Do they have another comeback in them? The Pacers fall in Game 5 and trail for the first time in the postseason

Now the question is: Will Tyrese Haliburton be healthy and ready to play Thursday at Gainbridge?

MY COUCH, Ind. – In the end, I’m not sure T.J. McConnell could have saved the Pacers Monday night in Oklahoma City. I’m not sure Reggie Miller, Paul George and Rik Smits could have saved the Pacers. Of course, we’ll never know; Rick Carlisle, who is headed to the Hall of Fame, decided to sit the all-gas, no-brakes point guard for most of the fourth quarter. With Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard playing their worst games of the series, the Thunder took a tenuous 2-point lead and stretched it in a way that doomed the Pacers and forced a must-win Game 6 at Gainbridge Thursday.

After the game, Carlisle seemed to know he was going to be questioned about the move, pulling McConnell, who had 13 points in the third quarter and 18 in 22 minutes and brought pace and pressure back to the Pacers’ mostly stagnant offense. I thought he could have and should have returned McConnell to the lineup with roughly seven minutes left, just as the Thunder were starting to stretch the lead…but again, the only way I’m going to the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., is with a ticket or a press credential.

But with Tyrese Haliburton playing ineffectively and then injuring that lower right leg, what would it have hurt? With Nembhard committing one egregious turnover after another, why not pull him? Because magic wasn’t going to show up Monday night. They needed T.J. They needed him desperately. Just to have a chance…

“He was very tired; that’s why we got him (McConnell) out,” Carlisle told reporters after the game. “I think there was a play early in the fourth where it looked like fatigue had set in there. Then Ty was back in and then that group went on a good run there.”