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
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.
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.