Can the Pacers Defy the Odds and Rally Without Haliburton in the NBA Finals?

There’s nothing quite like the drama of the NBA Finals—the intensity, the heartbreak, the sheer grit on display when every possession feels like a make-or-break moment. Monday night’s Game 5 between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder was no different. Tyrese Haliburton, despite battling a nagging calf issue and visibly limited to about three-quarters speed, managed to command attention—and even with his compromised movement, he still orchestrated plays that forced the Thunder into tough defensive decisions. Pascal Siakam, with his relentless energy and impressive physicality, turned a missed three into a lifeline for the Pacers, sparking a furious comeback that had fans on the edge of their seats. But as thrilling as their rally was—clawing back from an 18-point deficit—it’s that cruel basketball truth that opportunities slip away just as quickly as they arrive. The Thunder’s ironclad defense and timely steals put the brakes on Indiana’s surge, leaving the Pacers to face the daunting reality of back-to-back losses in this championship series. With Game 6 looming and the stakes higher than ever, the question now is: can the Pacers dig deep, overcome adversity, and keep their title hopes alive? Or will the Thunder’s fortress prove impenetrable once more? The saga continues. LEARN MOREThe four turnovers that effectively ended the game came off the fingertips of starters Haliburton and Nembhard, Indiana’s two best guards all season long. They were not, however, the Pacers’ best backcourt options in Game 5.“He was great in the third. Put him back in earlier than normal,” Carlisle said. “He was very tired. That’s why we got him out. And I think there was a play early in the fourth where it looked like fatigue had set in there.”Advertisement

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Advertisement“He’s not 100%. It’s pretty clear,” Carlisle said. “But I don’t think he’s gonna miss the next game. You know, we were concerned at halftime, and he insisted on playing. And I thought he made a lot of really good things happen in the second half. But he’s not 100%.”Putting that energy into the game came at a cost, though — one that Carlisle said he saw almost immediately after keeping McConnell in to start the fourth quarter.Despite being down 18 late in the first half of Game 5 of the 2025 NBA Finals … despite looking absolutely dead in the water after again sputtering up a sinful seven first-quarter turnovers to stake Oklahoma City to an early lead that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams seemed intent on expanding … and despite Haliburton clearly hampered by a right calf issue that he seemed to aggravate after slipping on a drive to the basket midway through the first quarter …