Crushing

Sports can be unbelievably cruel sometimes. They can step up and make the worst possible thing happen in the worst possible time.

That’s how the Indiana Pacers’ dream run through the postseason ended last night. Not because the favored Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the third quarter to turn a close game into a comfortable win, clinching their first NBA title. That was just normal sports, not an unexpected result at all.

What was cruel was what Pacers fans had been fearing since the end of game two: Tyrese Haliburton’s achilles tendon rupturing as he attempted to drive past a defender midway through the first quarter. The Pacers were up 14–10, Hali accounting for nine of those points on three 3-pointers. Unlike the careful manner he played in game six, he looked fully engaged, fast, and intense, screaming at the crowd after his third 3 forced an OKC timeout. And then he was crumpled on the ground, hitting the court repeatedly with his fist as the Thunder ran the other way for a dunk. The Pacers’ title hopes were on the floor with him.[1]

Just like Dame Lillard and Jason Tatum earlier this postseason,[2] the cruelest of modern sports injuries seems to have taken Hali, too.[3] Not only did it cost him game seven, but most likely all of next season. We probably won’t see him in uniform again until October 2026.

Brutal. Unfair. Cruel. Sports.

(A quick aside about what a wild run the narrative around Haliburton has been the past year. First it was “Why is he on the Olympic team if he isn’t playing?” Then, “Why did he accept a spot on the Olympic team if he was injured?” And, “He’s ruined the Pacers season by selfishly playing in the Olympics rather than rehabbing.” By April he was the “Most Overrated” player in the game, based on a poll in which nine players voted for him. Then he was Mr Clutch Shot. Then he was “not a true superstar” because he didn’t score enough. Which became louder when the non-basketball focused national writers started paying attention, claiming he needed to do more when they had not watched the Pacers all year to see the Pacers were successful because Hali was far more likely to have a 19 point, 12 assist night than ever score 30. Then he was hurting his team by playing injured, only he had to play because it was the Finals. Exhausting. I only paid a little attention to all this, usually just getting what was included in the game broadcasts, but it reinforced my decision to ignore pretty much everything ESPN says about basketball when the ball isn’t in play. And sometimes ignoring the in-game commentary, too.)

Haliburton’s teammates honored both him and the collective character they’ve shown this entire postseason by not giving up. They fell behind by six then charged back to take the lead a couple times. They were somehow up one at halftime after a long 3 by Andrew Nembhard. Despite the bleakness of Hali’s injury, we were all wondering, “Could they pull off one more miracle?” Could they find a way to survive the OKC pressure for 24 minutes, find a way to manufacture and make shots, find a way to contain SGA and J-Dub and the Thunder role players?

No, they could not. But they sure tried.

The third quarter was a disaster. If not for another crazy TJ McConnell quarter the Pacers could have easily been down well over 20 points going into the final period. But too many turnovers, too much passive play, and, to give full credit, far too much OKC D overwhelmed the short-handed Pacers.

They kept fighting. The Thunder showed some nerves late, and after falling behind by 21, Indiana got it down to 10 points once, eventually losing by 12. Without Haliburton, though, and without anyone other than Bennedict Mathurin doing much on offense in the final period, there was never the feeling that they might steal the game and title.

The Thunder are worthy champions. They were the best team in the NBA this season. They have the best player. They probably would have won had Hali stayed on the court, even if he matched SGA shot-for-shot. It sucks the Pacers didn’t get that shot, though, because of the cruelty of sports.

Thus ends a hell of a ride, one that went back much further than just the last two months of playoff basketball. The Pacers, fighting injuries and rehabs, started the season 10–15 before winning five straight. Then they got blown out by OKC and Boston in back-to-back games after Christmas. The loss to the Celtics was by 37 points and the Pacers could not have seemed further away from the game’s elite. Two nights later they beat the Celtics by nine. That’s the moment I thought they might be finding themselves. A loss to Milwaukee on New Year’s Eve muted that a bit, but they followed that with six straight wins and were off, steadily climbing the Eastern Conference standings over the next three months. They wouldn’t lose consecutive games until early March, when they dropped three straight to bad teams, concerning for a team fighting for a playoff seed. Again they rebounded, going 15–4 over the last month of the regular season and checked in as the #4 seed in the East.

They weren’t just winning, though. They were winning CRAZY games. Scoring four points in 1.9 seconds. Coming from 12 down with a minute left. Every game seemed close – except when they hung 162 points on Washington – and the Pacers were always the team making the winning plays while their opponents cracked. I didn’t write about them much until April 14. Here’s what I said then:

In other words, I’m not sure if this team is quite as good as their record indicates. Or, on the other hand, maybe they’re a team that never gets down on themselves and are comfortable in difficult situations. Throw in the experience from last year’s conference finals run, and perhaps they are a super dangerous team?

I hedged my bets, but in retrospect super dangerous seems right.

In sports we too often focus on the end, and whether our teams win or not, the ring culture that LeBron James decried last week.[4] I did not give the Pacers much chance in this series. Then they stole game one, took game three, and were rolling in the third quarter of game four. They gave me hope and suddenly heartbreak was in play. It sure would have been great to take game seven down to the closing minutes and see which team buckled and which team’s culture and cohesiveness carried them to the title. But I can’t be too disappointed after the wonderful ride this team took the city on.

When the Royals won the World Series in 2015, I wrote that some champions remain anonymous, but that team would always be remembered for how they ran and caught everything and got key hits in the biggest moments and came back when their backs were against the wall. This year’s Pacers team did not win the title, but they also carved out an identity that will be recalled for years to come. They were the team that came together at the right time, that never let the odds faze them, that never withered when the pressure was the highest, that always thought they were the best team no matter who they were playing.

Pacers fans should be disappointed about Sunday night, but not about this season.