INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton started for the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night while still dealing with a strained right calf.
Haliburton has been dealing with lower leg issues throughout the series and the calf strain flared up in Game 5 on Monday night. He played through it for the final three quarters of that loss to the Thunder, though he basically stopped looking to shoot in the second half.
Haliburton finished that game with four points — all from the foul line — along with seven rebounds and six assists.
“There’s no set minutes limit,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Thursday before Game 6. “We will watch and monitor things very closely … and we’ll go from there.”
Carlisle said Haliburton went through a walkthrough Thursday afternoon along with strength testing, passing all necessary checks. So, with the Pacers facing elimination in Game 6 and down 3-2 in the title series, Haliburton — who was on the court and did some shooting not long before Carlisle announced the decision — gave it a shot. He made a free throw and a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
The Thunder expected Haliburton to play.
“He’s a great player,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “If there’s one thing we know, you don’t underestimate great players. In this situation, we’re expecting his best punch. Indiana is a great team. We’re expecting their best punch. I have no doubt he’s dealing with stuff, but we’re expecting him to come out and play like a great player would play. We have to prepare for that. That’s how you maintain full respect of the opponent.”
Haliburton acknowledged Wednesday that, if this was the regular season, he likely wouldn’t be attempting to play through such an injury.
“I think I have to be as smart as I want to be,” Haliburton said. “Have to understand the risks, ask the right questions. I’m a competitor. I want to play. I’m going to do everything in my power to play. That’s just what it is.”
Haliburton is averaging 17.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and a league-best 9.1 assists per game during the playoffs. He has averaged 15 points, 6.2 rebounds and 7.2 assists per games in the finals.
He missed the last two games of last season’s playoff run because of a hamstring injury, unable to play in Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the eventual champion Boston Celtics. The Pacers lost by three points in each of those two games without Haliburton, who went on to be part of the team that won a gold medal for the United States at the Paris Olympics later that year.
Among the many forms of treatment Haliburton has been partaking in since Monday night: hyperbaric treatments, needles, massage, electronic stimulation, even special tape. He’s been doing something virtually around the clock with hopes of being able to play.
“I have a lot of trust in our medical staff. I have a lot of trust in our organization to make the right decision,” Haliburton said Wednesday. “I think there’s been many situations through the course of my career where they’ve trusted me on my body. … I want to be out there. That’s the plan.”
Haliburton has come up big for the Pacers in big moments several times in these playoffs.
His jumper with 0.3 seconds left in Game 1 of the finals immediately went into title-series lore and gave the Pacers a 111-110 win over the heavily favored Thunder.
And that was just one on a long list of late-game highlights from Haliburton in this playoff run.
Against the Bucks on April 29, it was a layup with 1.4 seconds left that capped a rally from seven points down in the final 34.6 seconds of overtime. Final score: Pacers 119, Bucks 118, and that series ended there.
In Cleveland on May 6, it was a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left for a 120-119 win — capping a rally from seven points down in the final 48 seconds. At Madison Square Garden against the Knicks on May 21, a game the Pacers trailed 121-112 with 51.1 seconds left, he hit a jumper with no time left to force OT and Indiana won again.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
