Blog: Will Haliburton play Game 6 Thursday night?

He's a game-time decision, but as we saw with Kevin Durant in 2019, there are massive risks involved.

The only way Tyrese Haliburton can win is to, well, win Game 6 Thursday night at Gainbridge. He needs to play well and he needs his Pacers to win and extend this marvelous series to a deciding Game 7 in Oklahoma City.

Because if he doesn’t, he will get mauled in certain corners of the national media (I’m referring here to Stephen A. and Kendrick Perkins and, I guess, Emmanuel Acho, who joined the chorus recently).

If he plays poorly and the Pacers lose, he will be cast as selfish for insisting he play in Game 6 with a right calf strain.

If he doesn’t play – highly unlikely – he will be cast as soft and unwilling or unable to play through the pain.

He can’t win.

Unless he, and the Pacers, win Thursday night, and then everybody will be happy.

Haliburton went through a light practice Wednesday afternoon, participating in a walk-through and film session, although there was no running involved.

“I think I have to be as smart as I want to be,” Haliburton said Wednesday. “Have to understand the risks, ask the right questions. I’m a competitor. I want to play. I’m going to do everything in my power to play. That’s just what it is.”

Haliburton has used every conceivable modality to address his wonky right calf.

“Massage, needles, hyperbaric (chamber), H waves,” he said. “Everything you can do to get as comfortable as you can going into it. The right tape and stuff while I’m performing. I’m sure there’s a bunch of medical professionals who could give you a better answer. Just doing everything I’m told, trying to do everything I can.”

He continued, “I have a lot of trust in our medical staff. I have a lot of trust in our organization to make the right decision. I think there’s been many situations through the course of my career where they’ve trusted me on my body…You know I’m questionable from time to time throughout the course of the season. They trust me to make the right decision on my body when the power is in my hands. I’m trying my best to do that.”

Haliburton is a game-time decision – smart, keeps the Thunder guessing – but if he can’t go, Andrew Nembhard would very likely man the point in Game 6. Nembhard, who’s been so good during both playoff runs, made a star turn in last year’s post-season, replacing an injured Haliburton in Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals series against Boston last year. He scored 32 points and had nine assists in Game 3 and 24 and 10 in Game 4. The Celtics ended up sweeping the series, but Nembhard showed, he’s best suited to playing the point, and can spell Haliburton very effectively.

This is going to be a tough call. Remember in 2019, then-Warrior Kevin Durant decided to play with a calf strain and proceeded to rupture his Achilles. That’s a long-term injury, one that kept Durant on the sidelines for a portion of the next season.

This a massively important decision for Haliburton and the medical staff to make.

It hasn’t been a great series for Haliburton; he’s averaging 15 points, 7.2 assists and a shockingly high four turnovers against a historically great defensive team. Lu Dort, one of the best defenders in the game, has been pushing him out to midcourt and has been face-guarding him when Haliburton doesn’t have the ball.

Haliburton acknowledged, if this was a regular-season game, he’d almost certainly miss some time. But this is Game 6 of the NBA Finals, a chance to extend the series to seven games. I’m strongly guessing he’ll find a way to play, but don’t dismiss the risks involved.

“This is the NBA Finals,” Haliburton said after Game 5 in Oklahoma City. “I’ve worked my whole life to get here. If i can walk, I want to play.”