John Haliburton can roll with the punches.
Tyrese Haliburton’s father laughed and had a good time with Thunder fans ribbing him outside of Paycom Center after Oklahoma City’s Game 5 120-109 win over the Pacers on Monday.
John, wearing his son’s yellow jersey, teased a few fans as if he would approach them while they chirped, but smiled through the interactions.
One fan kept saying, “What you think?” before John seemingly posed for a photo with another and then shook hands with someone, as captured in a 24-second video posted to Streamable.
That John could smile through it all prevented any redos of his infamous on-court interaction with Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo during the first round that resulted in him and the Pacers agreeing to an eight-game ban that ended during the Eastern Conference finals.
John waved a towel and celebrated on the court after the Pacers ousted the Bucks in five games and he eventually crossed paths with the ex-MVP, bumping heads with him.
Antetokounmpo called John’s actions “very disrespectful,” while the elder Haliburton apologized and his son called out his father’s tactics.
“He needs to just allow me to play basketball and stay over there, and I’ll come to him to celebrate,” Tyese said at the time. “But the emotions of the game got excited there. I talked with him. I’ll talk with Giannis about it. I don’t think my pops was in the right at all there.”
The Finals shifts to Indianapolis for Game 6 and Tyrese’s health is the biggest storyline.
The point guard is believed to have a strained right calf and had been scheduled for an MRI exam to determine the extent of the injury, per ESPN.
Tyrese missed all of his shots from the field in Game 5, finishing with just four points while dealing with a lower-half injury.
The former Iowa State star said after Game 5 he will be play Thursday.
The Thunder are 6.5-point road favorites at BetMGM.
“It’s the Finals, man. It’s the NBA Finals,” Haliburton said. “I’ve worked my whole life to be here and I want to be out there to compete, help my teammates any way I can. I was not great (in Game 5) by any means, but it’s not really a though of mine to not play here. If I can help walk, then I want to play.
“Gotta be ready to go for Game 6.”