INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Tyrese Haliburton would not be playing on Thursday if this were a regular season game. He probably would be sidelined for a week or two if this was December or January.<\/p>\n
But this is June. It\u2019s the NBA Finals.<\/a> The Indiana Pacers\u2019 season is on the line. That\u2019s why \u2014 even with a strained right calf \u2014 Haliburton is trying to find any way possible to play in the win-or-else Game 6 that awaits against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.<\/p>\n Will the Pacers\u2019 star guard<\/a> and Olympic gold medalist play or not? That\u2019s the big question going into Game 6, and there probably won\u2019t be an answer until a few hours before the 8:40 p.m. Eastern tip-off time on Thursday night.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I have to be as smart as I want to be,\u201d Haliburton said Wednesday. \u201cHave to understand the risks, ask the right questions. I\u2019m a competitor. I want to play. I\u2019m going to do everything in my power to play. That\u2019s just what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n The good news for the Pacers: Haliburton did everything the team did in practice on Wednesday. The bad news: That only involved sitting through 25 minutes of film, a 30-minute walkthrough and then some light shooting while basically flat-footed the whole time.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019ll go through the day tomorrow,\u201d Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Wednesday. \u201cOur prep session is tomorrow late afternoon. They\u2019ll get together and do some testing. That will determine whether he plays or not. If he doesn\u2019t play, we have a plan, obviously, if we\u2019re without him.\u201d<\/p>\n Haliburton is trying every treatment he can think of right now in order to help his strained right calf, a diagnosis that was confirmed by an MRI exam on Tuesday. Hyperbaric chambers, needles, massage, electronic stimulation, special tape.<\/p>\n Whatever it takes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got soldiers on this team,\u201d Pacers forward Obi Toppin said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to try to play through any type of injuries or anything. Ty is a soldier. He\u2019s most likely going to be good. We don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Haliburton was dealing with an ankle injury earlier in the series and now has the calf matter to deal with as well; it\u2019s not clear if the two are related, and really, it doesn\u2019t matter at this point.<\/p>\n