Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton received a warning from the NBA but was not fined for the dancing celebration he did after hitting the game-winning 3-pointer in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Haliburton predicted a fine for the dance, which was made infamous by Sam Cassell but has been deemed “an obscene gesture” by the league. The Pacers had just rallied from 20 points down to take a 2-0 lead in the series, so Haliburton was excited and said he did not care if he had to pay for it.
“I’ve been waiting for that,” Haliburton said when asked about the celebration. “It was just right in the moment. Yeah, man, I’ve been waiting for that. I’ll take that fine, gladly.”
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Haliburton dodged the fine, but other high-profile NBA players have not had such luck. Lakers star LeBron James received a $15,000 fine for doing the dance in a 2021 after a win over the Pacers.
It was even more costly for other players. Eddie House had gotten away with the move before, but the Miami Heat guard was fined $25,000 after celebrating a game-winner against the Oklahoma City Thunder during his last NBA season in 2011. Julius Randle and Fred VanVleet have also been fined in past years.
Cassell, now an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics, popularized the dance in the 2000s, but he explained in a Draymond Green podcast that he actually got it from the 1994 movie Major League II.
Meanwhile, Haliburton and the Pacers will now return home to Indiana to host Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday.
