How Myles Turner has become Tyrese Haliburton's perfect pick-and-roll partner

INDIANAPOLIS -- When Tyrese Haliburton was a rookie, he figured that the best fit for him as a big man partner in the pick-and-roll game would be be a high flyer who could go up and get lobs like the big man he was playing with at the time.

Richaun Holmes, the Kings' starting center in 2020-21, was a protoypical long-limbed rim runner with bounce who tried to dunk everything he got his hands on. That year, Haliburton's rookie season in Sacramento, Holmes took a total of 11 3-pointers in 61 games after taking a combined zero in the previous two years. He recorded 91 dunks that year, and in each of his previous five seasons, dunks made up at least 20% of his field goal attempts.

"I envisioned my perfect pairing just being a lob big," Haliburton said. "Just a guy who played above the rim, set screens and rolled."

The center he's now paired with as the face of the Pacers' franchise and has some say in how they build personnel is not that kind of player. Sunday was a reminder of why he considers himself fortunate to be paired with a center with a much more diversified game.

Veteran center Myles Turner scored a season-high 33 points on 10 of 15 shooting in a 133-111 win over the Mavericks that stands as one of the Pacers' most impressive all-around performances of the season. It was a victory that propelled the Pacers back into the critically important sixth spot in the Eastern Conference after the Magic had leapfrogged them on Saturday. It came in large part because the Mavericks didn't have an answer for all the ways Turner could beat them in the ball-screen game and make them pay for bringing two defenders to guard Haliburton.

Of Turner's 10 field goals, five came within the restricted area, but he also made all three of his mid-range jumpers to go a perfect 8 of 8 inside the arc. He was 2 of 7 from 3-point range, but those two 3s were critical. He also drew enough fouls to go 11 of 12 at the free throw line.

All of that took some burden off of Haliburton, who finished with 17 points and 10 assists. Getting that production from his big man meant that Haliburton didn't personally have to match Mavericks All-Stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, who combined for 62 points. It also gave him a way out of blitzes, traps and double teams, which have become much more common now that Haliburton is a two-time All-Star and his offensive explosiveness is known throughout the league.

It was the most explosive performance for Turner in what has arguably been the most consistent year of his career. He's averaging 17.4 points per game and been held to single-digit scoring just four times in 54 games.

"It's been interesting, but I couldn't imagine it being any different," Haliburton said. "It's such a plus that you don't think of until you have it."

Turner's ability to step out and shoot from either mid- or 3-point range has been a point of pride for him since he entered the league. In his lone college season at Texas, he took 62 3-pointers, hitting just 17. He got 60 shots at the rim that year, but took 131 that were considered 2-point jumpers according to hoop-math.com.

As a pro, Turner has maintained that level of versatility. As he's grown his range and basketball analytics has continued to point out the risk-reward imbalance of long 2s, he's taken more 3-pointers and fewer mid-range jumpers, but he's effective at all levels. Going into Sunday night's game, he was shooting 33.2% from 3-point range but also 51.1% on shots from 10-16 feet and 61.1% on shots from 16 feet to 3-point range, making 62.4% of his total 2s.

"There's versatility to my game," Turner said. "I'm a three-level scorer. I'm just trying to play to my strengths."

But he's also heard Haliburton and his other teammates tell him that he needs to get down low more frequently when the opportunity is there, and it was on Sunday. He got five buckets around the rim and drew fouls for the 12 free-throw attempts.

"I tried to assert myself (near the basket) a little bit more tonight,” Turner said. “I can always read when to pop and shoot 3s, but I think the team needs me to be more of a presence down low. Honestly, it's just whatever the team needs at this point.”

In the third quarter, Turner scored 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting. One of those buckets was a 3, two came in the mid-range and two came at the basket and he also made four free throws. Haliburton assisted on three of those five buckets.

"A team like Dallas, they were living with that (mid-range) shot," Haliburton said. "They were blitzing, trusting that they had the weakside rotation and living with the mid-range 2 from Myles. He makes that at a consistent clip, so we just kept going at it the whole third quarter, basically. We just didn't really run much, just a lot of high pick-and-roll and play out of that."

The pick-and roll-partnership is constantly improving, especially since Haliburton and Turner now have close to two full years together with that being a near constant part of their offense. They have a sense for when Turner should pop for 3s, when he should roll to the rim, when he should short roll and pull up based on matchups and how they're being defended. Against Dallas, they saw opportunities to take advantage of guards near the rim and get easy ones so that's what they did.

"Playing more together,” Turner said. “I think Ty is a special player. It's like we have a synergy. I know where he's going to pass before he passes. He knows where I'm gonna go before I go.”

It takes more time to work on such a relationship with a center who can score at three levels rather than one who runs to the rim every time. But having all of those options makes all the work worth it.

"I couldn't imagine not having a big that can space the floor like that," Haliburton said. "It really helps me."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Mavericks: Myles Turner shows versatility with 33 points