To most NBAs Tyrese Haliburton's superstar LEAP has happened in the past few weeks.

In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Madison Square Garden paid tribute to Reggie Miller. Almost statistically perfect 32 points, 15 points, 12 times, 12 times, Five Spurs, Zero Transformation Game. Then, of course, he beat the Oklahoma City Thunder with 0.3 seconds left in the NBA Finals 111-110, making the league's loudest fan base at the Paycom Center Thursday night.

Afterward, Haliburton caught the spotlight in a post-match interview, as only a certain superstar could, he joked with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt that "we were late to party," when the host admitted that he didn't see the potential of the Indiana Pacers early in the season when Christmas was less than .500 this early-season.

He even brought the first iconic Puma shoe released earlier in the day to the podium and joked about how kicks hit the "secret sauce" of the big shot at such a high speed.

This season, he scored an astonishing 15-15 game or win a game-winning shot in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or in overtime, the best shot-scoring percentage in a season that was first tracked in 1996-97.

But for those who know Halliburton best, the superstar’s leap has been around for years. It began on a random Saturday in late January in Philadelphia.

Halliburton doesn't know At the time, he was with the Sacramento Kings.

All he knows is that his game is missing something. Maybe there are many things. Because he averaged only 13.8 points per game that year, and those were not the numbers for young players to line up, the biggest contract extension was proposed in the summer.

His agent Dave Spahn contacted Drew Hanlen, a well-known NBA skills coach, to see if he would meet with clients and consider working with him. Hanlun agreed to the meeting, but immediately put forward conditions for the professional relationship.

Hanlun wrote in his book Stop BS Begging for Self, "The biggest thing about holding (Halliburton) is his lack of offense. So I challenged him. I told him that if he wanted to work with me, he had to score 14 shots on the Sixers the next night."

Halliburton remembers that dinner is good.

“He told me that before he believed me, I had to believe in myself,” Halliburton told ESPN after the first game Thursday night.

What Hanlen is unknown to him is that he has been working on the tape for weeks as he also works closely with Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, while the Sixers have trade discussions with the Kings, which will involve Halliburton and Ben Simmons.

Hanlen loves Haliburton's passing ability but fears his lack of aggression in scoring will limit his excellent passing effect. Embiid encourages Hanlen to continue researching the film, as Haliburton has some aspects in the competition that the big guy has never seen before.

So, in that game on January 29, 2022, Haliburton did do what Hanlen challenged him to do. He tried 19 shots, shot 11, and finished with a maximum of 38 points at the time.

Ten days later, he was traded to the Pacers.

He has worked with Hanlen since and the theme has never changed.

"We always say, we always say, 'It's selfless to be too selfish, sometimes," Hanlen told ESPN Thursday night. "When he's selfless, it actually has a negative impact on the success of his teammates and negatively affects the success of his team.

“The more aggressive he is, the more his team wins.”

Confidence has been Haliburton’s fantasy has been fickle flames over the years – it’s hard to imagine after a craziest interview and celebration on the court this season. But just a few months ago, he and Hanlun had seen it as low.

He was shocked as the only player who had no playing time on the Olympics. The lingering hamstring injury also made him unable to train all summer. He entered the season without the usual physical or emotional outbursts. It is shown in the slow start of the walker.

That's why he commented on Van Pelt after Thursday night's victory. “We were late for the party, too.” Knowing that there were many differences in the degree to which Haliburton worked to gain confidence and aggressive earlier this year.

Even the signature shoes he brought to the podium had a double meaning. When Haliburton was at its lowest level this year, he was worried that he shouldn't have the honor of signature shoes.

"He always uses negative emotions and suspicion to help him," Hanlun said. "But then he started buying and believing it. We have to let him go beyond that."

Wednesday, Halliburton @Studio7Inbox's Hanlen texts Hanlen - an X account with 269 followers - breaks every attempt at Haliburton's Pacers.

Pacers break up win every attempt @tyhaliburton22 From the start of the playoffs, SZN starts:
9 or less: 5-6
10 or more: 47-21
14 or more: 30-13
15 or more: 29-10
16 or more: 20-5
17 or more: 15-2
20 or more: 4-0@pumahoops #yescers

- studio7 (@studio7inbox) June 4, 2025

Hanlen didn't know how Haliburton got that position, but he was glad that that was what Haliburton thought on the eve of his first final appearance.

“We put forward a slogan, that is Orange stuff,” Hanlun said. “It’s just looking at something orange. Look at the edges as much as possible.

"You don't tell some players that are too aggressive because you think they're going to start looking for bad shots. But for Ty, we believe that if he goes downhill and puts himself in the right position, he'll make the right decision."

The end result of all this is that, while Halliburton seems to have a superstar in these playoffs, this started three years ago - and still needs to be raised.

Haliburton shot just seven times in the Pacers Game 5 The Knicks, with Hanlen flying to Indianapolis to help him prepare for his sixth game. They watched the movie, and when Haliburton went to bed, Hanlen collected whatever orange he could find in the house and left them outside the door.

He found a bag of goldfish, a giant Reese's puff cereal box, a three-sized basketball, a giant carrot, a bag of orange Guadald dark chocolate and a good peanut butter cluster.

Halliburton woke up and had to introduce all the "orange stuff" to leave his room.

“That’s what he said,” Halliburton joked. "It's never stop with that guy."

Obviously, the message is passing. Because when Haliburton walked out of the Paycom Center Thursday night, he asked him how many shots he made in the first game.

Thirteen.

"Damn it," he said. "(Hanlen's) won't be happy. I know I'm terrible. I did the shots and everything, but there's a lot of room for improvement. I can be better."