Tyrese Haliburton, the star of Indiana Pacers, suffered a serious breakage of the Achilles of the right leg during the seventh and final match of the NBA finals, which consecrated Oklahoma City Thunder.
The injury, confirmed on Monday by ESPN, marked the most cruel possible end for the fascinating season of the Pacers, who, against all prognosis, challenged the predictions and were only a triumph of reaching the first championship in their history. The Thunder rose with the ring after beating Indiana 103-91.
Haliburton’s injury, which will leave him out of the courts for at least a large part of the next season, occurred in the first quarter of the game. The base, who had already dealt with discomfort in the right twin throughout the final series, had started the final duel with an explosive rhythm, scoring three triples in just five minutes. However, the disaster came when, when I set Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, his right leg gave him completely, causing him a fall and a shout of pain.
The scene at the Paycom Center was chilling. After the immediate dead time, with remaining 4′55 in the first quarter, his teammates surrounded Haliburton while the stadium plunged into a sepulchral silence. Moments later, the public reacted with an ovation for the player, who, visibly shattered and with the face covered with tears by a towel, retired to the locker room without being able to support the leg. The lesion recalled and unfortunately confirmed diagnoses similar to the recent breaks of the Achilles tendon of Jays Tatum and Damian Lillard, as well as that suffered by Kevin Durant in the finals of 2019.
Haliburton was the true hero of these playoffs for the Pacers, starring a endless miracles. Among his exploits are the triple that forced the extension against the New York Knicks in the East Final, and the 0.3 seconds from the end that sentenced the Thunder in the first game of the finals. After the meeting, despite the pain, Haliburton was seen in the halls of the stadium, leaning on crutches, hugging and comforting his teammates.
Coach Rick Carlisle expressed the feeling of the team: “What happened with Tyrese left us all with the heart in a fist. But he will return over time and I think he will recover completely.”
Carlisle also praised Haliburton, highlighting that he was “the author of one of the great individual performances in playoffs in the history of the NBA” and that, despite his genius, “he always sees him as some team.”
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