Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, playing through an injury, endured an awful night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday.
Haliburton missed all six of his field-goal attempts while ending up with four points, seven rebounds and six assists in 34 minutes as the Pacers lost 120-109 to the host Oklahoma City Thunder.
ESPN reported at halftime that Haliburton was playing with calf tightness in his right leg, the same leg on which he injured his ankle in a previous contest.
After the Pacers lost to fall behind 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton, “He’s not 100 percent. It’s pretty clear. But I don’t think he’s going to miss the next game.
“We were concerned at halftime. 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 this series that aren’t.”
Haliburton was averaging 17.8 points, 7.5 assists and six rebounds in the Finals prior to Monday. He delivered the dagger jump shot to sink the Thunder on their home court in Game 1 as the Pacers won 111-110.
–Field Level Media
