MILWAUKEE — Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton mentioned his youthful brother was known as the N-word by a fan whereas sitting within the stands throughout Sport 1 of Indiana’s first-round playoff collection with the Bucks in Milwaukee.
Haliburton mentioned the incident throughout his postgame information convention that adopted the Pacers’ 125-108 win in Sport 2 on Tuesday evening.
“My little brother within the stands the opposite day was known as the N-word,” Haliburton mentioned. “It was vital for us as a household to simply tackle that. And that was vital for us to speak about as a result of that simply did not sit proper with anyone in our household. It is simply been vital to have my household right here proper now. My little brother has dealt with that the proper method.”
Haliburton was born about 90 miles from Milwaukee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He has three brothers (two older and one youthful) and mentioned his fast household had been on the town with him for the beginning of the playoffs. That is his playoff debut in his residence state.
When requested a query about his expertise returning to Wisconsin for the beginning of the collection, Haliburton paused for a number of seconds earlier than he started to reply. He was shaking his head whereas beginning a solution about how good it was to have his household in attendance earlier than he stopped himself and addressed the racial slur.
The Bucks had been requested about Haliburton’s feedback after Tuesday’s recreation.
“An area visitor companies consultant reported that in Sunday’s recreation a couple of friends weren’t sitting of their appropriate seats,” a Bucks spokesperson responded. “The visitor companies consultant requested the group to maneuver one part over to their appropriate seats. Then, one of many people within the group claimed to the consultant that an individual sitting in entrance of him had used a derogatory time period towards him. The accused particular person denied the accusation. The group moved to their appropriate seats and no additional incident was reported.
“We take our fan setting extraordinarily severely and are dedicated to offering a secure and safe expertise.”
Haliburton mentioned his staff “did an excellent job of dealing with this setting,” including, “The dialog [in the stands], it is pleasant through the common season as a result of I am the hometown child, but it surely’s a bit of completely different if you’re visiting on this setting.”
