OKLAHOMA CITY — Tyrese Haliburton entered his postgame news conference injured and crestfallen.
The Indiana Pacers had lost 120-109 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to go down 3-2 in the series. He had hurt his right leg and struggled during the game. He had made no field goals. The Pacers’ point guard acknowledged he could’ve played better, but make no mistake, he was going to play.
“It’s the finals, man,” he said. “I’ve worked my whole life to be here, and I want to be out there to compete with all my teammates any way I can. I was not great tonight by any means.
“But it’s not really a thought of mine to not play here. If I can walk, then I want to play.”
In Monday night’s first quarter after falling to the court, Haliburton winced and grabbed his lower right leg. He briefly left the game for treatment before returning with his leg wrapped. Haliburton eventually returned to the court and tried to contribute, but he was never quite right.
“Just trying to keep pace in the game, impact whatever way I can,” Haliburton said of his efforts in the second half. “Just trying to get (Pascal Siakam) the ball in the right spots. Try to get the ball to guys in the right spots if I can. As far as what happened there, we have to watch film to see it.
“We feel like we did a good job in the second half of putting pace in the game, and really getting out and running.”
Haliburton’s apparent injury occurred on the same leg he was seen limping on in Game 2, though he said he was uncertain whether the two injuries were connected.
“He’s not 100 percent. It’s pretty clear,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But I don’t think he’s going to miss the next game. We were concerned at halftime, and he insisted on playing.
“I thought he made a lot of really good things happen in the second half. But he’s not 100 percent. There’s a lot of guys in the series that aren’t. We’ll evaluate everything with Tyrese and see how he wakes up tomorrow.”
After going scoreless at halftime. Haliburton finished 0-of-6 on field goals and 0-of-4 on 3-point attempts. His career playoff low of four points came on 4-of-4 free-throw shooting.
In the third quarter, veteran point guard T.J. McConnell helped swing the game’s momentum toward the Pacers. McConnell, an offensive spark for Indiana, scored 18 points off the bench, including 13 in the third quarter.
Siakam drilled a 3 in the fourth quarter to help pull the Pacers within two, but the mistakes started piling up again. Just as they did in Game 4.
“Yeah, it’s unfortunate,” Siakam said. “Even with the game that we had, we still put ourselves in position (to win) at that point. We’ve got to take care of that — rebounding, or just those 50/50 balls, we’ve got to come up with it. Yeah, just that fast, it kind of like went away from us. But I thought the fight was there. We continue to fight no matter what, and we gave ourselves a chance until we made some mistakes there.”
The Pacers turned the ball over 23 times. Siakam had six turnovers, and Haliburton added three. It was another night when the Pacers just couldn’t seem to get out of their own way, as turnovers and offensive rebounds plagued them all night.
“We had 23 turnovers for 32 points,” Carlisle said. “That’s the game. We’ve got to do a heck of a lot better there.”
While the Pacers struggled with miscues, the Thunder used them to turn the tide in their favor, stifling any small runs Indiana tried to make.
“They’re good at playing with a lot of pressure at home,” guard Aaron Nesmith said. “That’s something we’re going to have to do a lot better at and weather that storm.”
In addition to turnovers, rebounds were once again a sore spot for the Pacers, even though they finished with five more rebounds than the Thunder (50-45).
“We fought back, though, through all the turnovers and extra possessions we gave them and showed a lot of fight,” McConnell said. “But no moral victories. We got to go out and protect home court.
Siakam finished with 28 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks. Nesmith added 14 points, six rebounds and one steal. Center Myles Turner contributed 13 points, and Obi Toppin added 12 off the bench.
For the first time in these playoffs, the Pacers have fallen behind in a series. Games 4 and 5 were their first back-to-back losses in more than three months.
Throughout this postseason, Indiana has emphasized its resilience, citing past comebacks, and expressed confidence in its ability to fight and compete at home. But with the mistakes continuing to add up, an injured Haliburton and their backs against the wall, the Pacers return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse with their magical ride seemingly nearing its end.
(Photo: Alonzo Adams / Imagn Images)
