Tyrese Haliburton took a shot to the face late in the first half of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Pacers point guard was hit in the face by New York's OG Anunoby as the Knicks forward broke free from Haliburton and gave him what looked like an unintentional slap on his way to get the ball.
Haliburton immediately went to the ground while holding his face. He proceeded to hold onto his chin and cheek area for approximately five seconds in an attempt to convince the officials he had been hit.
TNT's replay showed that Haliburton may have been trying to sell the contact just a little bit.
OG Anunoby hits Tyrese Haliburton in the face and finds Karl-Anthony Towns for the easy 2 (with a replay) pic.twitter.com/M2H9XS9XXc
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) June 1, 2025
Haliburton continued to make his case to referee Tyler Ford all the way down the court. As the ball went out of bounds and play stopped, Haliburton again tried to convince Ford, but the referee did not appear interested in what he had to say and may have even cracked a wry smile as he walked away.
While replay will show Haliburton did get hit in the face, the exaggeration did not do him any good in this case.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Referee Unconvinced by Tyrese Haliburton’s Dramatic Reaction to Getting Slapped.
