Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton out of Game 3 vs. Boston on Saturday

In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers scored +1 in the nearly 28 minutes played by Tyrese Haliburton. They were -17 in the minutes he sat.

This statistic is important because Tyrese Haliburton is out of Game 3 of the East Finals with a sore left hamstring, an aggravation of an injury he suffered earlier in the season, a story told by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowskiand has since been confirmed by other reports.

While no decision has been made regarding Monday’s Game 4, there are also “serious questions” about Haliburton’s availability for that game. While it’s too early to start cleaning up the Pacers’ season, it’s hard to see a path for them to win the series again without their best player.

Haliburton initially strained his hamstring against Boston on January 8. He missed 10 games due to the injury and was never the same player after his return.

Indiana returns home losing 0-2 to Boston and now faces an unmissable game without your All-NBA point guard and the center of their offense (no NBA team has ever recovered from an 0-3 losing streak). Haliburton averaged 20.1 points and 10.9 assists per game for the Pacers this season. Expect TJ McConnell, who has been good this series but isn’t as dynamic as Haliburton, to start.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Haliburton was working on his hamstring at halftime of Game 2 but tried to play in the third quarter. Haliburton left the game with 3:44 left in the third quarter and did not return. Now we may not see him again in this series.