Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle began his postgame press conference following Sunday’s 103-91 loss in Game 7 by congratulating the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After that, his attention turned to star Tyrese Haliburton.
“What happened with Tyrese is,” Carlisle said, halting.
“All of our hearts dropped. He will be back. I don’t have any medical information about what may or may not have happened. But he’ll be back in time.”
In time for what?
In time for the start of next season?
In time for next season’s playoffs?
That’s anybody’s guess, as Carlisle didn’t elaborate.
Haliburton’s injury cast a pall over the first quarter of the game, as he crumpled to the floor about seven minutes into the game with a non-contact injury.
ESPN reported during the broadcast that Haliburton had suffered a torn Achilles.
The Pacers’ star point guard hit big shot after big shot throughout the NBA playoffs, including hitting a game-winner in Game 1 of the series at Paycom Center.
He suffered a right calf injury in Game 5, but fought through for a big Game 6 to send the series back to Oklahoma City tied.
Haliburton started hot Sunday, hitting three quick 3-pointers, including one from well beyond the line.
But a couple minutes after that deep shot, as Haliburton began to drive to the basket with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander guarding him, the Pacers’ star fell to the floor and let out a yell.
The ball bounded to Alex Caruso, who flipped it to Gilgeous-Alexander, who soon found Jalen Williams for a dunk as Haliburton remained on the hardwood on the other end, beating the floor with his hand in pain and disappointment.
“It was a tough feeling to see your franchise guy go down like that but to have to move on and kind of compartmentalize it is tough,” Indiana’s T.J. McConnell said. “Obviously, we missed him. We all are devastated for him and obviously support him.”
Carlisle reflected on Haliburton’s playoff run, which included either a game-winner or shot to send the game to overtime in each round.
“He authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the history of the NBA with dramatic play after dramatic play,” Carlisle said. “It was just something that no one’s ever seen. … Our hearts go out to him, but so proud of everyone.”
Ryan Aber covers OU athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Ryan? He can be reached at raber@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @RyAber. Sign up for the OU Sooners newsletter to access more OU coverage. Support Ryan’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.