How Tyrese Haliburton hits the mark with hit aheads (Patreon)

I have this friend, Evin Gualberto, who coaches at one of the most prestigious high school basketball programs in the country and has over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he cuts together granular aspects of player skills with a unique brand of specificity and accompanying description that isn't typically found elsewhere. He also once co-hosted a terrific NBA podcast on his channel, called Bouncing Around, in which he contextualized captivatingly brainy conversations about basketball with clear and informative visual examples. As such, when he told me he wanted to make a highlight package of Tyrese Haliburton's ability to find moving targets in transition, I, of course, jumped at the chance to collaborate with him, embedding his video as the headliner to this article after we both dug through mountains of film. What follows, from me, is an overview of what Haliburton is looking for and how he sees what he sees, with an eye for both the schematics and his individual micro-quirks, when he sends the ball flying the full length of the court. 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

When Team USA opened their World Cup campaign with a 99-72 win over New Zealand, the coaching staff for the Tall Blacks could be overheard paying Tyrese Haliburton the ultimate form of respect during a live listen into their huddle, as they warned of the star guard's mere presence and the change in context that would likely soon follow by extension. 

"Haliburton's in," cautioned one of the assistants, before going so far as to parrot the same refrain for added emphasis. "No passes over the top. Haliburton's in."

In the end, the call for hypervigilance didn't exactly impede Haliburton's sight-lines from long distance, but it was clear that New Zealand had done their homework. After all, he has come to function like a dangling carrot for a small-ball second unit composed of off-ball movers with Paolo Banchero at the five. When he runs offense, they run with him, or rather in front of him, knowing full well that streaking to the other end is likely to be rewarded, perhaps even in the form of a gorgeous one-handed hit-ahead pass for an easy score. 

That knack of his for advancing the ball with the pass instead of the dribble hasn't often been seen by a national viewing audience to the degree that it has recently with Team USA, but it isn't a new development. In fact, according to Second Spectrum, Haliburton ranked second in the league in "pass ahead" passes per game last season (6.1), trailing only James Harden (8.5), who posted a slightly higher turnover rate on those passes (2.04 percent) by comparison to Indiana's star guard (1.76 percent). For the Pacers, when looking at their performance from the field during each third of the shot-clock, earlier shots in transition hold more value.

• Very Early (24-18 seconds): 49.7 percent

• Early/Average (18-7 seconds): 46.4 percent

• Late (7-0 seconds): 39.4 percent 

Put simply, Haliburton is wired to play fast, and the Pacers are better when they play fast, so the two tend to go hand-in-hand; oftentimes, ironically, with him getting a head-start on the symbiosis even before he has the ball in his hands. Watch him closely following a made shot from an opposing team. He doesn't waste time staring down the inbound passer with his back turned to the action. He's always peering over his shoulder, practically giving himself whiplash, while keeping his eyes focused down the floor and abreast of potential passing opportunities. 

At 14.4 seconds per possession, the Pacers had the NBA’s second-fastest offense following a made shot last season, per advanced-stats website Inpredictable. Part of the reason why they are able to get out of the blocks so quickly is because he's already scanned the floor, preying on defenses that dare to jog back, as well as cameras that attempt to cutaway. 

To fully understand how ingrained it is in him to look over his shoulder while doing quick math, zero in on how he just about jumps out of his skin for this inbound pass when he notices that two potential defenders are on the floor and then appears as though the wind has been sucked out of his sails when the timeout is called, stunting the potential odd-man advantage.

For Haliburton, the wheels are already turning in his head, before he spins his tires in transition. That's why, when he can't float the ball over the top of the defense, he starts processing the progressions of what the defense is trained to take away. Normally, in transition, the closest player to the ball-handler is responsible for stopping the ball. Conversely, whoever is farthest from the ball, which preferably will be the first big back, is going to protect the basket. Meanwhile, it's the job of the next nearest player who is ball-side, to plug the ball-side hit-ahead pass. If that player doesn't get there, however, Haliburton makes that spot his first option, advancing the ball early and up the floor with magnet eyes for Buddy Hield. 

As a team, the 2022-23 Pacers attempted a higher percentage of their shots as threes coming between 22 and 18 seconds on the shot clock than any other squad over the last three seasons. When only accounting for Hield, he led the league in early three-point attempts among players and wasn't that far off from hoisting more as an individual (200) than the Houston Rockets (238). In essence, where Haliburton is circumspect, searching for his next move with haste but without hurrying, Hield fires away even when vastly outnumbered, shooting as though he prefers to ask forgiveness rather than risk delay and seek permission. And yet, in operating under the principle that he's never more open than when he first catches the ball, he puts immense pressure on opposing defenses. For evidence, look no further than Chris Finch's reaction in the above clip, when Hield drilled the uncontested triple, despite playing 1-on-5. With Hield playing like a geyser, there were also seismic rumblings on the sidelines, manifesting in a rage timeout. On the season, Haliburton to Hield was the No. 1 assist combination in the NBA on made threes overall, and Hield also topped all players in transition threes per game.

That said, while Hield's first touch decision normally is to shoot, with him pulling the invisible string from deep that connects him to Haliburton, everyone else on the roster doesn't have quite that same degree of leeway -- or, at least, they don't exercise that same degree of leeway. Instead, when a different player catches the ball-side hit-ahead pass and perhaps isn't in-range, on-balance, or in-rhythm, they push the ball until the defense stops them.

If they can't immediately bum-rush to the rim, then they start triggering dominoes, with the player at the wing on the two-side (where there are two players) cutting from the 45 to the basket. Or, as he often prefers, Haliburton chases the advance pass and keeps the ball hot.

Of course, the initial ball-side hit-ahead isn't always open. In that event, Haliburton plays early and opposite, shifting the defense with a diagonal pass to the two-side that flips the court. Here, Myles Turner ultimately misfires from deep, but the advantage of the numbers game is evident, as the extra pass from the corner leads to the need for two separate closeouts, albeit from the stunt defender as opposed to the big.  

That math isn't always even necessary, though. In many cases, when all eyes are on Haliburton, the diagonal pass puts the defense at enough of a disadvantage that the team can get an easy look right away -- especially when the player is Hield. 

To that point, Haliburton also weaponizes that wavelength and will intentionally stare down Hield, all for the purpose of creating an open shot at the rim, along with the vibes -- obviously.

At some point, there probably needs to be a discussion about what the impact will be if those two are split up more often next season with Hield in a contract year. Obi Toppin has the ability to outrun entire teams, and Bruce Brown can shove the ball down the throats of opponents with an array of finishing moves, but they each attempted more of their shots in transition as twos than threes. Also, the Pacers got outscored by 7.99 points per 100 possessions in 378 minutes when Haliburton played without Hield, as well as 6.35 points per 100 possessions in 977 minutes when Hield played without Haliburton. Conversely, Indiana managed to narrowly stay above sea-level, posting a 0.72 net rating, when they played together. 

What happens when they don't? 

That's a question for Bennedict Mathurin in Year 2. It's a question for how the rotation pattern is managed. And it's a question for the way in which Brown, Toppin, and perhaps also Jarace Walker, are perceived as shooters in the half-court. Then again, it might also be a question that's answered by the film, in addition to being posed by it. Early shots in transition hold significantly more value for the Pacers, in large part, because of the significant value that Haliburton holds in his head and by extension his hands, wielding long-distance passes and self-regulating with his read of where the defense is loading to not only set the pace, but also to act like a pacemaker. 

What he's currently doing with Team USA, in hitting all the right marks with hit-ahead passes, he was already doing with the Pacers, and will likely continue to do for the Pacers, unless opposing teams starting dialing up the pressure and find a better response to the warning heeded by New Zealand's coaching staff: "Haliburton's in."