Stephen A. Smith didn’t hold back when reacting to news that Tyrese Haliburton is dealing with calf tightness — a concern that could impact his performance for the Pacers in the NBA Finals moving forward.
“[Tyrese] Haliburton has looked awful and I’m glad he’s injured,” Smith said. “I’m not saying I’m glad he’s injured, but I’m glad we got that as a rational.” That was part of the ESPN analyst’s blunt message directed at the Pacers guard, who struggled to find any rhythm in the first half.
Smith didn’t stop there: “I’m not trying to be mean or whatever, just be factual. He looks bad, he was not active, he was not aggressive. He’s not helping them.” Despite the harsh criticism, Haliburton did return to the game — at that point scoreless with 0 points on 0-for-5 shooting.
Disappointing Game 5
Things only got worse in Game 5. Haliburton finished with just 4 points in a game of major importance for Indiana. While he did improve on the glass with 7 rebounds — better than the 2 and 3 boards he posted in Games 4 and 2 — his shooting completely collapsed. He finished with 0% from the field and 0% from beyond the arc in the NBA Finals loss to OKC.
Haliburton’s Injury Isn’t New
It’s worth noting that concerns about Tyrese Haliburton’s health aren’t new. Back on June 10, reports surfaced that he was wearing kinesiology tape — something that caught the attention of Pacers fans. Although nothing had been officially said about a calf issue at the time, the tape was clearly applied to that area.
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In Game 4, Haliburton scored 18 points but showed a noticeable drop in other areas — grabbing just 2 rebounds and shooting a rough 14.3% from three-point range. It’s unclear whether that dip in performance was connected to an underlying injury.