UPDATE: Latest report from ESPN’s Shams Charania states that Tyrese Haliburton would be out for multiple weeks if this were the regular season but he has every intention of trying to play in Game 6. Full report below:
Rest of article is from Wednesday:
Tyrese Haliburton is dealing with a calf strain and had an MRI yesterday to determine the severity of the injury. While it has not been reported what grade the strain is to this point, Rick Carlisle did provide an update on the Pacers offensive engine’s status on 107.5 The Fan during his usual weekly radio interview on Tuesday morning. He will be listed as questionable on the injury report and likely be a game-time decision for Game 6 of the NBA Finals as the Indiana Pacers look to come back from the 3-2 deficit against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Haliburton confirmed during his media availability after practice today that he did suffer a strain and said the ankle soreness that caused him to limp off the podium after Game 2 and the calf strain suffered in Game 5 were separate injuries. Carlisle said that the guard did participate in Pacers practice today but it was just a walkthrough. The Pacers won’t know for certain whether he will be available for Game 6 until after he goes through testing tomorrow with the medical staff.
“I’m a competitor. I want to play,” Haliburton told reporters. “I’m going to do everything in my power to play.”
As Haliburton is “carefully evaluated” over the next 36 hours, the Pacers will have to weigh the risks of having their star play through a calf injury and the elusive chance of winning an NBA championship while needing just two more wins. Haliburton admitted that if this were the regular season, he wouldn’t be playing through this injury.
“Probably. That would probably be the case, but this isn’t the regular season,” Haliburton said when given the hypothetical. “So, it is what it is.”
It’s a tough call when you know how badly Haliburton wants to be out there with his teammates and give it his all out on the floor in the biggest games of his career, but also aware that he was clearly hampered in the last game, unable to contribute anywhere close to the level needed. And then there’s the worst-case scenario: that playing on a calf injury can lead to injuries that are much worse than a strain (Kevin Durant in the 2019 NBA Finals, Damian Lillard in the first round against the Pacers this year).
If he’s severely limited like he was on Monday night in OKC, the Pacers may just be better off in both the short and long term if their star was held out. Let Andrew Nembhard and TJ McConnell try and fill that void like they did against the Boston Celtics in the conference finals last season. As much as it sucks that both of these awesome two playoff runs may end with Haliburton injuries, there are no good, easy answers here. Haliburton isn’t going to be able to contribute to a win if he looks like he did in Game 5 and the medical staff would need to be very certain about the level of risk of a more significant injury occurring to give him clearance to play.
On the other side of the argument, you just don’t know when the Pacers will have this opportunity again. It took 25 years for the franchise to get back here. Yes, the team’s future is bright, they are still a young core overall, and they have more flexibility than ever to make a massive trade this summer after their swap of draft picks yesterday but getting to the NBA Finals is difficult. You can’t just count on getting right back here next year.
We’ll see what happens Thursday night at 8:30 for Game 6.
-#31-
iPacers - Indiana Pacers News 