Tyrese Haliburton made sure Jalen Brunson heard him loud and clear at Madison Square Garden.
The Pacers guard and the Knicks star were both in the building for WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, and the night started with each man backing a different side in the Roman Reigns-Seth Rollins World Heavyweight Championship feud. Brunson sided with Reigns. Haliburton went with Rollins.
Once the action spilled into a brawl, Haliburton shifted the spotlight from wrestling to basketball and aimed straight at Brunson.
"You can't beat me," Haliburton told him, a nod to Indiana's playoff history against New York. He added that he'd see Brunson again "in a couple of months," pointing to the start of the 2026-27 season.
The message carried the weight of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, when Indiana knocked off New York on the way to the NBA Finals. That series is still remembered for Haliburton’s Game 1 shot that sent the opener to overtime and for the choke sign he flashed toward the Madison Square Garden crowd.
Haliburton and Brunson have now faced each other in 13 playoff games. Haliburton has averaged 21.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 8.6 assists in those matchups and owns an 8-5 record. Brunson, meanwhile, has posted career playoff averages of 30.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 5.9 assists against Haliburton.
The WWE appearance came as Haliburton continues working back from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in the first quarter of Indiana’s 2025 Finals loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7. His recovery also included a severe shingles outbreak, another hurdle in a difficult stretch.
Last month at his youth camp in Carmel, Indiana, Haliburton said he now feels like a healthy NBA player again. He pointed to his eyebrows growing back and the swelling in his face settling down as signs of progress, and said it meant a lot to be able to run the camp without being asked about his recovery every few minutes.
Brunson’s side of the rivalry has looked very different lately. The Knicks went 16-3 through the 2025-26 playoffs and beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games to win the franchise’s first championship since 1973, with Brunson earning Finals MVP honors.
Indiana is expecting Haliburton back for training camp alongside Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, and Ivica Zubac. After a 19-63 season, the Pacers are trying to engineer a major turnaround and get back into the mix in the Eastern Conference.
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