Tyrese Haliburton Paid Homage to Kobe Bryant’s Iconic Las Vegas Memory During IST Masterclass vs. Bucks

Over the years, there have been many talks of bringing an NBA team to Las Vegas. While the closest thing the fans got was an All-Star game in 2007 in Las Vegas where Kobe Bryant won the MVP award, the fans recently got the opportunity to experience how the games would be in Vegas through the In-Season tournament held at the T-Mobile Arena.

The game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers gave everything the fans could have asked for. While Tyrese Haliburton let everyone know that his time had come as he was taking over the game, he did it while sporting an iconic pair of Kobe’s on his feet.

Kobe Bryant’s shoes were in the spotlight

During the semifinals of the IST, the Pacers and the Bucks were the first two to battle it out on the red and blue court. The game was close in the third quarter, but Tyrese Haliburton was the one to take his team over the line.

Nonetheless, fans were quick to notice the flashy shoes worn by Haliburton. Those were custom Kobe 8 shoes, made to look like the jersey colorway and design of the 2007 All-Star game, where Kobe Bryant lifted the All-Star game MVP award.

With the energy flowing through his feet, Haliburton took control of the game, made dagger shots in the clutch just like Kobe Bryant would, and finished the game with 27 points and 15 assists. The one thing that differs from Bryant, though, is that Tyrese rarely turns over the ball, and he had another zero-turnover game.

With the teams for the Final of the IST already decided, the match-up between 38-year-old LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers and the Tyrese Haliburton-led Pacers would be a sign to behold this Sunday.

Tyrese Haliburton is taking over the IST

In the quarterfinals of the IST, Haliburton had no thoughts of getting eliminated as he dropped his first-ever career triple-double. Similarly, he went on to elevate his team and get them over the line against the Bucks in the semifinals.

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Haliburton knows that the fans are still overlooking the Pacers as a potential winner for the IST. Haliburton understood that and said, “We’re not supposed to be here … we keep shocking the world.”

Trading buckets with Damian Lillard while wearing his Kobe Bryant shoes, Haliburton made sure his emotions were heard by the fans as he proclaimed that he could do anything that Lillard was doing and even did the Dame-Time celebration after making a clutch shot. It is safe to say that while many teams were overlooking the IST, Haliburton and the Pacers were one of the only teams to play with urgency from the start of the tournament.

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Do you think the Pacers have a chance against the Lakers this Sunday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!