BOSTON — Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton left within the third quarter of Thursday evening’s 126-110 loss to the Boston Celtics in Sport 2 of the Japanese Convention finals and didn’t return due to a sore left hamstring.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle mentioned Haliburton aggravated an harm he suffered earlier within the season, and that the staff would know extra about his standing Friday. Indiana trails 2-0 within the collection, with Sport 3 on Saturday in Indianapolis.
“He was sore at halftime,” Carlisle mentioned after the sport. “He was getting work completed for everything of halftime. He got here out, gave it a shot and all the hassle that he might. I have never talked about it on to him, so I can not learn minds, however it wasn’t going properly. The trainers decided he needed to be delivered to the again to be labored on after which he was dominated out.”
Haliburton missed 10 video games with a left hamstring pressure suffered Jan. 8 in opposition to the Celtics when he slipped and fell and needed to be helped off the courtroom. The Pacers went 6-4 throughout that stretch.
“That is a time for this group for everybody to step up and take a much bigger position,” Pacers guard T.J. McConnell mentioned on the prospect of taking part in with out Haliburton. “We have completed a superb job of that when he is been out. It hurts when he goes down, however a type of issues the place it is the ‘subsequent man up’ mentality. Clearly, we’ll see. We have not heard something but, however guys will simply need to step up and be prepared.”
Haliburton, who was named to the All-NBA third staff this week, was subbed out of the sport with 3:44 remaining within the third quarter and went again to the locker room with Indiana trailing by 11. The Pacers introduced throughout the fourth quarter that Haliburton wouldn’t return.
After posting 25 factors and 10 assists in Sport 1, Haliburton completed with 10 factors on 4-of-8 capturing (2-of-6 from 3-point vary) and eight assists. The Pacers outscored the Celtics by one level with Haliburton on the ground in Sport 2 however had been outscored by 17 when he was off it.
“He does so many issues for our staff,” McConnell mentioned. “The place I feel everybody has to maneuver the ball extra and get within the paint extra. The ball motion simply needs to be on one other degree. He will get 10 assists in his sleep, so it is laborious for an additional particular person on our staff to duplicate that. It is a group effort when he goes right down to get the ball and get it transferring.”