INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton wanted to play well with his father, John, back in Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the first time in two-plus weeks Tuesday night.
That wasn't the only motivation behind the best performance of his career.
Haliburton made amends for the mistakes he made in Game 3 by finishing with 32 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds, four steals and no turnovers in a 130-121 victory over the New York Knicks. He became the first NBA player with at least 30 points, 15 assists, 10 rebounds and no turnovers in a postseason game since turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78.
Then he poked some fun at the situation.
“I know people were saying, ‘Free Pops’ and Pops is free, but he was not in jail,” the younger Haliburton said after Indiana took a 3-1 lead. "He has a very beautiful home, very pretty to watch basketball. So he was just fine. I just wanted to win.”
There's no word yet on whether the father will attend Game 5 in New York when Indiana could clinch its second trip to the NBA Finals.
But all kidding aside, it's been an odd season — and postseason — for the younger Haliburton.
He started slowly, even telling reporters at one point he needed to find a way to have fun again. By March, Haliburton and the Pacers were rolling.
Then a publication dubbed the two-time All-Star as the NBA's most overrated player based on an anonymous survey of the league's players. All Haliburton has done since then is make two last-second game-winners, a buzzer-beater to force overtime and history on Tuesday night.
But perhaps the strangest twist came while he was celebrating his decisive layup with 1.3 seconds left in overtime to eliminate Milwaukee. While Haliburton jumped on the scorer's table, his father confronted Giannis Antetokounmpo on the court.
Though Haliburton acknowledged his father did the wrong thing and the elder Haliburton apologized on social media for his overexuberance, he was still banned from attending all Pacers games — home and away — indefinitely.
During those eight games, John Haliburton generated his own celebrity at local watering holes. He savored the 4-1 series victory over top-seeded Cleveland and two more wins at New York as the Pacers took the lead in the finals conference before his reappearance Tuesday — in a suite at the top of the lower bowl, located behind the basket closest to the Pacers bench.
“My dad is just fine. He lives just fine, he's watching the game in a beautiful home or he finds his way into a sports bar with a bunch of Pacers fans,” Haliburton said, drawing laughter. “There was a lot of commentary around him, especially right after, which I think some was warranted and some went a little too far, but I think that's just sports and that's just talking heads. What can you do? But I don't think there was any emotion to it.”
Starting center Myles Turner said after Monday's practice he thought it was important fathers watch their sons in person — especially in a conference final. Coach Rick Carlisle echoed those sentiments before Tuesday's game.
“Glad he's back,” Carlisle said. “You know a father should be able to watch his son play basketball, so we welcome him back.”
Apparently, the Pacers and league officials felt the same way, even though the younger Haliburton never complained publicly about the punishment.
Instead, Tyrese Haliburton said he understood the decision while explaining his father's excitement was more about being proud rather than any malicious intent. And on Tuesday night, he produced the kind of game that his father will never forget.
“Obviously, my dad being here is special,” Haliburton said. “But growing up, he was working a lot on weekends so he didn't come to a lot of my games and when he did come to my games, I wanted to play well. So, of course, I wanted to play well."
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Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton celebrates during the first half of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the New York Knicks Sunday, May 25, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
John Halliburton, father of Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, raises his hands from a suite before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the New York Knicks in Indianapolis, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.
The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
State television also showed images of what it said were more than a dozen wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. A man identified in state media as Col. Pedro Domínguez attended Thursday's ceremony in a wheelchair.
He said it was a “disproportionate attack” that killed 11 colleagues around him as they slept. Domínguez said he was committed to doing “whatever it takes to defend this people and to remain united in the face of threats from the United States.”
Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.
“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.
The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.
“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.
In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.
In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.
“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”
The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.
But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.
“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”
Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”
Rodríguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
