Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) and San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul (3) go for a loose ball during the first half of a Paris Games 2025 NBA basketball game in Paris, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
PARIS — Tyrese Haliburton had his Stephen Curry moment in Paris.
Same arena, no less. Different stakes, different quarter, but same flurry: four 3-point tries, all of them good, in a 2-1/2 minute stretch to end a period in a display that thoroughly disappointed the French fans.
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No, Haliburton did not think about dropping a “ nuit, nuit ” — Curry’s signature gesture reserved for such moments. But his 16-point run to end the third was the spark in what became Indiana’s 136-98 victory over Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio on Saturday night.
READ: NBA: Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers roll past Wembanyama, Spurs in Paris
16 STRAIGHT.
18 IN THE 3RD.
7-8 FGM | 4-4 3PM.Tyrese Haliburton DOMINATED the last 3 minutes.
Pacers back up 12 headed to the 4th on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/xEhlNQwchT
— NBA (@NBA) January 25, 2025
“Felt like a rare air, for sure,” said Haliburton, who had 18 of his 28 points in that third quarter. “It was a good feeling.”
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Curry’s flurry of four 3-pointers came in the fourth quarter of the gold-medal game at the Paris Olympics back in August, ensuring that Wembanyama and France would be thwarted in their bid to deny USA Basketball a fifth consecutive gold medal.
Haliburton had a courtside seat that day, a member of the U.S. team but someone who wasn’t in the Olympic playing rotation. That said, when Curry was taking over in the final minutes that night, it was Haliburton who was one of the first to do the Golden State star’s signature “night, night” move — two hands together on the side of the face, mimicking going to sleep.
READ: Inside the Steph Curry flurry that secured Team USA gold
“That was probably the greatest run I’ve ever seen in the game of basketball,” Haliburton said of Curry’s gold-medal finish. “To be right there to see that and experience that, there was nothing like it. So, I don’t know if anything anybody ever does will match that just because of the stakes.”
No, his shots Saturday were not for a gold medal. But some of Haliburton’s 3s to end the third quarter were of the same ilk as Curry that night, the high-arcing, how-did-he-do-that variety of shots.
“They’re going to talk about Victor after these two games,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But they’re going to remember that run here in Paris.”
READ: NBA: Tyrese Haliburton sends Pacers past Warriors
Haliburton had a great line when the the Olympics were over, comparing his gold medal to someone who got an “A” on the group project without actually participating.
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He had a different feeling Saturday night.
“I participated,” Haliburton said.
