On Monday, the Indiana Pacers suffered a 120-109 loss in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers tried to last against the Thunder, but the opposing team’s hounding defense was too much for them to handle. OKC forced Indiana to commit 22 turnovers in the game, which became one of the biggest things that cost them the game.
Another factor for their defeat was the lack of aggressiveness from their main star, Tyrese Haliburton. The All-Star guard didn’t attack the basket as much since he was nursing a leg injury he sustained in the middle of the game. Due to the injury, he was passive and was 0-for-6 from the field. Haliburton had four points, seven rebounds and six assists on 4-for-4 shooting from the free throw line.
Haliburton was on the floor for 34 minutes and spent a significant amount of time on the bench. He wasn’t feeling like his usual self, and his backup, T.J. McConnell, had an increased role for the Pacers. Following their loss, head coach Rick Carlisle addressed the star point guard’s injury with a concerning update.
“He’s not at 100%,” Carlisle said of Haliburton. “But I don’t think he’s gonna miss the next game. We were concerned at halftime, he insisted on playing and I thought he made a lot of really good things happen in the second half… There’s a lot of guys in this series that aren’t (100%).”
Because of his limited time on the floor, McConnell had complete control of the point guard position for most of the game. The veteran guard had 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals off the bench. For Game 6, the Indiana Pacers need Haliburton’s presence to try and force a Game 7.
The Indiana Pacers star talked about his injury
Despite the injury, the Indiana Pacers star didn’t sit out for the rest of the game. On top of that, he didn’t have his best scoring night. Following the contest, Pacers beat reporter Scott Agness got a chance to talk to Haliburton about playing through injury.
Accoridng to the 6-foot-5 guard, it didn’t cross his mind not to play in the game.
“I mean it’s the NBA Finals. It’s the finals — I’ve worked my whole like to be here,” Haliburton said. “It was not really a thought of mine to not play here. If I can walk, then I want to play.”
Haliburton on playing through pain: "I mean it’s the NBA Finals. It’s the finals — I’ve worked my whole like to be here.
"It was not really a thought of mine to not play here. If I can walk, then I want to play."
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) June 17, 2025
For Game 6, the two-time All-Star said that the group needs to do a better job at taking care of the ball.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
