Tyrese Haliburton on being a ‘VILLAIN’, the Pacers rise & Team USA | Yahoo Sports

Tyrese Haliburton on being a ‘VILLAIN’, the Pacers rise & Team USA | Yahoo Sports

Tyrese just to start off how’s this experience going to be a little bit different than last year’s in the World Cup just the composition of the roster itself seems a little bit heavier a little more heavy hidden right yeah I mean we’re a little older uh but more with with with age comes more experience um you know I’m the second youngest guy in the team so just learning from these guys as much as I can and um you a lot of guys with Olympic experience so I think that that’s going to be a big benefit for us talking to people at USA they looked at you and said this is the guy who can be the change of pace guy end of the first quarter start of the second quarter if we want to get on a quick run Tyrese is going to be the guy that can sort of feast on those those units is that how you see it yeah for sure I mean I mean I’m GNA do whatever I have to do to you know impact the game help the team win um I think the great part about USA Basketball is um you know you got 12 Elite basketball players and it takes sacrifice to win so whatever is needed from me is what I’m going to do to help the team win now the last time we saw you on the NBA stage you guys were in the Conference Finals surprising run Boston goes on to win the title what do you take from that Conference Finals experience where you were in three of the four games in the last minute do you take that as how much further we have to go or how close we are um I think for me I just look at it as you know I think it was a surprise to everybody except for the people in our locker room to see the run that we had and um I think moving forward now it’s kind of like we got to prove it like I think every year is there’s a new chip that gets added to my shoulder and us as you know a collective to everybody so I think everybody just wants to see us prove that we can do that again and um we still got a lot of confidence in our group we’re bringing back the same group so um continuity is proven to be a thing that’s needed in this league to win and so um I’m glad we’re bring the same team back and look forward to it now how difficult was it for you after the the hamstring injury to come back and continue to play because of everything surrounding it with the contract and the stipulations did you feel like you were at full strength during the playoffs when you’re playing every other day and you’re nursing this thing basically since what January or so I I mean I would say I mean I never never really got back to 100% like I struggled especially when the games were close um and it was frustrating you know and and throughout the playoffs it was kind of like man when this is done I’m not going to touch a basketball before the USA I’m going to you know try to give my leg some time to relax and then I reag gravate it against Boston so I mean up I didn’t touch a basketball till last week you know so so I gave my leg a lot of time to rest and I feel really good right now so that’s a big positive for me and um yeah I mean at at the end of the day it was frustrating all year because it never really got to 100% so hopefully you know after this and you know going back into the season I’m at 100% ready to go now the last time we also saw you the Eastern Conference looked a lot different now you got Paul George with Philly New York has loaded up a little bit first off do you Embrace being like the heel nobody likes being like the crowd heal anymore the sort of wrestling villain do you enjoy that or is that just a label that we’ve put on you I think it’s a label that’s been put on me I just like I like playing basketball and I’m I’m I understand that people don’t want to see Indiana win anything they don’t want to see us do well um you know it’s a small Market team it’s for the majority of my life Indiana has been looked at as you know boring or whatever the case may be um so I just go into game just understanding that it’s whoever’s in our locker room whoever’s in our travel party against the world basically you know and so um I think that that’s been kind of added on to me because of the competition the Milwaukee series the competition in the New York series um it’s kind of been added on to me but I mean whatever the media puts on me is what what’s put on me I think at the end of the day I just want to be known as a guy who gives us all and competes at 100% And um just trying to keep doing that but you kind of it it gives you guys an identity if you do lean into it if there’s one thing that great teams all have they have this identity and if you’re the Giant Killer that’s something you walk into any building and everybody knows what’s happening when Tyrese Halbert and and the Indiana Pacers are walking into your into your house yeah no question I mean teams know not to take us lightly they know what we bring to the table offensively they know um how we can get going on any night so I think at the end of the day regardless of what is the perception of of us is I think our peers know that they need to be ready when they play us and um I think that’s you know that matters more than anything that teams respect us enough to know that they got got to be ready to play and um we know now that we had this success every other team in our conference every team in the league wants to have that success as well and so you know when when teams play us they’re going to be ready to go no no surprising no anything so that’s the great part about it is not not to say that we are now the we’ve went from hunting to being the hunted because we didn’t win but I think that when you have success teams look at you like we want to have success similar to that so they’re going to go at you and I think that’s the great part about it did you like the Madison Square Garden stage I loved it did you did you like being the guy that stopped the New York Knicks party everybody assumed that the Knicks once you guys got by Milwaukee everybody assumed the Knicks were going to be penciled into the Conference Finals and it was going to be Nick Celtics did you relish breaking up that party for sure no question no question just because I think of the the competitive history between the two franchises and being able to add another chapter to that and um um you know I think early on I think having Reggie there in game two and that added some extra juice to it and you know after that it just kind of was like our backs were against the wall going back home and we had to figure it out and I think that was a great part about that series was just the the competition and um you know a lot of a lot of back and forth you know on the court and stuff like that so I think it was a great series great for the game and if that’s become a quote unquote rivalry and now it’s cool um I think it’s just competitive seeing teams compete seeing great players compete is always good for the league now last thing you’re in this Team USA roster is a lot older a lot different who do you look forward to playing with on throwing the lob to getting getting up floor setting somebody up or someone setting you up cuz you got Hall of Famers you know Mount Rushmore type of players who do you look forward to playing with the most well I mean top to bottom it’s hard to make that choice just because of you know everybody on our team i’ would say I mean every half maybe a little more than half of guys if they retired today they’d be Hall of Famers you know so that’s the the privilege that I have to be on the court with these guys but throw a lob it’s definitely LeBron no question just because I grew up in the 2000s and LeBron being my favorite player growing up and so now to share a court with share the court with him and um be in the locker room with him and pick his brain and all those things has been has been awesome already through one day so I just look forward to keep doing that on a consistent basis through this time here so it’s definitely it’s definitely LeBron no question are you doing any rookie chores no you’re the young guy like they they could make you carry the bad hypothetically hypothetically uh but it’s not happening I’m not doing nothing no way you a Max guy you Max guy I mean I mean I’m not the youngest guy so if rookie duties were happening it wouldn’t be me that’s all I’m going say but who ant would be Ant would an is the younger guy and you know ant’s not doing none of that so he would pass it on to you exactly yeah I’m not doing that either yeah appreciate it man thanks a lot man appreciate it man thanks for having me

Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill sat down with the Pacers guard at USA Basketball men’s national team camp in Las Vegas to discuss Indiana’s success this past season, their role as being the upset team in the Eastern Conference and his expectations for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris. Thanks for watching! Subscribe to the Yahoo Sports channel here ► http://bit.ly/YSportsYT

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