From Michael Jordan’s last-second daggers to LeBron James’ fourth-quarter heroics, NBA history has always favored players who deliver under pressure. Since the NBA began tracking play-by-play data in the 1996-97 season, no one had ever hit a game-winning or game-tying shot in every round of the playoffs. Before this year, only Jordan had pulled it off—over the course of his entire career.
Now, Tyrese Haliburton has changed the conversation. He’s doing it in one postseason.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said it best: the Indiana Pacers guard is having the best playoff run in NBA history.
Brian Windhorst Calls Haliburton’s Playoff Clutch Run the Greatest Ever
Haliburton has become the face of clutch basketball in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. Every time the pressure rises, so does he. After drilling another game-winning shot in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Windhorst didn’t hold back.
“Tyrese Haliburton is unequivocally having the greatest run of clutch shooting we have seen in the history of the sport,” Windhorst said on “Get Up” the morning after Haliburton’s latest heroics.
Before diving deeper into Windhorst’s take, it’s worth noting the numbers. This postseason, Haliburton has hit a game-tying or game-winning shot in every round. That’s something no other player has done in a single playoff run—not LeBron, not Kobe, not Jordan.
Even James, who holds the all-time postseason record with eight clutch shots, never strung together a streak like this.
Jordan’s own streak didn’t fully come together until 1997, near the end of his Bulls run. Haliburton, just 25, is doing it in one campaign—and he’s still going.
by far https://t.co/xhWndX7UkE pic.twitter.com/vHSR0qToQJ
— Mike Beuoy (@inpredict) June 6, 2025
Windhorst added more fuel to the fire, pointing to Haliburton’s performance in crunch time.
“You know about the four shots within 1.3 seconds just in the playoffs,” Windhorst said. “But this season, Haliburton is 12-of-14 inside two minutes when the game is on the line. We’ve never seen anything like that.”
“Tyrese Haliburton is unequivocally having the greatest run of clutch shooting we have seen in the history of the sport.”
—@WindhorstESPN 😳 pic.twitter.com/tAKohgjQsp
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 6, 2025
Even the analytics community is buzzing over Haliburton’s heroics. One X account posted a video compiling every shot Haliburton has hit to tie or take the lead in the final two minutes this season. Meanwhile, another shared another eye-popping stat: Haliburton is the only player in the play-by-play era to hit three game-winners with five seconds or less on the clock in a single postseason.
NBA players in the play-by-play era to record 3 game-winning shots with 5 or fewer seconds left in the game in a single playoff run:
2025 Tyrese Haliburton pic.twitter.com/BjZ0EVTiSk
— Greg Harvey (@BetweenTheNums) June 6, 2025
With Indiana up 1-0 in the Finals, Haliburton’s run isn’t just historic—it’s active. His impact is growing by the game, and the basketball world is finally catching up to what he’s been doing all postseason.
