The Pacers are struggling to find momentum in their series against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. After going down 0-2, Indiana has now lost their anchor and play-maker, Tyrese Haliburton, who reportedly re-injured his hamstring ahead of Game 3. There was skepticism that he would not return for the rest of the series. However, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle spoke about a “desperate” scenario about the 24-year-old’s return. 

Haliburton did not return to Game 2 after injuring his hamstring in the 4th quarter. The Cs, who already had a double-digit lead, took advantage of his absence to beat the Indiana unit, 126-110. Now, TH will also be absent for the entire Game 3. Anyhow, the Pacers head coach believes he won’t be sidelined for too long in this series. 

He shared in a pre-game interview, “He very much wants to play. Desperately wants to play. But the decision on tonight was taken out of his hands earlier in the day. It was determined that tonight was not an option. He’s feeling better and we’ll see where he is on Monday. And that’s it.” Hold on, this is not the only update.

If you ask ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski about Haliburton’s return, it is a completely different story, and definitely a concerning one. 

Did Tyrese Haliburton’s phenomenal playoff run come to an end?

Wojnarowski shared a completely contrasting update to that of coach Carlisle. On NBA Countdown, he shared, “You may have seen Tyrese Haliburton for the last time in this series. They are not going to put him in a position where if he went out to play, it’s going to look like it did with OG Anunoby in Game 7 for the Knicks against Indiana.” 

OG Anunoby, a key two-way player, injured his hamstring in Game 2 vs the Pacers in the Eastern Semi-Finals. The NY star returned in Game 7, because of a do-or-die situation, but re-injured his hamstring. That too, in the initial few minutes of the first quarter. Wojnarowski believes Haliburton is in the same situation as the Knicks man. 

This is not the first time Haliburton injured his left hamstring. Woj added, “Remember, this is a player who missed ten games during the season, with that same left hamstring, came back early to join Pascal Siakam in his debut.” Notably, there are two things at stake now for Haliburton. 

Indiana’s playoff run, and most importantly, his NT roster spot for the 2024 Paris Olympics. He is one of the guards for Team USA, and this was his first-ever Olympics selection. Hamstring injuries take quite some time to recover. And given that he has injured the same hamstring for the second time, the 24-year-old’s future is in deep waters.

Thank you for hanging around till the end. We have something special you can continue your binging with. EssentiallySports had the opportunity to interview the mastermind behind ‘SHAQ’- the brand, Superagent Leonard Armato. Click below, and unlock the advice from the knowledge bank himself!