The Brooklyn Nets have been in their offseason for over one month as they didn’t qualify for the postseason after finishing the 2024-25 NBA season with a 26-56 record. However, while some of Brooklyn’s players are thinking about where they will be playing next season, one of their free-agents was locked in to the 2025 NBA Finals and its ups and downs.
The 2024-25 season concluded on Sunday as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the Finals 103-91 led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 29 points and 12 assists in the contest. While the Thunder achieved a championship for the first time in Oklahoma City, and the second time in franchise history, the game came with its share of negativity, including Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton tearing his Achilles.
As the play happened in the first quarter, plenty of people watching the game, including Nets forward Trendon Watford, reacted to Haliburton suffering the injury two games after sustaining a calf injury. At the point in which Haliburton suffered the injury, he was off to a fast start as he had nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Without Haliburton, the Pacers seemed to be a team playing out the string of a game where they wouldn’t have one of their best players on the floor, but Indiana kept it together for the first half. The third quarter is where the Thunder began to separate from the Pacers as Oklahoma City won the quarter 34-20 as Oklahoma City forward Jalen Williams scored nine of his 20 points in the period.
In the absence of Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin (24 points, 13 rebounds) and TJ McConnell (16 points, six rebounds, three assists) picked up the slack for the other players not being able to get going without Haliburton’s passing ability. Pascal Siakam (16 points, four rebounds) and Andrew Nembhard (15 points, six assists) had solid outings, but they combined to shoot just 9-of-23 from the field.
Damn.. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🤦🏾♂️
— Trendon Watford (@trendonw) June 23, 2025