Pacers fans in disbelief as Tyrese Haliburton leaves NBA Finals Game 7 with injury
Jacob Easter kept wiping his face in disbelief as he walked through the main concourse at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton had just collapsed to the ground with a lower right leg injury in the first quarter of Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Haliburton was dealing with a right calf strain heading into Sunday’s contest but decided to play through the injury. Haliburton had nine points on three made 3-point field goals before he exited the game.
”I had to step away for a minute to gather thoughts about it,” Easter said. “He’s had a rough finals go but came out hot in the quarter. The team rallies behind him. He’s our floor general. Just watching him go down, you can feel how bad it hurt the fans here. You watch that pop and it doesn’t look pretty.
”I hope he has a good recovery; sometimes those can be career-ending injuries, but the Pacers have a great medical staff. We just hope and pray for the best.”
Although Haliburton won’t return to the game, fans like Ben Rudason still believe Indiana can win the NBA championship.
”There’s no way we can come from the bottom to start the season and when we come to the top, we lose,” Rudason said. “We got Siakam, we got Turner on defense. I feel like we are pretty good right now. Let me tell you one thing about T.J. McConnell, he’s a magician. He got us today and we believe in him.”
Terry Clayton, 25, of Indianapolis, said: “Our superstar Tyrese Haliburton has carried us this whole playoffs with his miracle shots, so it’s tough to see him down. But guess what, we have a bench that can lead us through. I’m hoping to see if they can pick up the slack and I want to see what coach (Rick) Carlisle can do. We are cheering for you guys from home. We need 19-25 points from TJ McConnell.”
The moment Haliburton went down with a leg injury, fans around downtown Indianapolis could be making an audible gasp, questioning if this was the end of the Pacers’ run in the NBA Finals.
There was then a moment of silence as fans gazed at one another, looking for answers. Once Haliburton was helped off the court, some fans took that as a sign that the game was over and started leaving their spot in line or asking for the check.
