As if the drama of the series between the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers wasn’t enough, Tyrese Haliburton’s father taunted Giannis Antetokounmpo after Game 5.
Haliburton had just scored on Antetokounmpo for the series-winning basket in overtime, possibly prompting his father’s reaction.
Video showed John Haliburton walking and talking in the direction of Antetokounmpo and the Bucks superstar looking bemused. As John kept jawing, though, Antetokounmpo had to be restrained by members of both the Pacers and Bucks.
When Antetokounmpo spoke after the game, he addressed the incident.
“Losing a game, emotions run high,” Antetokounmpo said. “Having a fan, which at the moment, I thought he was a fan and then I realized, it was Tyrese’s dad — I love Tyrese, he’s a great competitor — coming on the floor and showing me his son’s towel and saying, ‘This is what we do. This is what we effing do. This is what the eff we do.’ I feel like that’s very, very disrespectful…
“Having somebody’s dad — and I’m happy for him and I’m happy for his son, and I’m happy that he’s happy for his son, that’s how he’s supposed to feel — but coming to me and disrespecting me and cursing at me is totally unacceptable.
“Totally unacceptable.”
Tyrese Haliburton Says Father Was Wrong To Taunt
Tyrese also spoke about his father after the game and did not let his personal relationship impact how he viewed the incident.
“I don’t think my pops was in the right at all there,” Tyrese said. “Unfortunate what happened at the end there. This series was a lot of war of words, a lot of antics, a lot of stuff going back and forth, and that’s just part of this rivalry and what we’ve built here over the last couple years.
“I don’t agree with what happened there but we’ll have a conversation. Everybody’s grown men and we’ll just go from there.”