastern Conference finals and all the
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: conversation is about is how you don't belong there and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: how you lucked out to get there, and that it
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: was a fluke. Guys are gonna be pissed off. We're
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: gonna spend the summer pissed off. And then you come
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: into the year with all the talk around how is
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: a fluke? You have an unsuccessful first couple of months,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: and now that's easy for everybody to clown you and
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: talk about you in a negative way. And I think
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: as a group we take everything personal. Like as a group,
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  Speaker 2: it's not just me, it's everybody, you know. I feel
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  Speaker 2: like that's the DNA of this group, and that's not
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: just me, that's our coaching staff does a great job
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  Speaker 2: of making us aware of what's being said us as players.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: We talk about in the locker room, we talk about
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: it on the plane. We're a young team, so we
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: probably spend more time on social media than we should.
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  Speaker 2: But I just think we do a great job of
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  Speaker 2: taking things personal, and that gives this group more confidence,
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  Speaker 2: you know. And we turned things around in January, which
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: you guys know, and we just stuck with it. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm really proud of this group and we just all
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: got each other's back at every point, any negative thing
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  Speaker 2: that's said about anybody, we got full belief in each other.
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  Speaker 2: And so the more that's talked about, like right now
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  Speaker 2: we're or whatever underdog, that gives us more confidence as
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: a group. We enjoy that, you know, but there's still
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  Speaker 2: a lot of work to be done. You know, this
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: is an exciting time again, another big comeback, but there's
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: a lot more work to do. You know. It's just
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: one game, and this is the best team in the NBA,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: and like you said, they don't lose often, so we
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: expect them to respond, and we got to be prepared
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: for that. We've got a couple of days to watch
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  Speaker 2: films see what we can get better this game. If
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: you look at all the numbers, it's not the recipe
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: to win. We can't turn the ball over that much.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: We got to do a better job of beating gaps,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: gotta do a better job of rebounding. We got to
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: do a better job all over the floor. But come
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: May in June, it doesn't matter how you get them,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: just get them, you know, So we'll take it. You know,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: we'll enjoy this one tonight, but I understand we got
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: another game coming up. In this tough building, and we
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: got to be prepared for that. So, like I said,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: we're just a confident group. We got each other's back,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: and we'll give up to the clockets zero. I really
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: don't have like the full answer, you know. I can't.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I can't tell you everything that Yeah, yeah, I saw it.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: I said a lot of words. I don't know if
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I said anything. Uh, but yeah, we just we stick with.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: It, all right. Advents first row on the left.
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: Right here, Tyer sod, At what point tonight did you
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: guys collectively believe that you could win this game? Was
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: it when you were throwing the ball over all over
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: the place but you weren't getting blown out. Was it
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: early in the fourth quarter when you gots start to
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: make a little bit of a run. What was the
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: point where you were like, oh, this game is not
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: just competitive, we can steal this game.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: That's a good question. When I got off the bus,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: when I put on my shoes, when I I mean,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: there was never a disbelief as a group. Honestly. You know,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: you have a quarter, like you have a half like
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: that where you're just throwing the ball to the other team,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: and it we like chaos. We like controlled chaos. But
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: that was just chaos ugly. But I think we as
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: a group games today we got like I felt like
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: twenty turnovers in the first half. We only get gave
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: up I remember how many points, things like nine. Yeah,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: that's I mean, that's not that bad. You know, if
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: you think think of it that way, you know, try
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: to look at it glass half full. But I think
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: as a group, like we never think the game is
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: over ever. Honestly speaking, ever, like they never that never
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: creeps in. I think we just keep talking as a group,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: is how can we walk this team down. So it's
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: at twelve going in a half time, we talk about
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: if we can win one quarter by six, one quarter
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: by seven, will be in a great spot. We got
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: it to a six point game at the end of
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: the third quarter and Shae hit a three, but we
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: liked where we were, and then they went on a
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: big run to start the fourth and we just say,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: okay's at fifteen, let's get to ten. Well, we got
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: it to eight. They call time out, so we just
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: a wit it. So this group never gives up. We
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: never believe that the game is over until it hits zero.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: And that's just that's just the god honest truth. That's
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: just the confidence that we have as a group. And
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: you know, I think that's a big reason why this
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: is going on.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: Second right here on the right.
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: So I reach you, guys or your teammates have extreme
• 8:01
  Speaker 6: confidence in you with the game on the line over
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: because of what's happened the last couple of years. I
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: wonder what your confidence is and drew defensively in similar situations,
• 8:10
  Speaker 6: guarding the MVP most of the time without much help
• 8:13
  Speaker 6: the whole night, and you need to get a stop
• 8:14
  Speaker 6: to have a chance to win the game.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I appreciate you asking a question. I mean, I
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: got the utmost confidence in it, and we all do
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: as a group. We have to. You know, he's our guy.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: He's our guy. He's been our guy all year. Uh
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: if there wasn't the sixty five game real He's an
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: all defensive guy, playing simple. Uh So we got the
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: most trust in him. You know, we'll keep uh Shaye
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: is the hardest guard in the NBA. You know, he's
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: the hardest guy to cover when I won in the NBA.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: So you know, there's no one look we can give him.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: You know that that is going to be you know, Uh,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: it's gonna work every time. But you know, we trust
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Drew in those situations. We're showing help as much as
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: we can. But I mean, he's doing a lot of
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: the dirty work. He's done a lot of the dirty
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: work for years now, and that's what he's that's his
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: calling guard in this league, and he's an elite defender.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: So you know, Shay's not an easy cover by any means,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: but Drew is just doing an unbelievable job of You
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: got understand, Shane makes a lot of tough shots, like
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: a lot of tough shots, and you can't overreact to them.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: You just can't because there's no way to live that way.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: You know. I think if he's gonna make those, you
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: got to just get the ball out and go right
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: back at him. So that's the way we look at it.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: And I thought Drew did a great job tonight. Aaron
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: did a good job when Sheep had to guard him.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: There's many situations where different guys are having to cover
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: and we're just trying to make it as tough as
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: we can. I mean, the guy's still finished with would
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: you guys say thirty eight? Yeah?
• 9:35
  Speaker 7: I mean, I mean how I mean that's unbelievable.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: But I thought we just did a great job of
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: showing bodies and that starts with Drew and his persistence
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: over forty eight minutes. So you know, it's just calling
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: card and we got the almost trust in him to
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: get stops.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: Last question, first row on the left.
• 9:49
  Speaker 7: You guys have been in crazy environments before your last series.
• 9:53
  Speaker 7: This was one of them, and it's the finals. Most
• 9:55
  Speaker 7: of you guys haven't been in this position before. Did
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: the moment you to any jitters? Any? Do you think
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: that could have been part of the turnover situation?
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. I mean I'd be lying if I
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: said it wasn't. I felt like I was a little
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: jittery in the first quarter, you know, getting off the
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: ball quick, flying off ball screens with no real setup.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: I felt that myself, you know, so I'll admit that
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: I felt that way, so I'm sure other guys felt
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: that way. I mean, this crowd is amazing. They're all
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: standing up doing claps and synchronized clapp mean to the
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: beat before the game. I mean, this is an unbelievable crowd.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: It's the best crowd we've seen on the road all playoffs.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: And you know, I mean, it felt like it was
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: just just us in there, you know. I mean thankful
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: for our organization for flying. You know, our families out
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: and you know, our full time employees all got a
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: chance to come. And I've I've been showing videos of
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: them in the concourse and I saw them on the
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: on the upper level after the game. But you know,
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: out there, it's so loud in there. It really just
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: feels like it's it's us in there. And we should
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: do a great job of leaning on each other, understanding
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: that this crowd and and this environment is amazing. They
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: love basketball here similar to how it is in Indiana.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: And now that you know, we've got a game under
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: our belt, and I thought we did a great job
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: responding the second half. We didn't turn the ball over
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: as much in the second half. You know, that's more
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: of a recipe for success for us in the next game.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: So you know that's gonna be a big point of emphasis.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: You know, when we watch films, how can we take
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: care of the ball more, get more shots on the rim.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: You know, they put us in a better position to win.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, you have twenty five turnovers, usually don't win
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: those games. You know, the odds probably are really low,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: so we just gotta stick with it, stay confident as
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: a group, and yeah, we'll look forward to the game two.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: Thank you Tyres for sure,