Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers are starting to show Pascal Siakam how fun they can be

INDIANAPOLIS -- With 21 seconds remaining in Tuesday's game, Tyrese Haliburton ripped the Rockets' hearts out and let them know it, returning to his role as the Pacers' closer and providing a reminder of why he's still one of the NBA's most efficient and deadly players in clutch moments even when working through a strained left hamstring.

The Pacers had a three-point lead and the ball on sideline-out-of-bounds near halfcourt with 31.3 seconds to go, so it was the moment for a closer to close. He took a pass in the backcourt from guard Andrew Nembhard, and when he got to half court, Pacers big man Jalen Smith set a backscreen on Haliburton's primary defender, Houston guard Jalen Green, and created a switch that got Haliburton in isolation against 37-year-old veteran forward Jeff Green. Four crossover dribbles got Green to bite on a feint at a fifth and Haliburton blew by him before running into Green near the rim and he finished through contact with a running bank shot off the glass.

Rockets forward Dillon Brooks, perhaps the NBA's most notorious trash talker, wanted a charge called and didn't get one, so he and Haliburton started jawing as they went back down the floor. The Rockets called timeout and neither side stopped talking until Haliburton got to the huddle. The shot ended up being the clincher as the Rockets scored on the next possession but the Pacers held on to win 132-129, improving to 29-23 with a 1 1/2 game lead on Orlando and Miami for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

As soon as it was over, though, Haliburton sought out the Rockets' injured point guard. Fred Van Vleet, who is dealing with an abductor strain. Van Vleet was a teammate of newly-acquired Pacers All-Star forward Pascal Siakam with the Raptors for seven years. They weren't necessarily expected to be franchise pillars when they arrived in Toronto in 2016 -- VanVleet was undrafted out of Wichita State and Siakam a first-rounder but the No. 27 pick out of New Mexico State. However they both became All-Stars and won an NBA title together with Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry in 2018-19. So in a conversation caught by the Bally Sports cameras, Haliburton stopped to ask VanVleet a little bit about how to get Siakam the ball where he can be most effective.

"It ultimately comes down to finding his spots," Haliburton said. "I think that's kinda what I was talking to Fred about at the end. Just talking more about how I can help P and where he thinks his best spots are, obviously having played with him for some time."

Haliburton was still talking to VanVleet when Siakam came around the back of his new point guard and gave a handshake and a big hug to his old one, perhaps ending Haliburton's conversation before he'd learned all he wanted to know. But Siakam learned -- perhaps by hearing the end of the conversation, perhaps because VanVleet told him -- what Haliburton was trying to ask and was extremely impressed by how seriously he's taking the improvement of their partnership.

"That's what I like the most about him," Siakam said. "Just him talking to anyone before I got here. His knowledge for the game, wanting to win, wanting to get better. Those are the special ones, the ones who want to learn, the ones who want to get to better."

Haliburton said Friday after the Pacers' loss to the Kings that he didn't believe Siakam had the opportunity to see "how fun it can be" when the Pacers are fully operational and running and gunning, largely because Haliburton hasn't been fully healthy. He returned to play 35 minutes in Siakam's first game as a Pacer on Jan. 19 in Portland, but Haliburton's body didn't react well and he missed the next five games before returning last week on a minutes restriction. The Pacers (29-23) are still the highest-scoring team in the NBA with 124.3 points per game and the most efficient with a 120.9 offensive rating, but the Pacers hadn't scored more than 124 points in a game with Haliburton available since his injury.

So Tuesday's game was the closest thing to a glimpse that Siakam has had of just how fast and wide open of a game the Pacers can play when Haliburton is at the helm for most of the game. It was the best look fans have had at what the Pacers can be with Haliburton and Siakam together.

The Pacers shot 62.8% from the field, made 15 of 32 3-point attempts and also scored 64 points in the paint and 19 on fast-breaks.

"In the second half especially, we were able to get some stops and be able to run and get out in transition and get our crowd into it a little bit more," Haliburton said. "These guys were on pace for like 150 at halftime and we did a good job of locking in in the second half and getting stops and getting out and running."

Haliburton clearly felt the closest he has to being himself since suffering the hamstring strain against the Celtics on Jan. 8. After holding him around 22 minutes in the last four games, he played 29:05 on Tuesday and got time in all four quarters.

The game-winner was his highlight, but he finished with 18 points on 8 of 15 shooting and was 2 of 6 from beyond the 3-point arc. He finished with seven assists against two turnovers and grabbed two rebounds and even blocked two shots.

"I think when you watch me you see a little more pop to my game," Haliburton said. "Just being able to fly around a little more and be more active. I think that's been good. There's soreness after games, but that's expected with a hamstring. The medical staff is going a really good job of helping me kind of manage this and figure out how I'm feeling and the best way to attack things."

Siakam, meanwhile, took another step in getting a sense for how and when to try to assert himself within the Pacers' offense. His turnaround fadeaway out of post-ups has become an almost unstoppable weapon, he can shoot from outside and attack from a number of different angles to get to the rim off the bounce. He got one layup on Tuesday out of a double spin move.

"I think it's getting better," Siakam said. "Just the type of player that I am, I like observing. I'm not the type of person that is going to be like, 'F this,' and do whatever. I'm just trying to come in and complement the team. But like I was talking about the other day, it's just finding that balance. I have to bring everyone with me too, just because of the level that I can play at. Just understanding those things and continuing to be aggressive, which is what the team wants me to do anyway. It goes with what we want to do, an ability to create mismatches and my ability to break down defenders is something that can help the team."

The Pacers and coach Rick Carlisle in particular seem to be starting to get a better sense for how to structure lineups and the rotation around Haliburton and Siakam. Carlisle moved Nembhard into the starting lineup as the shooting guard on Sunday and kept him there because it improves the "ecosystem" of the roster. When Nembhard starts -- whether as shooting guard next to Haliburton or in his place at point guard -- veteran T.J. McConnell has a defined role off the bench. On Tuesday Nembhard had nine points on 4 of 5 shooting and five assists and McConnell scored 17 on 8 of 11 shooting with four assists. Guard Buddy Hield, who came off the bench and mostly played with McConnell, scored 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting, dished out six assists and had the team's best plus-minus figure at + 11.

"This is one of the reasons it's important to structure the rotation so he's a significant part of it," Carlisle said of McConnell. "What he does competitively and intangibly is un-replaceable. He showed that tonight."

Though Tuesday's game may have been the best the Pacers have looked offensively since Haliburton's return, they acknowledged they're still not all the way back because Haliburton isn't all the way back. He was averaging more than 34 minutes per game in November and December prior to the injury, and the Pacers will have to manage his minutes for at least a while longer.

"There's a sense, sure," Carlisle said when asked if he felt the team was getting closer to what it could become. "But Ty is not there yet. He's getting much closer. The minutes are a big part of this because he's a rhythm player and he runs the show. Being able to orchestrate and communicate and do all those things at both ends is really important. Hopefully in the next couple of games we'll be out of the woods with this."

And while he's working his way back, the partnership between the Pacers' two All-Stars is coming along a little bit slower.

"There's still some times when we're communicating and I call a play and he looks at me and we're just kind of both confused and we gotta figure it out on the fly," Haliburton said. "We just have to keep growing our chemistry together, keep playing together and good things will happen."

And Haliburton is dedicated to making sure it comes along, even if he has to go talk to someone on the opponents' bench to make it happen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Rockets: Tyrese Haliburton-Pascal Siakam partnership grows