BOSTON — Tyrese Haliburton and Oshae Brissett texted each other all year, Brissett’s first away from his former teammate and one of Haliburton’s best friends. Haliburton hosted him at his house when Boston visited Indiana for back-to-back games in January. The Celtics had already built a seven-game edge on the Pacers then, but Haliburton continued to tell Brissett that they’d meet in the East Finals. That became reality this week, and the pleasantries ended.
“Usually we get dinner or something before we play,” Haliburton said on Wednesday after Game 1. “But we’re not doing that during this. There was a lot of chit-chat between us the whole year, because I told him we were gonna play in the Eastern Conference Finals all year and he kind of laughed at me. So here we are, but we don’t really talk much during the game. I’m sure we’ll have a lot of conversation after.”
Brissett hadn’t played real postseason minutes prior to Thursday. The Pacers went 25-57 the year Haliburton arrived, Brissett establishing himself as part of their core in 2020-21 after a successful call-up from the G-League. Haliburton’s injuries cost them playoff contention in 2022-23, while Aaron Nesmith’s arrival and success, in part, left Brissett without a major role in Indiana. He found a niche with the Celtics, but as often happens in the playoffs, Boston’s rotation tightened late in the year. Brissett entered Game 3 at Miami late for his first career playoff game and scored twice in the series finale after Boston pulled far away.
Progressing two rounds later didn’t bode well for opportunity emerging, especially with Luke Kornet mostly performing behind Al Horford while Kristaps Porzingis recovered. That changed on Tuesday with the matchup. Indiana’s perimeter-based style and many former teammates remaining on the opposing side presented a case for small ball.
Joe Mazzulla had little choice when Kornet stepped off the floor nursing his left wrist late in the first quarter. Brissett relieved Horford two minutes into the second and the Pacers didn’t score over the following three minutes. He finished with two points, three steals and three rebounds over 12 (+18) minutes.
“It’s been a while,” Brissett said, flinching when the camera lights went on for his postgame scrum. “A lot of things (went through my mind before I entered), but trying to do everything I can to get the win. Trying to do everything I can to give us some energy. We were playing really well, but going in at that time could definitely turn things around in a positive or a negative. So I thought I did a good job of turning us in a positive way and keeping that energy up. (I’m) just working hard every day, staying in the gym and staying focused all game … I’m sitting right up there next to coaches trying to watch, trying to stay as locked in as I can.”
Mazzulla expressed some caution over going small because of the Pacers’ unpredictable substitution patterns and concern for floor spacing. That played out when Obi Toppin, Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner took the floor together opposite of Brissett and Jaylen Brown, who effectively moved to the five. Brissett described Jrue Holiday as playing the four and while Boston almost never played without a center during the regular season, he noted players practiced filling different positions to be able to get to such a lineup.
Brissett guarded TJ McConnell and handed him off on switches to Derrick White, forcing two misses inside. Mazzulla returned to Horford against Turner after two plays, but allowed Brissett to close for 5:20 to finish the third, finding his lone points cutting away from Brown and dunking with two hands.
Two days earlier, Brissett sat at his locker before Game 1 just happy to be along for the ride. He vaulted from the upstart Pacers, who he still felt happy for, to a championship contender in a year where he legitimately helped them as a rotation rebounder and defender through front court injuries and rest. Mazzulla and Brissett hadn’t discussed any role for him in this series to that point though, so while he stayed ready, Thursday’s minutes came as some surprise.
“It’s gonna be fun,” Brissett told CLNS Media/CelticsBlog about playing against his former team. “I’ve been really excited to be here, real fortunate, especially, to be on a team like this. At this point, we’ve seen (Indiana) play two full series now, obviously we played them five times throughout the year, so we know them pretty well, just like how they know us … anybody top to bottom on the roster, it doesn’t matter, has to stay ready. Myself, I prepare like I could always be in the game, it doesn’t matter when. It could be now, it could be next series, it could be Game 2 … I just trust the coaches and I feel like they trust me whenever they want to put me in.”
Brissett especially enjoyed the opportunity to face Myles Turner, who welcomed him when he arrived from G-League Fort Wayne in 2021 and bridged Indiana’s previous core next to Domantas Sabonis to its current one. Brissett similarly welcomed Nesmith to the Pacers when the Celtics traded him there for Malcolm Brogdon two summers ago, recalling many conversations they shared through the process. Rick Carlisle, in November, called Brissett an elite rebounder, good runner, an improving shooter and one of the best teammates ever.
That all played out for Boston, but neither the Celtics, Pacers, nor Brissett could’ve imagined him playing an important role in an East Finals revenge game, as Holiday called it from across the locker room. Horford began barking Brissett’s way as the latter began his first press scrum in months. His role might not disappear either. Kornet never returned to the bench, Brissett received his minutes ahead of Xavier Tillman Sr., who returned to the team on Thursday, while Porzingis is reportedly out for Game 3 with hope for a Game 4 return at the earliest, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. It helps that Brissett knows these Pacers best.
“I’ve been real happy for them,” he told CelticsBlog/CLNS. “I talk to Tyrese almost every day. Real happy for Myles, I feel like a lot of people liked to count him out. I’ve seen the work that he’s put in over the years, so seeing him play the way he is now and really be a real leader for that team makes me real happy … I could go down the list, Aaron Nesmith … seeing him in a key role on a playoff team is big … I just love seeing their progression and those relationships I’ll have for the rest of my career.”
