The Indiana Pacers were forced to finish Game 2 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics without their best player, Tyrese Haliburton, due to a hamstring injury.
Haliburton left in the game in the third quarter and didn't return. The Pacers lost 126-110 and trail the series 0-2.
"He was sore at halftime," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters after Game 2. "He was getting work done for the entirety of halftime. He came out, gave it a shot and all the effort that he could. I haven't talked to him about it directly, so I can't read minds, but it wasn't going well. The trainers determined that he had to be brought to the back and get worked on, and then he was ruled out."
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What is Haliburton's status for Game 3 in Indiana on Saturday night?
“This is the same hamstring he hurt in January and missed 10 games with,” NBA insider Shams Charania said Friday on FanDuel TV. “They don’t know how severe it is. He dealt with it at halftime, he got treatment on it, tried to come back and play through it in the third quarter. ... They’re going to have tests (Friday) to see exactly how bad it is.”
UPDATE (Saturday, May 25): Haliburton is expected to miss Game 3 and his status for Monday's Game 4 is unclear, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
Haliburton actually suffered the original left hamstring injury against the Celtics in a Jan. 8 game at Indiana.
The Pacers have a historically good offense with seven players averaging 10-plus points per game in the 2024 playoffs so far. But if Haliburton misses any games in this series, it would obviously be a massive setback for Indiana.
Not only is Haliburton a quality scorer (20.1 points per game in the regular season), he's one of the best playmaking guards in the league. He led the league in assists during the regular season (10.9 per game) and ranks fourth in the playoffs (8.2 per game).
NBC Sports Boston's coverage of Game 3 begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday with Celtics Pregame Live.