'It means a lot to be back out here': Tyrese Haliburton tears up after starring late in Pacers' win over Pelicans

The moment that Tyrese Haliburton had spent the last 16 months waiting for came on Wednesday night, with his Indiana Pacers coming down to the wire on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans in their first game of the 2026-27 NBA season.

And after everything he'd gone through to get back here — the surgery to repair his ruptured Achilles tendon , the grueling rehab complicated by a nasty case of shingles , day after day of waiting and straining and striving after being laid low just as he reached for the brass ring — Haliburton damn sure wasn't going to let it pass him by.

With the score knotted at 118 and a minute and a half remaining in regulation in New Orleans, Haliburton brought the ball into the frontcourt, took a ball screen from teammate Pascal Siakam, and stared down Pelicans forward Zion Williamson high above the 3-point arc. He crouched, lingered, tensed. He sold Williamson on a right-hand in-and-out dribble before hesitating and crossing back to his left, pushing off that surgically repaired right leg as he created enough space to drive to the middle of the floor.

Haliburton got his shoulders even with the recovering Williamson, absorbed the contact in the lane and leaned left, lofting a floater with his off-hand. It rattled home. The bucket, plus the foul, and as he sat up on the deck at the Smoothie King Center, the All-NBA point guard roared, letting 486 days' worth of pent-up emotion and frustration out for all to see.

The and-1 free-throw gave the Pacers a three-point lead with 1:23 to go. The Pelicans would have two chances to tie the game and force overtime — a top-of-the-key 3-pointer by second-year guard Jeremiah Fears, and a left-corner try by Williamson after an offensive rebound — but neither found the bottom of the net, allowing Indiana to finish off a 123-120 win .

After missing seven of his first 11 field-goal attempts through three quarters, Haliburton came alive in the fourth, scoring 13 points on perfect 4-for-4 shooting in the final frame to help the Pacers come back in a game the Pelicans had largely controlled in the previous two quarters. Time and again, when the Pacers needed a good look, they put the ball in Haliburton's hands, let him run the two-man game with Siakam, and forced the Pelicans to try to hold up and get stops against their All-Star inside-out tandem. They couldn't:

Haliburton finished with 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting to go with 12 assists in 34 minutes of work — his 70th 20-10 game as a Pacer , and his first since Game 3 of the 2025 NBA Finals .

After sealing the win, Haliburton found himself overcome by emotion during his walk-off interview with Pacers sideline reporter Jeremiah Johnson:

"It means a lot to be back out here," Haliburton said, tears streaming down his face as he struggled to find the words.

The Pacers faithful that traveled down to New Orleans to welcome back their leader were all too happy to offer their help:

After heading back to the locker room and taking some time before meeting with reporters, Haliburton took stock of what led to those emotions overflowing on the floor after the final buzzer.

"I don't think there's been a point where I — like, I've had moments in private, especially early, when it was hard," Haliburton said, according to Tony East of Circle City Spin . "You know, I don't know. I just thought that this moment would feel super emotional for me. I didn't think I was going to cry. I really didn't. But I think it all just hit me kind of there when talking to Jeremiah, and seeing all those Pacers fans in the arena. We haven't won here in, what, five years or whatever? And to see all those Pacer fans here in New Orleans for this means a lot to me. This organization, this city means a lot. And it just means a lot for me to be back doing what I love."

Asked what emotion specifically grabbed hold of him, Haliburton thought for a moment before saying, "I think just an appreciation."

"You know, perspective is everything," he said. "And as the game was going on, I was struggling a little bit. I was tired, and just not playing well. We weren't playing well. I think I was kind of sitting there in that moment, and what got me going again was just … like, I've had those moments before, where it's kind of like, 'Oh, I need this game to get done. I need to breathe so I can get to tomorrow, next game, whatever.' And in that moment, I just kind of took a step back when I was on the bench there, and I was like, 'Man, I'm back playing. Like, I'm back here. And I just want to live in the moment as much as I can.'"