'Maximum respect': NBA world reacts to Indiana Pacers loss to Oklahoma City Thunder in Finals

The Indiana Pacers didn't come away with an NBA championship, but they garnered an enormous amount of respect.
The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Pacers 108-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, leaving Indiana still without a league title. They also reached the Finals in 2000.
Indiana came into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and beat the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks on the way to the Finals.
The Pacers won Game 1 in a wild comeback, lost Game 4 in heartbreaking fashion and couldn't overcome a devastating injury to Tyrese Haliburton and OKC's suffocating defense in Game 7.

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New York Times

26 minutes ago

• New York Times

Tyrese Haliburton was making noise in Game 7. Then injury ‘sucked the soul out of' the Pacers

OKLAHOMA CITY — Tyrese Haliburton, judging by his play, was predetermined to pick a fight with history. He showed up to Game 7 with malice in his spirit for any idea he doesn't belong in the annals of basketball history. He opened the scoring for the Indiana Pacers with two deep 3s. He missed his third attempt and stepped back even further and drilled another one the next time. Advertisement And as he roared at the sea of blue inside Paycom Center, with noticeable patches of Pacers gold, his intentions were clear. This was a heist. Haliburton showed up to take what many thought didn't belong to him. He was on the porch of history. Opened the screen door of legendary. Then, as if fate didn't appreciate his audacity, as if the basketball gods ruled agony must precede glory, his right Achilles snapped. 'In this moment, my heart dropped for him,' Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'I couldn't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. 'It's not fair. But competition isn't fair sometimes.' Nothing about this felt fair. Haliburton earned a right to take down this season's giant. He deserved a chance for one last heroic ending. But on a simple action, sport flexed its sovereignty, even its mercilessness. Haliburton caught a pass at the top and made a simple step backward with his right foot as he started to go left to evade the approaching defender. But as he planted, the tendon ruptured violently enough to see the vibration. 'He started screaming,' Pacers guard Ben Sheppard said, 'and it's just terrible when someone like that goes down. We know he's going to come back better than ever. We're just praying for him.' With five minutes left in the first quarter and his Pacers even with the mighty Thunder, Haliburton was denied entry into the hallowed hall of Game 7 legends. He lay on the hardwood floor, tears in his eyes, agony unfurling from his soul. He wailed as he pounded his open right hand on the door of history. His wailing was inaudible as he yelled, 'No! No! No!' Most couldn't hear the smack of his hand on the hardwood. But the visual was loud enough. Such determination, thwarted so coldly. A beautiful arrogance humbled so emphatically. Advertisement Basketball is brutal. Game 7s deal only in extremes. Triumph or tragedy. Hallelujah or heartbreak. Haliburton's fate came before the final horn. He knew immediately what happened. Not only is most of the basketball fandom well-versed in detecting a torn Achilles, but also he'd been battling a strained calf since Game 5. He spent this week managing the injury, including a 23-minute stint in Game 6. He played with this risk, that he could blow out his Achilles and flush next season down the drain with it. But Haliburton's resolve outweighed the risk. He counted the cost and still pursued greatness with peril possible. He wanted to shower himself, his family, his Pacers, in the effulgence of Game 7 glory. He's been called overrated. He's been declared below a superstar. He's been expected to be on vacation for the last two months. As the adopted son of the Hoosier state, by decree of its historic love for the game, and as the beneficiary of the burden Reggie Miller once carried, Haliburton went for it. He wanted it badly, for every Pacer that ever wanted it, and for every hooper who didn't fit the traditional mold, and for every player willing to play the antagonist. 'The pain he puts in every day, every night, I don't think there's (anybody) else in the world that wanted it more than he did,' said veteran James Johnson, the 38-year-old Pacers protector who helped Haliburton to the locker room. 'I've been on plenty of teams, and I've seen guys sidelined because of that same injury, and he wouldn't let that stop him from helping us.' But Haliburton left the court a sympathetic hero, carried off the court by his teammates, his right foot dangling in the air as the arena began to realize the seriousness of his injury. A towel draped over Haliburton's head, which hung as low as his spirit. Advertisement He entered the arena bent on making his name immortal. He left the arena having succumbed to his mere mortality. The volatility of humanity on display. 'You don't want to see nobody get hurt, but — I don't know — we needed Ty out there,' Pacers forward Obi Toppin said. 'For him to go down, (in) a game like that, that s— sucked the soul out of us. I ain't gonna say out of everybody, but I don't feel like I played good because I was thinking about it the whole day and I felt like it was my fault.' That this was predictable only makes his sacrifice more valiant. Achilles tears are regretfully trending. Haliburton became the third player to suffer the injury in these playoffs. The Pacers carried on valiantly. Their relentlessness put a scare in the Thunder. But moving forward, Indiana loses the face of its franchise for next season, which severely hampers its chances of getting back to this stage. Perhaps that made Haliburton's decision to play too risky. The price for his choice is two chances at a ring, even if the next one is predisposed to a litany of attacks. This NBA Finals stage is guaranteed to no one. That's part of what made his pain palpable. As much as possible, we know Tyrese Haliburton. We know the pleasure he gets from disrupting the order of things. He may have two voices but one clear mission: To put his name where they said it shouldn't go. Haliburton is an important figure in this league. His jovial spirit, his authenticity, his willingness to engage, his appreciation for the theater of it all are gifts to the league. Haliburton is the face of one of the NBA's most stubbornly lovable underdogs ever. The Pacers embody the very parity the league desires. The suspense of uncertainty. The thrill of novelty. Haliburton is the quality control for a new era of superstars. As LeBron James and Stephen Curry fade from the top, and a new crop vie for the crown, he's there to test their mettle, to measure their worthiness. He'll expose who isn't ready. He'll take down whoever isn't worthy. He was so close to upsetting the story arc of the Thunder, the NBA's newest darlings. He was on the porch, prepared to kick in the door. But when it was over, and the Pacers' magical season was done, Haliburton found himself standing outside a different door. With crutches helping hold him up, and a boot on his right foot, he waited for his teammates. One by one, he greeted them, each player hugging their star, outside the locker room. Where defeat would settle in. Where an uncertain future would start taking shape. When the last player went through, Haliburton turned and went to join them in the struggle. As fate would have it, that door, he could walk right through. (Photo of Tyrese Haliburton: Kyle Terada / Imagn Images)

Yahoo

39 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Player grades: Thunder win NBA championship with 103-91 Game 7 win over Pacers

Jun 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) celebrates with Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault during the fourth quarter of game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images OKLAHOMA CITY — Don't expect OKC to go to sleep anytime soon. For the first time since their 2008 relocation, the Oklahoma City Thunder have won an NBA championship. The fanbase finally reached the mountaintop after decades of coming up just short. The Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers in a 103-91 Game 7 win. It was the grand conclusion of an exciting 2025 NBA Finals that went the distance. Advertisement Stop me if you've heard this before, but the Thunder had a slow start. Blame it on Game 7 nerves. The offense couldn't get going. Tyrese Haliburton nailed his first three looks from the outside. Everything went in the Pacers' favor. And then on a turnover, Haliburton went down. He needed to be helped off the court. The Pacers' worst nightmare came to life. Playing with a calf strain, everybody's first thought went to a possible torn Achilles. While Indiana didn't confirm the injury, he was ruled out the rest of the way after just seven minutes. That shattered any optimism for the Pacers. The Thunder finished the first quarter with a 25-22 lead. But credit Indiana, it kept hanging around. That's what they've done all playoffs. They scored 26 points in the second frame to make OKC sweat nerves. Andrew Nembhard nailed a stepback 3-pointer in the final seconds. The Pacers had a 48-47 halftime lead. Frustration was the mood for most Thunder fans at the break. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stepped up, but Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren struggled. Advertisement It felt similar to Game 1. The Thunder should've been up by a lot of points at the break. Not down by one. Especially with Haliburton out. But the Pacers wouldn't go away as the rest of the roster stepped up in their franchise player's absence. Then the Thunder finally found their stride out of the break. Without their lead ball-handler, the league's best defense created plenty of turnovers. A bunch of steal-and-score sequences led to a signature avalanche run. The Thunder scored 34 points in the third frame to go up by double-digit points. TJ McConnell was Indiana's only source of buckets. He got by Cason Wallace and others pretty easily. But once the Thunder shut him down, they didn't have much else. The Thunder had an 81-68 lead after the third quarter. Nobody wanted to say it aloud, but everybody thought it. The Thunder were 12 minutes away from glory. All they needed to do was stiff-arm the Pacers long enough. Holmgren pushed OKC's lead to a game-high 90-68 with a little under eight minutes left. Advertisement Considering just how difficult points came for the Pacers, it would've taken a miracle for them to mount one last comeback. The Thunder had a few scares as Indiana cut it to as little as 10 points, but the final minutes turned into a free-throw battle that delayed the inevitable. The Thunder shot 40% from the field and went 11-of-40 (27.5%) from 3. They shot 22-of-31 on free throws. They had 20 assists on 35 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 29 points and 12 assists. He was named the NBA Finals MVP. Williams finished with 20 points on 20 shot attempts. Holmgren had 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks. Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace each scored 10 points off the bench. Meanwhile, the Pacers shot 41% from the field and went 11-of-28 (39.3%) from 3. They shot 22-of-29 on free throws. They had 17 assists on 29 baskets. Four Pacers players scored double-digit points. Advertisement Bennedict Mathurin led the way with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Pascal Siakam had 16 points and four rebounds. Nembhard finished with 15 points and six assists. McConnell scored 16 points. Haliburton had nine points before he was injured. The Thunder finally did it. They won an NBA championship. And cap off one of the greatest seasons ever. From 68 wins to the best point differential ever, this season will go down in league history as one of the most dominant campaigns seen. Let's look at Thunder player grades: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A Jun 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) controls the ball againstIndiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard (2) during the first half of game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images Matched up against Aaron Nesmith, Gilgeous-Alexander went for the kill. He finally swished in one of his stepback 3-pointers. The timely bucket set the tone for the rest of the fourth quarter that saw the Thunder celebrate their first championship. Advertisement Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 29 points on 8-of-27 shooting, 12 assists and five rebounds. He shot 2-of-12 from 3 and went 11-of-12 on free throws. He also had two blocks and a steal. Not the prettiest performance, but Gilgeous-Alexander gutted out a Game 7 NBA Finals win. It doesn't get higher stakes than that. The Pacers looked shell-shocked once Haliburton went down. That showed in their defense against the MVP winner. And when he didn't, Gilgeous-Alexander leveraged his gravity to help his teammates. Plenty of kick-out baskets resulted in good looks from the outside. That's how you make the opponent rethink their defensive strategies. Like he's done all year, Gilgeous-Alexander drove to the basket and drew contact. He had a busy night at the free-throw line because of it. Only fitting he did that once again at the biggest game of his life. Cry about it, NBA Twitter users. Advertisement Gilgeous-Alexander cemented his 2024-25 season as one of the greatest ever. An NBA Finals MVP was the cherry on top. Jalen Williams: C-plus Jun 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) reacts after a play against the Indiana Pacers during the second half of game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images Receiving a pass from Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams coldly knocked down a catch-and-look attempt that sent the OKC crowd into a frenzy. That put the Thunder over 20 points and just roughly eight minutes away from their ultimate dream. Williams finished with 20 points on 7-of-20 shooting, four rebounds and four assists. He shot 2-of-7 from 3 and went 4-of-6 on free throws. He also had two steals. Not the most efficient outing, but Williams did enough to secure a championship. After a quiet first half, the 24-year-old stepped it up in the second half with some transition buckets to get into a groove. A 15-point second half made any first-half criticisms wash away. Advertisement With the Pacers wounded, the Thunder went all gas in the second half to create a double-digit lead. Williams helped with that with drives to the basket and mid-range jumpers he feathered in. Chet Holmgren: B-plus Jun 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) drives to the basket against Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam (43) during the first half of game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images Swatting away McConnell's attempt, the Thunder had had enough of Indiana's pesky bench player. He kept the Pacers within arm's reach of the scoreboard with a flurry of buckets. Holmgren's rejection was met with a sigh of relief by the OKC crowd. Holmgren finished with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting, eight rebounds and five blocks. He shot 1-of-2 from 3 and went 5-of-8 on free throws. Advertisement After a bad first half, it looked like Holmgren would fail to leave his scoring mark on the NBA Finals. A shame too, considering what he's done in the playoffs. But a 15-point second half quickly flipped that narrative. The Pacers couldn't contain the seven-footer. A catch-and-shoot corner attempt must've felt like lifting a billion pounds off his shoulders. He's struggled from the outside all series and entered Game 7 shooting below 12% from 3. That was a quick boost of confidence that snowballed over for the rest of the game. This is exactly what the Thunder needed from Holmgren. He bounced back from a forgettable Game 6 and cemented himself as an OKC legend. This ring means a little more for the 23-year-old. Considering the rollercoaster of a season he had from a hip fracture that cost him three months to being a key piece to a title winner. Alex Caruso: B Jun 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) looks to pass while Indiana Pacers guard Ben Sheppard (26) defends during the first half of game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images After his postgame interview, Caruso met with Daigneault behind the curtains and gave him a huge bear hug. Both have been tied to the hip with their starts on the G League's OKC Blue. Establishing himself as one of the league's best defenders in Los Angeles and Chicago, the 31-year-old's first year back at OKC finished with a championship. Advertisement Caruso finished with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting, three rebounds and three steals. He shot 2-of-5 from 3. Nobody feeds off the crowd's energy more than Caruso. He's talked about being too pumped up at times in the playoffs. To the point he needs to play calmer music to bring him back down. You can only imagine what he felt for this Game 7. The Thunder trusted Caruso to complement the traditional four starters. He might've come off the bench, but he played the fourth-most Game 7 minutes for a reason. He started the second half in place of Hartenstein and the move paid off as they ran away in that frame. Isaiah Hartenstein: A Jun 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) drives to the basket against Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam (43) during the first half of game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images Turns out, the double-big lineup is the one that won the Thunder a championship. After abandoning it for a more traditional look with Cason Wallace, OKC changed it mid-way through the series. The move paid off with a championship. Advertisement Hartenstein finished with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, nine rebounds and four assists. He shot 1-of-3 on free throws. He also had a steal. This was the best Hartenstein has looked in the NBA Finals. He was used more often as a roller to the basket. His size and rebounding helped when the offense couldn't get out of the mud. The playmaking also shone in the biggest game of his life. The Thunder went two-for-two from last year's offseason acquisitions. Caruso gets all the love, but Hartenstein has been a steady presence who enjoyed a career season. Fair to say his decision to leave New York for OKC paid off. Highlights: This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Player grades: Thunder win title with 103-91 Game 7 win over Pacers

New York Times

an hour ago

• New York Times

Tyrese Haliburton's injury obscures the Pacers' magical run — and their future

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Indiana Pacers were never even supposed to reach the NBA Finals. That's how the vast majority of prognosticators and fans saw it. That spot atop the Eastern Conference was supposed to belong to the defending champs in Boston or the Cleveland Cavaliers squad that won 64 games in the regular season. But by the time Game 1 had ended, when Tyrese Haliburton silenced the Oklahoma City Thunder's 'Loud City' crowd with a midrange game-winner from the right side with 0.3 seconds left, there was suddenly hope that they might be able to win the whole thing. Advertisement It was there for all to see in the hallways of Paycom Center after the game. As the Pacers celebrated en route to their locker room, their longtime president of basketball operations, Kevin Pritchard, spotted ESPN analyst and former Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers amid the mass of people. 'Y'all had it f—ing figured out at halftime!' he hollered at Myers, who had said during halftime that the Pacers had no chance of winning the title if their sloppy play to start the series was any indication. 'You had 19 turnovers!' he shouted back at Pritchard with a smile. They had somehow survived in the opener — largely because they had just four turnovers in the second half. It was yet another reminder of how incredibly far the Pacers had come from a 10-15 start to their season, a journey that would take them all the way to Game 7, against a Thunder team that was a prohibitive favorite to win the title. And then, basketball proved how cruel it can be. Indiana's season ended Sunday with Oklahoma City's 103-91 win, made much harder to stomach after a sickening injury to star guard Tyrese Haliburton. A team so close to a title now has little idea of what awaits it next year. After getting off to a great start with three 3-pointers in the first quarter of Game 7 Sunday, Haliburton tried to blow by a recovering Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get to the rim. Except his right lower leg remained planted on the court. He went down in a heap after losing the ball, and as the play continued at the other end of the court, he pounded the floor at Paycom Center in frustration. Haliburton was carried off the court, his and his team's immediate future in doubt. When the Pacers left the floor after their Cinderella season was over, they were greeted by Haliburton at the door of the visitors' locker room. He stood there on crutches, with the hood of his Pacers sweatshirt pulled over his head and a towel around his neck, sharing his appreciation as they did the same in return. Tyrese Haliburton made sure to show love to his teammates in the hallway after the game 🥺 — DraftKings (@DraftKings) June 23, 2025 'What happened with Tyrese is, all of our hearts dropped,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. 'He authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the history of the NBA, with dramatic play after dramatic play. It was just something that no one's ever seen. And did it as one of 17 (players). That's the beautiful thing about him.' Advertisement James Johnson, the Pacers' veteran forward who rarely plays but is the team's resident protector, helped carry Haliburton off the floor. 'That was heartbreaking,' he said. 'I know how hard he works, how bad he wanted it, and I know the hours he puts in, day in and day out. … Just to even be here was an honor, to sit courtside and help cheer on these guys was an honor, man. There's a group character that's hard to find. KP (Pritchard) and (Pacers general manager) Chad (Buchanan) did a great job of putting this group together, and getting high-character guys.' That the Pacers lost the title to Oklahoma City on Sunday almost felt secondary when compared to the injury to their franchise player. Haliburton suffered an Achilles tendon injury, according to his father, John, as relayed by the ESPN broadcast. The injury is to the same leg he'd suffered a strained calf muscle just a few days earlier. Assuming that's correct, Tyrese would likely miss all of the 2025-26 season. It threw what had been a brilliantly executed piece of short- and long-term roster construction into chaos. Haliburton, the player who management and Carlisle had believed could be the centerpiece of a contender when they acquired him at the trade deadline in 2022, is Indiana's lodestar. The cost of getting him was center Domantas Sabonis, a two-time All-Star with the Pacers and a popular player among fans. But Haliburton had a quality as a playmaker and scorer that intrigued the Pacers. Indiana didn't hesitate to give him a five-year, $260 million deal in 2023. The injury made what Haliburton said late in the regular season about the fleeting nature of contending in the league all the more poignant. 'I think we're just trying to hold onto that (core group) as long as we can,' Haliburton said. 'Because you see a lot of teams in the NBA, especially with the cap room and all that, the new CBA and all that stuff, the odds of us keeping this group together forever aren't very high. We know guys have to get paid and all that. So we're just cherishing the moment while we can, and trying to keep our core together as long as we can, and trying to do special things.' Advertisement But how can the Pacers overcome this? In the short term, it seems impossible. The Pacers had been set up for a two- or three-year window with their core group, while many of their potential opponents in the East faced either significant injuries to key players or, in the case of the New York Knicks, the fallout from players after firing a popular coach. Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, sixth-man extraordinaire T.J. McConnell and reserve forward Obi Toppin are all signed through the 2027-28 season. (McConnell has a partial guarantee of $5 million in the final year of his deal.) Forward Aaron Nesmith is signed through 2027. Bennedict Mathurin, another contributor off the bench, and fourth-year forward Isaiah Jackson, who missed most of this season after his own Achilles tear, will be restricted free agents this summer. Mathurin had some big moments in the postseason, so he potentially could have some suitors. But there's no replacing Haliburton's rare abilities and face-of-the-franchise qualities, even as Indiana's front office, led by Pritchard and Buchanan, built a championship-level franchise around him — despite never having a top-five pick. Nembhard was a 2022 second-round pick, a pick Indiana acquired from Cleveland, the day before the Pacers got Haliburton from Sacramento, in a trade for Caris LeVert. The Pacers got Siakam from Toronto, in part, by not letting one of their few mistakes linger; they traded Bruce Brown — a high-profile free agent signing for them in 2023 (two years, $45 million) — in the package for Siakam, after Brown played just half a season in Indiana. The Pacers are also a mid-market franchise. Brown aside, they know that most free agents don't flock to Indianapolis to set up shop. Yet Indiana has refused to tank over the years — decades — as it fielded mostly good but rarely great teams. The challenge now, in the wake of both Haliburton's injury and a two-year run where Indiana has been a final four and final two franchise, is to see if this is sustainable, with or without the team's superstar. Indiana has traditionally stayed shy of the luxury-tax line over the years; per Spotrac, the Pacers haven't paid the tax since 2005, when they paid $4.67 million. Advertisement But to re-sign free agent veteran center Myles Turner, who's become one of the team's key mainstays, Indiana will almost certainly have to be a taxpayer next season. The 29-year-old Turner is the top center available this summer in free agency, but the expectation from all concerned is that Indiana will be willing to pay the $30 million or so annually to keep him, even if it pushes Indiana into the first apron of the tax. Turner struggled mightily in these finals, averaging just 10.6 points (37.7 percent overall, 21.7 from 3), 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks, but he shared his fond memories of their unexpected run afterward. 'It was special,' he said. 'Just everything we've been through to get to this point, everything that went into it … a journey at that. We talk about the process a lot, not necessarily the end goal, but the process. I'm going to miss the process of this group.' Unfortunately, like the Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks — who also had star players (Jayson Tatum and Damian Lillard, respectively) go down during the postseason with Achilles injuries — Indiana may face a 'gap season' of sorts in 2025-26 if Haliburton misses most or all of the season. But the Pacers have long been loath to tank in hopes of adding to their roster over the decades, and it's hard to see them doing so next season, even if they have to play without their superstar. 'There's nothing wrong with high expectations,' Carlisle, who is 10th among coaches in career postseason wins and 11th in regular-season victories, said during the season. 'What you don't want is a situation of apathy, where expectations are low and all you're ever doing is selling hope. That's not why I came here, that's not why Kevin Pritchard is doing his job and that's not what our ownership is about.' Without Haliburton, the Pacers will have to be even more precise with their drafts and trades. They traded their 2025 first-rounder last week to the Pelicans to get their 2026 first-rounder back from New Orleans. That could potentially be back in play if Indiana wants to get back into the first round of this year's draft. Indiana could also, potentially, apply for an injured player exception that would allow the Pacers to sign a free agent for half of Haliburton's $45.5 million salary for next season. Teams are awarded such exceptions if a league physician determines a player's injury will force him to miss the remainder of a season. Indiana would have between July 1 and next Jan. 15 to apply for the exception. Haliburton sat at his locker before Game 5 of Indiana's second-round series against Cleveland. A television nearby was playing the Cleveland Guardians-Milwaukee Brewers game as a calm Haliburton discussed baseball with two Rocket Arena locker room attendants. The conversation turned to Cincinnati Reds sensation Elly de la Cruz, and one of the attendants informed Haliburton that the Reds would be in town later that week. Advertisement 'We're not coming back to Cleveland,' Haliburton said. That bravado — hubris? — is a key part of the Haliburton brand. As such, it's a key part of Indiana's identity as well. He capped an improbable 8-0 run in the final 40 seconds of Game 5 of Indiana's first-round series against Milwaukee with a driving layup past Giannis Antetokounmpo, giving the Pacers a 119-118 win and a 4-1 series victory. In Game 2 of the Cavs series, when Haliburton grabbed an offensive rebound off his own missed free throw with 12.4 seconds left, and Indiana down two, he dribbled straight back behind the 3-point line and splashed a game-winning triple over Cleveland's Ty Jerome for a 120-119 win. Against the Knicks in Game 1 of the conference finals, Haliburton's last-second jumper tied the game at the end of regulation, and Indiana won it in overtime. And in Game 1 of the finals, after an awful night shooting, Haliburton nonetheless hit that pull-up over Cason Wallace for a one-point Indiana victory. It wasn't happenstance or coincidence that Haliburton had the autonomy to freelance in such game-winning moments. Carlisle, famously, has throttled back on the micromanaging that often defined his earlier head coaching jobs in Detroit and Indiana, after being on Larry Bird's bench as his assistant during Bird's three seasons as head coach. Carlisle's championship run in Dallas had shown him he had to let his players make decisions in real time, in clutch moments, rather than trying to dictate from the bench. That was a central tenet of these Pacers. 'We have a passion and a pride in this organization and what we're building here,' Haliburton had said at the end of the regular season. ''Cause we feel like we built it. We feel like this is something that's been very player-led. We feel like our front office and our coaching staff did a great job of giving us the tools, but they really allow us to experiment and be ourselves. So we take pride in this.' After his team drubbed the Cavaliers in Game 4 of that series, shredding a 3-2 zone that flummoxed Indiana in Game 3, Carlisle sat in his office with a longtime friend from back home, fielding questions from a reporter about how he'd helped Haliburton realize who he is and who he's becoming in the league. Advertisement Haliburton had to address not just the pressure of the playoffs, but the fallout from being the most common pick when his peers were asked who the most overrated player in the league is for The Athletic's annual anonymous player poll. And after the Pacers closed out Milwaukee in Game 5, Antetokounmpo chastised Haliburton's father, John, for getting into the Greek Freak's face after the final buzzer sounded. 'One thing that you've got to understand about a young player who's experiencing the limelight for the first time is that there's certain things that he simply has to experience to learn about,' Carlisle said. 'I try to give him clues as to what he should be thinking. I try to give him direction. But I also say to him, 'Part of this is you've got to go through this. You've got to learn about it. And you've got to figure out your best way to deal with it — no matter what it is.'' Haliburton showed his grit, coming back from a strained calf in Game 5 to provide heroic moments for the Pacers three nights later in Game 6. Now, unfortunately, both Haliburton and the Pacers have much more pressing questions to face in the coming months, the basketball gods having ripped asunder in a few shattering moments what had taken years to so carefully construct. (Top photo of Tyrese Haliburton: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)