Tyrese Haliburton is dealing with a sore left hamstring after leaving in the third quarter in the eventual Pacers’ 126-110 Game 2 loss to the Celtics on Thursday night in Boston.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters after the loss that the team would know more about the issue on Friday, ESPN reported.
“We’ll know more tomorrow and then probably more Saturday,” Carlisle said, according to the Associated Press.
Haliburton exited the game with 3:44 still on the clock in the third quarter and went to the Pacers locker room.
The Pacers star didn’t speak with reporters postgame but could be seen limping as he walked out of the arena.
It looked as though Haliburton had aggravated his hamstring when he was guarding Jayson Tatum and seemed to plant his left foot in a way that caused the issue.
As he’s moving laterally, he seemed to grimace at one point and nearly stumbles.
The team announced a short time later after he left that he would not return to the game.
After the game, Carlisle said the hamstring injury was the same one Haliburton injured during a Jan. 8 regular-season win over the Celtics.
He missed 10 of the next 11 games.
“Sore. Aggravated. I don’t have much detail other than it’s sore,” Carlisle said, according to the Associated Press.
Haliburton finished the game with 10 points over 28 minutes on the floor while shooting 4-of-10 from the field.
Haliburton has been a big part of the Pacers’ playoff success this season and going into Thursday night’s game he had been averaging 19.3 points while shooting 48.8 percent from the field in 14 postseason contests this year.
He was also coming off a series-opening performance in which he put up 25 points and 10 assists.
Haliburton had dealt with a left hamstring strain earlier in the season after he had split and fell during a game on Jan. 8 and subsequently missed 10 games.
The loss of Haliburton would be a blow for the Pacers, who are already down 2-0 to the Celtics after the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics — and the game — in scoring on Thursday night by putting up 40 points in Game 2, 24 of which came in the first half.
Brown shot 14-of-27 from the field while going 4-for-10 from 3-point range.
