Tyrese Haliburton has stepped into the center stage of the NBA playoffs. Carrying a chip on his shoulder from his “most overrated” label, Haliburtong has led the Pacers to a 2-0 series lead over the Cavaliers, complete with a game-winning three-point dagger and an electric celebration after the fact.
This Eastern Conference semifinals matchup will now travel to Indiana, with the home team holding the 2-0 series advantage. The Cleveland Cavaliers are sure to play with a level of desperation tonight with their season basically on the line. But Haliburton will continue to embrace his new edge and look to take this series by the stranglehold
The Cavaliers enter this Game 3 matchup as 5-point favorites with -198 odds on the moneyline on DraftKings Sportsbook. The Pacers hold +164 odds of getting the outright victory with the game total set at 230.5 points.
With the stage set, here are my favorite Tyrese Haliburton prop bets for the Game 3 matchup.
Best Tyrese Haliburton Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Tyrese Haliburton’s props are listed at over/under 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists, 2.5 made three-pointers and 33.5 combined points, rebounds and assists.
Tyrese Haliburton Over 9.5 Assists (-140)
While he has stepped into the spotlight as a scorer for stretches, Tyrese Haliburton is still at his best as a pass-first player. The two-time All-Star averaged 18.6 points and 9.2 assists across the regular season, tallying over 9.5 assists in 33 regular-season games. Haliburton is leading the NBA this postseason with 10.7 assists and has tallied over 9.5 assists in five of the seven playoff games.
He was uncharacteristically limited to just four assists in Game 2. Hliburton was only held to this number or fewer in six of the 73 games played in the regular season. The Pacers’ star will also have the home crowd behind him tonight, where he has performed better all season. Looking at his assist output, the Iowa State product tallied 9.9 assists per game when playing at home compared to 8.5 assists per game on the road this year.
One critique of Haliburton’s game has been his willingness to differ too often. With Cleveland likely to mix up their defensive approach following the results of the previous game and the success Haliburton has had, don’t be shocked if this comes into play tonight. Indiana has a deep roster with other offensive options that can step up. Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Myles Turner, Bennedict Mathurin, and Aaron Nesmith each have proven their abilities and could see their offensive role scaled up if Haliburton struggles to find his footing as a scorer.
Expect Haliburton to still have his imprints all over this game, but with playmaking being the main pathway. He is one of the best passers in basketball and tallied 13 assists in the series opener. Look for him to get back to producing in this category and tally over 9.5 assists for the sixth time in these first eight postseason games. We will stick to his standard assist prop for this article, but I also don’t mind taking a shot at the +180 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook for Haliburton to tally 12+ assists, which he has done four times in the playoffs already.
Tyrese Haliburton Under 2.5 Made Three-Pointers (-110)
The Game 2 game-winner is still right at the front of our minds, but Haliburton has not been overly active from beyond the three-point arc in this series. He has been held to under 2.5 made three-pointers in five of the seven postseason games thus far. While he made both of them, Haliburton only attempted two perimeter shots in the previous game. Across the start of these playoffs, he has shot a combined 15-for-49 (30.6%) on three-pointers.
Looking at the season as a whole, the 25-year-old shot 38.8% from the perimeter while attempting 7.7 perimeter shots per game. He was held to under 2.5 made three-pointers in 33 of the regular season games. The high-intensity playoff environment only makes shots more difficult to come by, and Cleveland should be expected to look more like themselves with the health of their team trending in the right direction. If De’Andre Hunter can return tonight, his size and physicality will be bothersome, and preventing Haliburton from getting going early is sure to be at the top of the Cavaliers’ priority list.
Haliburton is a good perimeter shooter, but there is just not enough guaranteed shot volume for me to back him in this game. After such a strong start to the series and Cleveland inching back to full strength, expect his scoring outlook to be difficult tonight. Rather than fade his points prop, I am backing Haliburton to be held to under 2.5 made three-pointers in this Game 3 matchup.
