Tyrese Haliburton has developed into a full-fledged superstar for the Indiana Pacers. He made his second consecutive All-Star team this season after averaging a double-double with 20.1 points and 10.9 assists. He’s one of the best floor generals in the NBA at just 23 years old.
He hasn’t been the same player since January, though, when he began dealing with consistent back spasms. That’s been magnified in the postseason when his averages have dipped to 14.6 points and 9.1 assists. He’s shooting just 43 percent from the field and 31 percent from three.
The Pacers got unexpected contributions from Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard, T.J. McConnell and Obi Toppin in their first-round series win over the Milwaukee Bucks, but that may not be enough against a New York Knicks squad that’s rolling behind a red-hot Jalen Brunson.
Indiana needs Haliburton at his best if it wants to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2014, but even head coach Rick Carlisle has expressed concern about his star point guard’s status.
Tyrese Haliburton injury ‘a concern’ for Pacers in series vs. Knicks
Haliburton put up one of his worst performances of the season in Game 1’s loss in New York. He only took six shots and scored six points in a 121-117 loss. It was his second-fewest attempts in a game this year, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
He had a similar clunker in Game 1 of the Bucks series when he scored nine points on seven shots.
Even though he’s likely to play, Haliburton is still listed on the Pacers’ injury report as questionable as those back spasms continue to bother him. Carlisle acknowledged that the lingering injury to his best player is worrisome, per Windhorst:
At this time of year everybody’s got something going and he’s working at it, doing everything he can to keep himself feeling as good as possible. I’m confident he’ll play, but it’s a concern.
Haliburton has been limited to acting mostly as a spot-up shooter; two-thirds of his shots have come from behind the 3-point line and he’s only managed seven free-throw attempts in seven postseason games.
New York has been one of the league’s most physical teams all season. That’s only intensified in the playoffs. If Indiana can’t get consistently solid performances from its best player, this series might be over quicker than Pacers fans hoped.
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