The Fall of a Rising Star: Tyrese Haliburton’s Devastating Game 7 Injury Ends Pacers’ Cinderella Run
Just like that, the glass slipper shattered. In a cruel twist that sports fans have seen far too many times, the Indiana Pacers’ magical NBA Finals run came to a heartbreaking conclusion last night – not just with a 103-91 Game 7 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but with the devastating sight of their 25-year-old superstar point guard being helped off the court.
Tyrese Haliburton, the engine behind Indiana’s improbable Finals appearance, suffered what appears to be an Achilles tear just minutes into the decisive game. It was the worst possible ending to what had been one of the most thrilling postseason performances in recent memory.
A Hot Start Turns Tragic
The night started with such promise. Haliburton, who had been nursing a calf strain from Game 5, opened Game 7 on absolute fire, drilling three consecutive three-pointers as the Pacers jumped to an early lead. The Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd was electric. You could feel the anticipation of something special brewing.
Then, with just under five minutes remaining in the first quarter, everything changed.
Making a routine drive to the basket—a move he’s executed thousands of times—Haliburton suddenly crumpled to the floor. No contact. Just that sickening moment when an athlete’s body betrays them. The arena fell silent as he clutched his lower right leg, unable to put any weight on it as he was helped to the locker room.
The Pacers, to their credit, rallied behind T.J. McConnell (who finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals) and actually held a lead at halftime. But the emotional and tactical hole left by Haliburton’s absence proved too much to overcome. A disastrous 21-turnover performance and a third-quarter Thunder surge ended Indiana’s championship dreams.
The Worst-Timed Injury
If the injury is confirmed as a torn Achilles, the implications extend far beyond just last night’s game. With the Finals ending in late June of 2025, Haliburton likely faces a recovery timeline that could cost him the entire 2025-26 season.
This is the cruelest part of sports—watching a young star in his prime facing a potentially career-altering injury just as he reached the pinnacle of the profession. The NBA community immediately recognized the gravity of the situation.
NBA Twitter Reacts
Within minutes of Haliburton going down, support poured in from across the league:
LeBron James tweeted: “Prayers up for Tyrese!!! Hate to see that happen to anyone especially in a Game 7! Get healthy young King! 🙏🏾”
Draymond Green drew the immediate parallel that many basketball fans noticed: “Man, this Kevin Durant situation all over again. Calf strain turns into Achilles. That’s why you can’t play around with these injuries!”
The comparison to Durant’s infamous 2019 Finals injury is particularly apt. Like Durant, Haliburton was dealing with a calf strain before the suspected Achilles tear—a worrying pattern that reminds us how interconnected these lower leg injuries can be.
A Playoff Run for the Ages
What makes this ending so bitter is just how spectacular Haliburton’s postseason journey had been. He became the first player in NBA history to hit a game-tying or game-winning shot in the final seconds of each round of a single postseason. The Tyrese takeover was the stuff of legend.
Throughout the playoffs, he averaged 17.7 points while leading all players with 9.0 assists per game. His 197 assists set a franchise playoff record, shattering marks that had stood since the Reggie Miller era. Speaking of Miller, the Pacers legend was courtside last night, and cameras caught him consoling a devastated Pacers locker room after the game.
Haliburton’s emergence wasn’t just about statistics—it was about moments. The step-back three to eliminate the Knicks. The impossible floater over Bam Adebayo to advance past Miami. The late-game heroics against Boston that shocked the basketball world. For a franchise that hadn’t reached the Finals since the Reggie Miller-Jalen Rose-Mark Jackson days of 2000, Haliburton had delivered the kind of postseason that etches a player into franchise lore.
The KD Parallels
It’s impossible to discuss Haliburton’s situation without revisiting Kevin Durant’s similar injury during the 2019 Finals. After missing time with a calf strain, Durant returned for Game 5 against Toronto, only to tear his Achilles 12 minutes into his comeback.
The aftermath was significant. Durant missed the entire following season and, while he eventually returned to All-NBA form, many wonder if he ever fully recaptured the otherworldly athleticism that made him arguably the game’s most unstoppable scorer.
The pattern is eerily similar: Haliburton’s calf strain from Game 5 apparently serving as the warning sign that something catastrophic might be brewing. The pressures of a Finals Game 7—the biggest stage in basketball—likely pushed him to play through discomfort that his body simply couldn’t withstand.
Rick Carlisle’s Disbelief
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle’s postgame press conference captured the emotional devastation. “I’m still in shock,” Carlisle said, his voice barely above a whisper. “For this to happen, to Tyrese of all people, in this moment… it’s hard to process. This team deserved better. He deserved better.”
When asked about the decision to play Haliburton despite the calf injury, Carlisle defended the team’s medical staff while acknowledging the difficult position they were in. “There was no indication this could happen. He was cleared, he felt good in warmups, and he started the game as well as you could possibly imagine. And then in an instant…”
Carlisle didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to.
What’s Next for Haliburton and the Pacers
The immediate future for Haliburton involves surgery and the beginning of a long rehabilitation process. Modern medicine has improved outcomes for Achilles injuries dramatically—players like Durant, John Wall, and Klay Thompson have all returned from this once career-threatening injury. But the road back is arduous, typically requiring 9-12 months at minimum.
For the Pacers, this creates an impossible-to-fill void. The team built around Haliburton’s unique playmaking and shooting abilities now faces a 2025-26 season likely without their cornerstone. Does this accelerate their timeline to make additional moves? Do they take a step back and focus on development until their star returns?
These are questions for another day. For now, the overwhelming emotion is simply heartbreak—for Haliburton, for a Pacers team that came within minutes of a potential championship, and for basketball fans who were just witnessing the emergence of the sport’s next great point guard.
A Cruel Reminder of Sports’ Fragility
If there’s anything to take from this tragedy, it’s the reminder of how quickly fortunes can change in sports. One minute, Haliburton was drilling threes and potentially headed toward Finals MVP and basketball immortality. The next, he was facing the greatest challenge of his professional career.
When Haliburton was helped to the locker room, cameras caught a tearful Reggie Miller—who knows a thing or two about Pacers heartbreak—watching from courtside. It felt like a torch-passing moment, but not the kind anyone wanted. Miller never won a championship in Indiana despite coming tantalizingly close. Now Haliburton joins him in the brotherhood of “what might have been.”
For a franchise that has experienced more than its share of cruel twists—from Miller’s near-misses to Paul George’s broken leg to Victor Oladipo’s quad injury just as he was becoming a superstar—this feels like another chapter in a particularly sadistic basketball novel.
The Final Word
As the Thunder celebrate their championship today, there’s an inescapable sense of “what if” hanging over the basketball world. What if Haliburton had stayed healthy? Could the Pacers have completed their Cinderella run? Would we be talking about one of the greatest individual playoff performances ever?
We’ll never know. And that’s the heartbreaking reality of sports—moments that seem destined for greatness can disappear in an instant.
What we do know is that Tyrese Haliburton, at just 25 years old, has already demonstrated the kind of talent, leadership and clutch performance that defines a franchise cornerstone. The road ahead is long, but if anyone has shown the mental fortitude to overcome adversity, it’s the kid from Wisconsin who transformed into Indiana’s newest basketball hero.
The clock has struck midnight on this Cinderella story. But unlike the fairy tale, Haliburton’s story isn’t over—it’s just entering its most challenging chapter.