JANUARY 9: Haliburton has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain and is expected to be reevaluated in about two weeks, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Although the star guard will miss some time, there’s a sense of relief that the injury isn’t more serious, Wojnarowski adds.
JANUARY 8: Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton suffered a left hamstring strain during the first half of Indiana’s game against the Celtics on Monday and did not return.
Haliburton was injured late in the second quarter while driving to the basket. He slipped in the lane and did the splits. He then twisted around on the court in pain while grabbing the back of his left leg.
Buddy Hield and James Johnson carried Haliburton off the court and into the locker room. He’ll undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files writes.
Haliburton leads all Eastern Conference guards in the All-Star voting and it’s much deserved. He’s averaging career highs at 24.2 points and 12.7 assists per game.
If Indiana has to go an extended stretch without him, Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell would take over the essential role of lead ballhandlers.
Agness points out that Haliburton was wearing high-top Kobe shoes, rather than his usual low-top Kobe’s. He also slipped on the court during the first quarter.
The Pacers pulled out a 133-131 victory.
“Really amazing effort from our team,” head coach Rick Carlisle said. “A lot of emotions in this game for a lot of reasons. You’re playing the best team in basketball and Tyrese’s injury situation is a very deflating moment. We hope that it’s not serious.”
“Money, it’s gotta be the shoes !”
Mars Blackmon
Hopefully he is ok. He’s been phenomenal for the pacers. To be able to score at will while having multiple games with 10+ assists and zero turnovers is point god like.
He will need to Pace himself while making a recovery
After Haliburton’s exit, McConnell took over the game like a champ and led the Pacers to the win. One of the league’s most underrated players as far as team chemistry and making players around him better are concerned.
He slipped on slippery floor. Happened to Jalen too. Watched the game. Lucky that’s all it was. Get healthy player.
Pacers looked good. I know Tatum was out. But it was a good game. Even when Haliburton went down. Pacers kept coming. Forcing KP to foul at end. Nesmith wanted this game. Pacers with Siakam can look really well. I can see why there are rumors. Pacers could be a team that makes that big trade at deadline.