2:01 pm: Haliburton is believed to have suffered a right calf strain and is undergoing an MRI to determine the severity of the injury, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
9:32 am: Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who spoke earlier in the NBA Finals about dealing with a “lower leg” issue, was hampered by an injury affecting the same leg during the team’s Game 5 loss on Monday, writes Jamal Collier of ESPN.
Haliburton’s initial lower leg issue was later revealed to be a right ankle ailment. On Monday, he went to the locker room in the first quarter due to right calf tightness before returning to the court and finishing the game. He told reporters after the loss that Monday’s injury was in the “same area,” but that he never considered shutting it down for the night.
“It’s the Finals,” Haliburton said. “I’ve worked my whole life to be here and I want to be out there to compete, help my teammates any way I can. I was not great tonight by any means, but it’s not really a thought of mine to not play here. If I can walk, then I want to play.”
Monday’s performance was easily Haliburton’s worst of the NBA Finals. His four points matched a personal career playoff low, and he didn’t make a single field goal attempt, going 0-for-6 from the floor as the Pacers fell behind 3-2 in the series. He did manage to grab seven rebounds and hand out six assists, but Indiana was outscored by 13 points when he was on the floor in a game the team lost by 11 points.
“Just trying to keep pace in the game, impact whatever way I can,” Haliburton said, per Shakeia Taylor of The Athletic. “Just trying to get (Pascal Siakam) the ball in the right spots. Try to get the ball to guys in the right spots if I can. As far as what happened there, we have to watch film to see it.”
Having their All-NBA point guard battling health issues obviously isn’t ideal for the Pacers as they prepare for a win-or-go-home Game 6 in Indiana, but head coach Rick Carlisle expressed confidence the Haliburton will be available on Thursday.
“He’s not 100 percent. It’s pretty clear,” Carlisle said. “But I don’t think he’s going to miss the next game. We were concerned at halftime, and he insisted on playing. I thought he made a lot of really good things happen in the second half. But he’s not 100 percent. There’s a lot of guys in the series that aren’t. We’ll evaluate everything with Tyrese and see how he wakes up tomorrow.”
As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star writes, backup point guard T.J. McConnell gave the team some huge minutes on Monday with Haliburton struggling. McConnell scored 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting in 22 minutes off the bench.
If Haliburton doesn’t look like his normal self on Thursday, the Pacers may have to lean more on McConnell, Siakam, and Andrew Nembhard for play-making.
let the excuses begin
I’m a thunder fan but just say you didn’t watch the game casual he was very clearly hurt bozo
You must not watch NBA finals. The healthier team has the big advantage. Its always been that way. If SGA went down and Pacers were the healthy team the advantage would be Pacers.
Well from what I saw..Haliburton had only 4 points last night ….but he really was pretty spiffy all year and a killer versus the Knicks in the last series and a big reason as to why the Pacers are in the Championship …
No shame here as far as I am concerned
Now the excuse is there for when the loss comes…
I take it that you have never had a sports injury.
I’ve had sports injuries. Hurt my knee in high school while playing in the championship basketball round.
Man, pacers had me believing. They looked beat in game 5. Magic pixie dust seems to have worn off. Guess there is still a chance. We will see.
This OKC Thunder team has answered every challenge in this postseason.
– Adversity
– Inexperience
– Hostile environments
– Responding from a heartbreaking loss TWICE.
48 minutes away from a banner flying forever in Oklahoma City. Well deserved.
Indiana was a great story and had an all-time run to the Finals and making it competitive by even winning a few games, kudos to them.
The Pacers had a good run last season. They started off the season with a lot of injuries. If they keep Turner, I think will see them in, at least, the semi-finals next season.
Let go Indiana two more OKC doesn’t deserve to win after stealing IHART away.
Probably a tad early for 2026 ECF predictions.
Great game
How Dort didn’t win DPOY is still beyond my belief, well I guess that’s hyperbole, you got Doris Burke and Co casting equal measured ballots soooo .
No knock on Mobley but good grief why are voters so infatuated with the blocked shot still. No knock on Mobley again but Dorts a whole different stratosphere than anyone outside a healthy Wemby these days. Shame he didnt get the hardware this year and may never if Wemby stays healthy here on out
Dort is amazing but he’s not even the Thunder’s best defender. Caruso didn’t play enough to qualify for DPOY.
Mobley averaged 1.6 Blocks per Game, not a gaudy number. The difference between Mobley and Dort is Dort shuts down one man while Mobley changes the opposing teams offensive schemes.
Exactly. Sort of like Mitch Rob with the Knicks. His block numbers have dropped off in recent years, but he’s more effective than ever on that end of the floor. Can’t block the shots they don’t take.
Disagree respectfully
Dort took Hali outta the game completely which in fold took Indy out
2 different roads to success but Id take Dort still any day of the week
Disagree on AC over Dort and Im a big AC fan – Nobdoy is on Dorts tier on the perimeter, pure Alien. Ac is in the next tier with a few others but hes no Dort
Still touchy about your free throw merchant MVP and Oscar winner?
I’m a Knicks fan so I will try to be impartial. Haliburton is like the “Reggie Miller” back in the day. However I feel bad for this guy that’s played so well and got to this point just to possibly sit this out. If it is a calf/ankle thing, he will not be playing Thursday and if he does it could be very painful to see – even as a Knicks fan.
Tough position to be in. Calf strains are no joke but it’s do or die time. I wouldn’t want to be in his position.
I saw fools on Reddit calling Hali selfish and a bad teammate for trying to play through injury. Ridiculous. And you know these are exatcly the type of people who would say he’s soft had he decided to sit out.
First off, he can still pass and playmake at a high level, so he’s not totally worthless out there. Second, it’s understandable that your star player and leader wants to be out there no matter what; it’s up to the head coach and medical staff to save him from himself if that’s what he thinks is best.
Hopefully he can play, and if he does play he doesn’t make the injury worse.
That MRI will show his calf in a Choke hold.
He was good enough to play 34 mins. Made zero shots 0/6, had 4 pts, 6 ast. I heard they put out a Bolo on his game. Classified him as MIA after game.
If you can’t play sit your Asa down. Like I been saying. Pacers can not survive a bad game by Haliburton….. next game choke on the bench ….
Game, season. Are a few of these smaller markets joining the luxury tax territory trap only for big market business per usual?
Don’t play injured. You only hurt your team like Hali did.
They should have kept TJ in, but TJ can’t play big minutes. He is a spark plug, so that style only works for about 15 minutes at best.