This season's playoffs are in full swing. When we look at the playoff player rankings this season, you'll see that Siakam currently ranks first in the playoff average. Siakam is currently averaging 36.5 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists per game. In the eyes of many, Siakam's appearance in the first position is still a bit unexpected. Because Siakam is not a superstar in our understanding, and he is not even as famous as Haliburton in the team.
If you were to talk about the Pacers' star player, there would be no doubt that everyone would give Haliburton his name. And Haliburton has also been out of the limelight this season, and he has also been successfully selected as an All-Star starter in the East. There's no denying that Haliburton's performance in the first half of the regular season was indeed excellent, but as the season progresses, as the opponent studies his characteristics, Haliburton is now struggling on the offensive end. So far in the playoffs, he has averaged only 10.5 points per game, which is indeed a failure for a team to contribute such an average of points per game.
A lot of people think Haliburton is a touted All-Star. A lot of people think that his actual ability is not particularly strong. There's no denying that Haliburton is very good at passing, but it's not enough to be a star just by passing the ball. He really doesn't have a particularly strong finishing ability on the offensive end. The first is that the way he shoots determines that he will not be a scorer without solutions. His shot is reversed, and unlike Curry's fast shot, he shoots extremely slowly, which makes him very vulnerable to interference from defenders. And now that the opponent has more options to step forward and delay when defending him, it is more difficult for him to get a good shot.
Haliburton was also selected for the U.S. men's basketball team this year, and many reporters thought it was really incomprehensible that the U.S. team chose Haliburton over Irving. Haliburton's offense is completely incomparable to Irving's in every level. It was a huge mistake to choose him not to choose Owen.
The Pacers originally expected Haliburton to be the backbone of the team in the playoffs, but now Siakam has become the star of the team, carrying the team forward every game. This proves that Haliburton is even more uncomfortable in playoff-level games. His scoring was even more difficult. There are a lot of players in the league who have played very well in the first stage, but they are not convincing in the regular season. And when you have played an amazing game, the opponent will study you, will pay more attention to you, and if you can hand over a very stable average data per game under the situation of the opponent's strict defense, then this is a star. I wonder what the fans think?