Tyrese Haliburton is an All-NBA talent, that much has been established. After a slow start to the year, Haliburton averaged 20.6 points per game, along with 11 assists, while shooting 43.9 percent from three. There is no great option to stop a player of his caliber, but there are ways to slow him down, and that starts with starting Deuce McBride.
Tom Thibodeau has been giving McBride more minutes lately, which is encouraging. McBride logged 29 minutes in Game 5 and 30 minutes in Game 6 against Boston. He also seems to have shot himself out of a slump, which he had been in from the end of the season through the Detroit series.
When McBride is on the floor, specifically in the place of one of the Knicks' non-shooting threats, he greatly improves their spacing. Not only does this help Jalen Brunson operate in a better space and with clearer driving lanes, but it also optimizes the environment for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Aside from the numerous offensive benefits that inserting McBride into the starting lineup brings, there is also a defensive one. McBride is the best option to guard Haliburton.
Start him over Hart and make him guard Haliburton
In their regular season matchups, Mikal Bridges was Haliburton's primary defender the most frequently, and he held up fairly well. Bridges guarded Haliburton in the half-court 93 times over their three matchups, conceding 7.3 points per game, according to league tracking data.
McBride, on the other hand, guarded Bridges a total of 20 times, conceding an average of 2.7 points to him. As anyone who has ever watched Haliburton play knows, it is not just his scoring that makes him dangerous. He is on the shortlist of best passers in the league, and his role as a table setter is just as important to the Pacers' success.
The benefit of having McBride guard is that he could pick him up full court and has the screen navigation skills to stay attached to him even when Indiana sets numerous picks. If McBride can stay locked to Haliburton off of the ball, it would effectively make Indiana's offense have to flow through someone else, likely Andrew Nembhard.
Nembhard has, to his credit, been extremely impactful handling the ball for Indiana thus far in the playoffs. Nembhard, with Myles Turner as his screener, is generating 1.4 points per direct pick-and-roll through the first two rounds. That is the most efficient pick and role pair in the playoffs, among duos who have run at least 75, per tracking data.
Still, each series starts with a blank slate. If Nembhard tears the Knicks up on offense, they will have to adjust to it. To start, they would be wise to key in on Haliburton as the more dangerous player. Fans have been clamoring to get McBride into the starting lineup, and now is the time to finally do so.