Tyrese Haliburton leads the NBA in assists with 12.5 per game. (Photo: Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
The Pacers will be without All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton for at least the next few weeks. He underwent an MRI on his left leg Tuesday morning and it confirmed a hamstring strain.
Adding to the news, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that it’s a Grain 1 sprain — which is positive news, all things considered. Grade 1s typically result in about two weeks of missed time, sometimes more. (Every body is different.) And a Grade 3 would’ve been a season-ending injury that almost certainly required surgery.
After seeing Haliburton’s painful reaction and then needing to be carried off the court, the initial fear was that it was much worse.
Without him, the Pacers erased a nine-point halftime deficit and narrowly beat arguably the best team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics, on Monday 133-131. The Celtics, however, were without MVP candidate Jayson Tatum, who scored 38 on them two days earlier.
“Sad to see him go down,” Buddy Hield, who carried Haliburton off the court with James Johnson, said after the win. “That’s my brother, we love him a lot.”
The Pacers (21-15) did not practice on Tuesday so we won’t get reaction from the team until Wednesday’s game against the Washington Wizards, which will conclude a five-game homestand.
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Scott Agness is in his 12th season as a beat writer covering the Indiana Pacers. Click here to read more of his work at FieldhouseFiles.com.
