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The Indiana Pacers' first NBA Finals Game 7 seemingly was not meant to be a happy one. After beating up on the Oklahoma City Thunder and forcing a Game 7 back in Indiana, having previously won another game in Indiana and Game 1 on the road to start the series, on Sunday, the Pacers were quickly dealt a huge blow that they could not overcome in the form of Tyrese Haliburton's injury.
Undoubtedly the most clutch performer of the postseason, Haliburton had, in part, led the Pacers to Game 7 with some jaw-dropping late-game heroics over the past two months. However, seven minutes into Sunday's game, Haliburton suddenly went down. While trying to push off his right foot to go left, he fell to the ground, lost the ball, and immediately screamed and began smacking the floor.
After hitting the ground, Haliburton appeared to be saying ‘No, no, no' and began crying, likely because he suspected the worst. The initial fears were quickly confirmed: it was his Achilles tendon.
Tyrese Haliburton is on the ground and screaming in pain 😬
Prayers up for Hali 🙏 pic.twitter.com/T5cI8vPlt8
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 23, 2025
Although the Pacers managed to stay in the game for the rest of the first half and even took a one-point lead into the locker room, without Haliburton, the Pacers lagged behind in the second half and ultimately lost 103-91.
Like many, popular NBA podcaster Bill Simmons expressed his disappointment at Haliburton's injury.
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“I was so bummed out. I just couldn't believe it. Because you knew right away. It feels like we've seen enough of these that as soon as you saw the calf shimmy, you're like, ‘Oh my God, really? This is happening?'” Simmons said on his podcast. “This might be the first NBA playoffs that comes and goes where the team I'm going to remember isn't the team that won the title when I think of it first — as weird as that sounds. I can't think of another playoffs … This one, I'll be thinking OKC win, but Indy, and they'll be right in the sentence with them.”
It's no wonder why others may feel the same way; Indiana had one of the most improbable runs to the NBA Finals, as well as one of the more surprising performances in the Finals themselves, in recent history. The fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers pulled off amazing comeback after amazing comeback, eliminating the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New York Knicks in the process. Haliburton, in particular, played a key role in those wins, taking and making clutch shots that will certainly be remembered for years to come.
Still, history always favors the winners, and this year, the Thunder were the biggest winners of them all, as the Thunder won their first NBA championship since the Supersonics moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City and rebranded. Additionally, OKC star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player since LeBron James in 2013 to win MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.
