UPDATE: Tyrese Haliburton will be out for at least two weeks after sustaining a mild left knee bone contusion and a left elbow sprain.
The team announced the news on Thursday after he underwent tests, including an MRI, and was evaluated by the medical staff. They will be getting a second opinion, which is typical.
The Pacers (23-19) have 10 more games this month, including six on the road. They will play 18 games over the next month until the All-Star break, which begins on Feb. 16.
Haliburton, 22, is on track to be a first-time All-Star. And while he’s sidelined, it opens up a starting role for rookie Bennedict Mathurin or Chris Duarte.
Click here for more on the injury.
The Pacers nearly completed a 25-point comeback Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. And they had to finish the game without Tyrese Haliburton, their point guard who has been playing at an All-Star level.
Haliburton went up for a layup in traffic with 2:40 left in the third quarter and came down hard. His right shoe came off and then he was limping.
Haliburton walked to the bench and then directly back to the locker room with assistant athletic trainer Patrick Gilbert — and he never returned. Haliburton then used crutches to walk out of the locker room.
“He’ll get checked out (Thursday) and we hope it’s not serious,” head coach Rick Carlisle said after their 119-113 loss to the Knicks.
“He’ll get looked at tomorrow closely. … We’ll see what’s what come Friday. Walking out of Madison Square Garden on crutches, so I would guess his availability for Friday would be in question — and probably Saturday too. But who knows. I wish I was 22 again.”
Watch the sequence below.
“One of the great things about Tyrese is that he’s been banged up a lot in the last year and a half since he’s been with us, and he always wants to play,” Carlisle continued. “It’s something that’s really helped our culture as a team. We hope for the best and we’re certainly not going to put him in harm’s way.”
The Pacers outscored the New York Knicks by 15 points in the second half, but that was not enough to make up the 21-point deficit at halftime.
Myles Turner (back spasms) and Oshae Brissett (hamstring tightness) were both late scratches before the game. And Aaron Nesmith was unavailable due to a non-Covid illness.
Both the Pacers and Knicks are 23-19 and they’ll play each other twice over the final three games of the season.
Scott Agness is in his 11th season as a beat writer covering the Indiana Pacers. Click here to read more of his work at FieldhouseFiles.com.
