Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton received a “wide range” of treatments in an effort to get him ready for Game 6 of the NBA Finals, according to Jamal Collier of ESPN, who says those treatments included hyperbaric chambers, needles, massages, electronic stimulation, and a compression sleeve on Haliburton’s calf.
Fortunately for the Pacers, they raced out to a big first-half lead on Thursday and extended that lead in the third quarter, putting them in position to hold Haliburton out of the fourth quarter and reduce his workload for the night. He had 14 points and five assists in 23 minutes, with Indiana outscoring the Thunder by 25 points when he was on the court.
“He did amazing,” Pacers forward Obi Toppin said after the victory, per Shakeia Taylor of The Athletic. “He led us to a win, and he’s a soldier. He’s not going to let no little injury hold him back from playing in the finals and helping this team win. He’s helped us get to this point, and he’s going to keep going until he can’t.”
Haliburton was listed as questionable on the Game 6 injury report and was considered a game-time decision on Thursday, but multiple teammates – including Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner – said they had no doubt the All-NBA guard would be on the court when the game tipped off.
“I just look at it as I want to be out there to compete with my brothers,” Haliburton said, according to Taylor. “We’ve had such a special year, and we have a special bond as a group. I think I’d beat myself up if I didn’t give it a chance. I just want to be out there and fight. (I) just had to have an honest conversation with Coach (Rick Carlisle) that if I didn’t look like myself and was hurting the team, like, sit me down. Obviously, I want to be on the floor, but I want to win more than anything.”
Here’s more on the Pacers on the heels of their Game 6 victory:
- As big a role as Haliburton has played to get the Pacers to this point, Siakam actually looks like the frontrunner to be named Finals MVP if Indiana can pull out a win in Game 7, notes Sam Amick of The Athletic. The veteran forward, who put an exclamation point on a huge second quarter with a poster dunk over Jalen Williams and a buzzer-beating fadeaway, won a title in Toronto, but feels like he has grown significantly as a player and a leader since that 2019 championship. “I wasn’t a leader then,” Siakam said. “… I think this time around, just having been one of the only guys that has been there or one of the few guys that has been there, and I’m year nine or 10 or whatever, it’s like I have way more to say and I can impact not only by saying things but also on the floor.”
- With another big performance in Game 6, Pacers guard T.J. McConnell became the only player in league history to record at least 60 points, 25 assists, 15 rebounds, and 10 steals off the bench in an NBA Finals, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. However, McConnell’s impact goes beyond the box score. “Any time he comes into the game, the crowd loves him, and he feeds off of that,” Toppin said. “He had a great start to (Thursday’s) game, and it got us going. Brought juice into the game, energy into the game.”
- While the Pacers will carry the momentum from their resounding Game 6 victory into Sunday’s Game 7, they know they’ll still be significant underdogs in Oklahoma City against the 68-win Thunder, as Zak Keefer of The Athletic details. They also know that anything can happen in a single game. “One game,” Carlisle said on Thursday. “This is what it’s all about. This is what you dream about growing up, this opportunity.”
- Stephen Holder of ESPN spoke to former Pacers like Metta Sandiford-Artest, Lance Stephenson, Stephen Jackson, and Rik Smits about what it would mean to them – and to the city – if this Indiana squad can win a championship on Sunday. “This franchise really deserves it,” Smits said. “We had a lot of great years, but obviously never made it this far. So, I’m just happy for the team, the owners, the whole city. It’s a great fan base here. I’ve always loved playing here, so I would love to see a championship.”
If the Pacers are able to win Game 7, where would this rank on the list of biggest Finals upsets? Might be the biggest upset in history honestly, this OKC team is somewhat historic up to this point. Like we are talking Giants over the 2007 Patriots type of upset here
That the Pacers forced a game 7 is such an accomplishment. When I see people make fun of the Pacers for losing blows my mind.
Pistons preventing Lakers 3-peat seems up there
Somewhat, but I mean, the Thunder have 68 wins and have been the 1 seed in back to back years, and have a way better defense than that Lakers team. And the Pacers are a four seed.
The Lakers had 56 wins in 2003-04 and were a 2 seed with a bunch of washed role players, and Kobe and Shaq had no chemistry anymore. Its not really a contest.
I am wondering if the Knicks are questioning letting their coach go since he took hios team to highly contested games against the Pacers. Pacers are a very good team and well coached. If a team gets hot at the right time they can win a championship.
“I am wondering if the Knicks are questioning letting their coach go”
I highly doubt they are. It’s funny, everyone and their mother has ripped Thibs non-stop for his tight rotations, unimaginative offense, and high minutes for starters. But the second he is fired, suddenly everyone loves him and the Knicks made a mistake. Thibs did a good overall job but this is as far as the Knicks would go with Thibs coaching. It was a tough call, but was the right call, imo. Appreciate all Thibs did but it was time for a change.
I feel he did a good job with what they had. Did pacers ahve a more balance and deeper bench? YES. Was Brunson not 100%? YES They should have waited before firing thibs until they knew who was available that makes them better. They didn’t just a knee jerk reaction. If OKC loses does that mean fire the coach because they were beat? NO
You seem to have a very narrow definition of what an upset is, mainly regular season success and not playoff/championship accomplishments. But hey… It’s your thought exercise
Within their history the Thunder have always come up short of a championship, and them choking it away(again) would be more of the same from that franchise, not some big shocker.
Just because Chet, Jalen and Shai are in crappy commercials doesn’t mean they’ve ascended into some basketball behemoth. The Pacers are the team that took down the defending champions, the Thunder barely escaped Denver.
i wouldn’t say Pacers is a big upset. I would say they were under estimated by NBA experts. They beat 3 good teams to be in the finals now taking the best team in the NBA to a game 7.
@Dru
OKC only made the Finals once before, and lost 1-4. So the 68 win heavy favorite losing a series they led 3-2 would be a massive choke (Nuggets have the best player in the league and a title, so a worthy opponent.
Also, the Pacers beat the Knicks, who weren’t the defending champions.
I don’t think it’s much of an upset at all tbh. Pacers are just as good as the Thunder. They just had more regular season injuries and thus won fewer games.
Could just be the league is scripting Pacers to win/go deep to add legitimacy to the in-season tourney and boost ratings…
Not a chance. If you watch the games so far they are not getting help from the NBA to win. They just play great defense.
I said “OKC in 4, Pacers in 4, Pacers in 4” on here weeks ago when the WCF/ECF started.
The Pacers have the best record in the NBA since January 1. You are massively underrating them. They are universally known as a top 4 team this season. You are acting like they are a play-in team. Bad analysis.
If indy wins, they’ll be the biggest underdog entering season to W it all (+6600) in nba history
Betting odds (pre-Finals), DET 2005 would come close. Other teams would have returned more overall in the playoffs, but not just Finals.
Not pre finals
Pre regular season
Hence why i wrote “entering season”
I don’t know if I’d put it in same category as ‘07 Giants-over-Pats, Captain K-Mid – if the Thunder were defending champs or had been to Finals in year prior, then maybe think of it as such. I for sure wouldn’t place it higher than ‘04 Pistons over Lakers.
Here’s the full list of Finals upsets I remember/watched (from memory)……
‘04 Pistons
‘06 Heat (borderline)
‘11 Mavs (PROBABLY #1 for me)
I’d likely place this Finals as the 3rd biggest upset – behind ‘11 and ‘04 – over the last 35-38 years, Captain K-Mid.
At Captain Crunch. Be another historic team next finals, just like last and this year’s. That’s Silvers thing. The defensive 3 second rule has changed the game so much. Nowhere else in the world.
Biggest upset still was in 1975. The Warriors were HUGE underdogs against the 60 win Bullets, and they had barely beaten the Bulls in the conference finals. The Warriors not only beat the Bullets to win the NBA championship, but freaking SWEPT them!
That’s definitely up there! A sweep is crazy. Those Rick Berry free throws must have thrown them off!
Biggest upset was the Cavs being down 1-3 and beating Steph and the 73 win Warriors.
What a player, TJ. He understands his role and plays it to perfection. Best bench PG in the league by a mile.
McConnell might be the true MVP is the Pacers win. He is as brilliant in the 2024 Conference Finals against the Celtics.
Not often stated is that his aunt is in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The whole McConnell Clan can play…
Playing 15-24 MPG = not MVP no matter what happens. Stop talking like this, it devalues the award. Haliburton was +25 last night, TJ was +10.
I love TJ and his style and aura though, he’s a great bench piece and always has been. Does what’s asked of him even if it’s different every night, he’s one of the rare guys who can get a quadruple double.
Can you give an MVP award to a guy that went an entire game without making a single field goal?
@aristotle and Andre did not deserve it even one bit, it was 100% Curry’s award that LeFraud paid voters to not vote for Curry.
let me correct you on that. The first vote they were tied so they voted again and Andre won. There is 0 evidence LeBron paid anyone.
There is a precedent for McConnell winning MVP (assuming Indy wins game 7).
Andre Iguodala in 2015.
Since January 1, 2025, the Pacers and OKC have had the best records. Name the last two teams to win in OKC? The Pacers 2025 and the Pacers 2024. That this series is close is no surprise and if anything, until Game 6, the Pacers haven’t played well by their own standards (see Halliburton’s quote after Game 3 when the Pacers went up 21.
^ you might be in Singapore but you definitely know ball!!!!
DaveyJ , I’ll give you your flowers on Indiana. I thought you were crazy at the time. I thought that after Cleveland and Boston, the East sucked.
What I should have seen was how well Indiana played against good teams this season, unlike the rest of the East, which was historically weak this year (5 teams ranked, the 2 play-in teams had losing records, etc, etc.) Indy was 21-10 against the West this season, and was the best in the league against good teams in the 2nd half of the season.
I guess you saw this?
Respect for this post. I dig the humility and sincerity. Good reminder for us all when interacting on the internet!
Cheers to you and enjoy game 7!
@tonyinsingapore It was hard to read the East this year because of all the terrible teams (and games), but you’re right.
IMHO, OKC and Indy are built for the playoffs. We’re seeing the importance of depth and youth in the playoffs. So many exhausting games. Knicks fell because they overplayed starters and had a shallow bench. Warriors fell because old players wore down.
Pacers played a near-perfect game 6.
I’d LOVE to see them win the likely 5 on 8 matchup featuring OKC’s favorite refs (Scott Foster/James Williams).
GO PACERS!!!
An interesting twist, Vegas Books stand to lose millions if OKC wins; had been heavy heavy money line betting on the Thunder…
Part of me is worried the gm will come down to FTs especially sga . Gm 4 okc didnt make single shot final 2 minutes. They had 8 fta which W them the gm
I had OKC originally in 6, but I’m glad I am wrong from a hoops perspective. Two best words in all of sports: Game 7.
Both teams provided a lot of memorable moments and clutch moments. Very entertaining series, I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially after the debacle in last year’s finals.
Hope the best team wins, no referees, no do overs, no what if’s, just play hard for 48 mins and they’ll remember you for all of eternity.
This has been an awesome series to watch
Great post!
Pacers win in a ‘no refs’ situation. And before others start talking about # of FTs and all that nonsense, I mean well timed foul calls. The refs started in the 2 Qtr of game 6, SGA got the 1st questionable call when things were headed to a quick blowout. Then Hartenstein wasn’t even touched and got the call… was so absurd, call got reversed and they kept their whistle in their pocket from that point forward.
I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but I still believe the refs are there to make sure the games go how they are supposed to. But they can’t work miracles. I’m hoping for a quick start by IND so that well timed whistles don’t derail them.
Gm 6 was 5 MJs playing against a bunch of children . Indy was perfect, okc didnt even show up. Whatever happens, proud of my pacers. Magical finals run. Took mighty thunder to 7. Everyone and their mama said okc sweep. If indy pulls it off it will be the greatest championship run in sports history.