"He was like 'Your job is to fix my mechanics'": Tyrese Haliburton's trainer recalls how Pacers star once asked him to fix his unconventional shooting
Tyrese Haliburton is one of the most prolific three-point shooters in the league right now. He has proven himself to be clutch with his shooting on many occasions and the Pacers heavily depend on his skill as well. However, once Haliburton was in a slump, unable to sink in his shots, and called his trainer Drew Hanlen to find a solution.
As per Sportskeeda's Mark Medina, Drew Hanlen shared his response to Haliburton and how the Pacers star responded. Hanlen remarked that Haliburton has shot every single year of his career, whether it be high school, college, or the NBA. He believes in the "what’s not broke, don’t break it" policy and refrains from changing Tyrese's shooting style.
So, when the Pacers star approached him in a shooting slump, the situation ended in laughter.
"He (Tyrese Haliburton) said, ‘I’ve never missed as many shots as I have in my life. I need you to come fix it.’ " Hanlen told Medina. "I said, ‘Ty, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that you’re a great shooter and the law of averages is always going to come back in your favor. You’re a 40% 3-point shooter, so you’re going to end up a 40% shooter if you keep believing in it."
"Great shooters always shoot themselves out of a slump. But the bad news is I don’t know what you do mechanically when you make shots. So I have no idea how to change it to get you to stop missing shots.’ He started laughing. He was like, ‘Your job is to fix my mechanics!’ "
Drew and Tyrese Haliburton then watched clips of the Pacers star shooting to find a solution. They started laughing at the unconventional shooting style of the 24-year-old and decided that the only thing they could do was rehabbing his legs to become strong enough to deliver power in his shots.
They went on with the process and after getting healthy enough, Haliburton's shots started sinking in from downtown once again.
Tyrese Haliburton leaves Game 2 vs. the Celtics with an injury
Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton left Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics with 3:44 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Haliburton didn't return and his team lost the game with a final score of 126-110. Later, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski shared on X that Haliburton left Game 2 because of left hamstring soreness.
The same hamstring injury was the reason for the Pacers star's absence in January. He missed ten games because of it and just barely made it for the post-season awards qualification, playing 69 games.
Having a resurgence of such an injury at a crucial time like this is nothing but trouble for the Pacers. Without Haliburton, the fight against the Celtics would be an uphill battle. There have been no updates on his condition as of now. The Pacers will host the Celtics in Game 3 of the series on Saturday.