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Jamal Collier
OKLAHOMA CITY — A visibly emotional Tyrese Haliburton was helped off the court after going down with a right lower leg injury in the first quarter of Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night.
The Indiana Pacers star’s father, John Haliburton, told ESPN’s Lisa Salters that it is an Achilles injury.
According to Salters, John Haliburton said his son seems to be in good spirits and is watching the game and rooting on his team from the locker room
Haliburton put no weight on the leg and had his face wrapped in towels as he was taken to the locker room for evaluation. The Pacers later announced he would not return.
Haliburton, who had been playing through a strained right calf, crumpled to the floor with the noncontact injury as he was attempting to drive to the basket with 4:55 remaining in the opening quarter.
He immediately began slapping the court in frustration and remained on the floor as virtually the entire Pacers team surrounded him.
“It’s a heartbreak, man,” Pacers center Myles Turner told Salters during an in-game interview after the opening period. “It’s unfortunate … but we’ve got his back.”
Haliburton had nine points, knocking down 3 of 4 3-pointers, when he got hurt.
Despite suffering a calf strain in Game 5 of the Finals, Haliburton had insisted on playing through the injury, saying, “If I can walk, I want to play.”
The day before Game 7, Haliburton acknowledged after practice that his leg was “still stiff, still sore,” but he planned to play through it.
Haliburton, 25, had been having a breakout postseason, leading Indiana on its improbable run to the Finals. In all four rounds, he hit a game-tying or game-winning shot in the final seconds, the first player in NBA history do so in a single postseason.
He was averaging 17.7 points and a playoff-leading 9.0 assists on 46% shooting entering Sunday. His 197 assists were also a franchise record for a single postseason.