Pacers reserve forward Jarace Walker likely won’t return to action during the NBA Finals, head coach Rick Carlisle said on Sunday, per Tony East of ClutchPoints (Twitter link). Walker has missed the entire series so far with a sprained right ankle.
“He is doing better,” Carlisle said. “He is off crutches and he is walking with a slight limp now. So it’s very unlikely that he’ll be able to play in this series. But he is doing better. It would be great if he was available because I do think he would help us.”
The 6’8″ forward enjoyed an expanded bench role on Indiana during his second pro regular season out of Houston. In 75 healthy games, Walker averaged 6.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 1.5 APG in 15.8 MPG. He also notched shooting splits of .472/.405/.667. Carlisle tightened his rotation in the playoffs, reducing Walker’s minutes to 9.8 MPG.
Without Walker available, Obi Toppin has become an even more essential frontcourt bench contributor for Indiana in the series, taking on a larger role.
Indiana and the Thunder are currently knotted up, 2-2, in the ongoing series. A pivotal Game 5 is slated for Monday night in Oklahoma City. The Pacers are appearing in their first NBA Finals since 2000 — more than three years before the 21-year-old Walker was even born.
We already knew that, his ankle almost snapped in half lol
Hali for the series — 17.8 pts, 7.5 ast, 4.3 TOs,
Siakam their leading scorer is avg 18.75 pts.
Pacers for series have shot 68/102 FTs %.67
Thunder for series have shot 107/125 FTs %.856
Pacers are not winning without Siakam their leading scorer. At under 20 pts a game. Hali is having a solid series. But to win his ast have to be over 10 a game.
The Pacers bench is who is keeping this series close. Thunder bench are due for big games.
All of you who cry about the refs is amusing. Thunder have 23 more FTs than Pacers. And have made 19 more. Thats how you put pressure on a team D. Is by getting to FT line. Thats how you manage a game. Cause you know you can get to FT line. Thunder are shooting 86% from FT line to Pacers 67%
. Pacers should be thankful they are tied 2–2. SGA is avg 32.8 pts JWill is avg 22.5 pts
Pacers bench has showed up. Thunder bench hasn’t
showed up yet. So Pacer fans should be worried ……