John Haliburton has been freed. By the Indiana Pacers, that is.
Tyrese Haliburton’s father will be allowed to attend Game 4 of the Pacers’ Eastern Conference finals matchup with the New York Knicks, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports. However, he will be in a suite rather than seated near courtside.
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John Haliburton had been barred from the Pacers’ past eight playoff games after getting into an on-court exchange with Giannis Antetokounmpo after Indiana eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series on his son’s game-winning shot.
Following the Pacers’ series-clinching victory, Haliburton was seen taunting Antetokounmpo with a towel before the two shook hands and got into a forehead-to-forehead confrontation.
After the game, Antetokounmpo confirmed the incident then talked about how his parents were humble about his accomplishments. Tyrese Haliburton told reporters that he spoke to his father about the incident and said, “I don’t think my pops was in the right.”
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John Haliburton apologized the next morning, but the Pacers announced that he would not be allowed to attend the team’s games “for the foreseeable future.” Whether the directive came from the team or from the NBA wasn’t clear, but it was the Pacers who spoke to Haliburton and told reporters about the decision.
However, after Game 1 of the Pacers-Knicks series, TNT’s Charles Barkley called on NBA commissioner Adam Silver to allow Haliburton to resume attending games and behind permitted to cheer for his son in person.
“Hey, my man paid his dues,” Barkley said on air. “He did something really, really stupid. But he’s been punished. I’m asking you and the Indiana Pacers to let Mr. Haliburton back in the building for Games 3 and 4. Listen, he paid his dues. It shouldn’t be indefinite.”
Charania’s report does distinguish that Haliburton will be allowed to attend Pacers home playoff games in a suite. There was no mention as to whether he would be permitted in the arena for road games, but that might not be a good idea at Madison Square Garden anyway. At least one Pacers fan hasn’t been treated well by Knicks fans, though that took place outside the arena.
Game 4 of the Pacers-Knicks playoff series is scheduled for Tuesday in Indianapolis at 8 p.m. ET. Indiana holds a 2-1 series lead following New York’s 106-100 Game 3 win on Sunday.
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