Tyrese Haliburton Injury Updates: Pacers star officially OUT for Game 4
Tyrese Haliburton exited the Indiana Pacersâ Game 2 loss to the Boston Celtics with at least his second hamstring injury of the season, and there is now increasing doubt as to whether or not he will be able to return at all during the NBA Playoffs.
UPDATE (5/27) â The Pacers officially declared Haliburton out for Game 4.
Tyrese Haliburton is officially out tonight, Rick Carlisle says.
â Tony East (@TonyREast) May 27, 2024
The Pacers trail 0-3 in the series. The Pacers will face the Celtics in Game 4 at 8 p.m. ET in Indiana in a matchup televised on ESPN and ESPN 2.
Original story follows.
With the Pacers trailing 0-2 heading into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that the Pacers would âerr on the side of caution with their franchise star,â and Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle essentially confirmed that on Saturday, saying pregame that while Haliburton âdesperately wants to play,â the Pacers are not going to let him risk a more serious injury while playing through another hamstring strain:
Rick Carlisle provides a Tyrese Haliburton update before any questions are asked at the pregame presser:
âHe desperately wants to play.. the decision was taken out of his hands earlier today.â pic.twitter.com/8Fs2zxvRcN
â Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzellNBA) May 25, 2024
Wojâs follow-up report on TV made it sound unlikely at best that Haliburton will return for Game 4, or at all this postseason:
UPDATE (5/26) â Carlisle said after the Pacersâ Sunday practice that he had no updates on whether or not his All-Star guard would be able to return for Game 4, and the team officially listed him as questionable to play:
No update from Rick Carlisle on Tyrese Haliburton today. The Pacers looked at some stuff on both ends that Carlisle deemed correctable while also running through the positives they hope to continue doing well.
â Tony East (@TonyREast) May 26, 2024
First injury report ahead of Game 4:
Kristaps Porzingis: out
Luke Kornet: questionable
Jrue Holiday: questionable
Tyrese Haliburton: questionable
Bennedict Mathurin: out
â Tony East (@TonyREast) May 26, 2024
Haliburton missed 10 games earlier this season with the same injury, and appeared limited when he returned while sometimes only playing the league-required minimum of 20 minutes to qualify for the NBAâs new 65-game threshold for All-NBA team eligibility (Haliburton later made the third team, qualifying him for nearly a $41 million bonus on his current supermax contract).
Andrew Nembhard started Game 3 with Haliburton out, and if he remains sidelined moving forward, expect the Pacers to continue to play backup point guard and super sub T.J. McConnell as many minutes as he can handle until his All-Star backcourt mate returns.
And if this wasnât clear already after McConnell scored 23 points to go with 9 rebounds and 6 assists off the bench to help the Pacers nearly steal Game 3 without Haliburton, if there is anyone ready with enough self-belief to try and shock the world by stealing a win from Boston, itâs him, as our own Katie Heindl made clear in a recent profile as part of our ongoing playoffs coverage:
“I have this thing where you can control how hard you play. So if you can’t give 100%, what are we even doing?”
i profiled the pass stealing, pick you up from 94ft terror, your fav nba player’s fav menace, the frenetic force that is t.j. mcconnell https://t.co/GvodMmMRuX
â Katie Heindl (@wtevs) May 25, 2024
This post will continue to update with the latest on Haliburtonâs status.
