Pacers and basketball fans everywhere are holding their breath, hoping this is not as bad as it looked.
Pacers breakout star Tyrese Haliburton slipped on a drive late in the first half against the Celtics, almost doing the splits, then instantly grabbed his hamstring. He had to be carried off the court, clearly in pain and with a towel draped over his head.
Tyrese Haliburton goes down and is carried back to the locker room pic.twitter.com/1upm4HlhFg
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 9, 2024
Haliburton was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game against Boston.
Injury Update: Tyrese Haliburton (left hamstring strain) will not return to tonight's game.
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) January 9, 2024
Haliburton will undergo an MRI in the next 24 hours which will determine the treatment plan and how long he will be out. Expect this to be weeks, not days, according to Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes and his database of NBA injuries.
Hoping this is a low grade hamstring strain. Low grade strains result in average time lost of ~13 days (5 games). Average time lost for an in-season G2 strain jumps to ~30 days (10 games). https://t.co/lWayCLpw56
— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) January 9, 2024
Haliburton is having a breakout season and is the leading vote-getter from fans among East All-Star guards. He is averaging 24.2 points and 12.7 assists a game (both career highs) while shooting 40.4% from 3 on 8.6 attempts a game.
Indiana hung on to beat Boston 133-131, even without Haliburton in the second half, thanks to 26 points off the bench from Bennedict Mathurin. Aaron Nesmith added 17 and Myles Turner 16 with eight rebounds for Indiana, which had seven players score in double figures.