Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton said a fan directed a racial slur at his younger brother during Game 1 of Indiana’s first-round playoff series with the Milwaukee Bucks.
“My little brother in the stands the other day was called the N-word,” Haliburton said after the Pacers’ Game 2 win Tuesday night. “It was important for us as a family to just address that. That was important for us to talk about because that didn’t sit right with anybody in our family. It’s just been important to have my family here right now, and my little brother’s handled that the right way.”
Haliburton, 24, is a native of Oshkosh, Wis., nearly 90 miles from Milwaukee. When asked about returning to Wisconsin for the playoff series, he said it was good to have his family at the games before revealing the Game 1 incident.
A Bucks spokesperson told the Associated Press the team was aware of the situation and takes its fan environment “extremely seriously.”
“An arena guest services representative reported that during Sunday’s game a few guests were not sitting in their correct seats,” the spokesperson told the AP. “The guest services representative asked the group to move one section over to their correct seats. Then, one of the individuals in the group claimed to the representative that a person sitting in front of him had used a derogatory term toward him. The accused person denied the accusation. The group moved to their correct seats and no further incident was reported.
“We take our fan environment extremely seriously and are committed to providing a safe and secure experience.”
Haliburton, who is making his playoff debut this season, finished with 12 points and 12 assists in a 125-108 win in Game 2 to even the series at 1-1. The Pacers will host Game 3 on Friday in Indianapolis.
“I thought we’ve just gone a good job of handling this environment. Obviously, the conversations, it’s friendly during the regular season because I’m the hometown kid,” Haliburton said of the environment at Bucks games. “But it’s a little different when you’re visiting in (the playoffs). But it’s all part of it and we’re just trying to do right by that and we’re just excited to go in front of our fans and play in front of a great crowd.”
(Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski / USA Today)
