Not only did the Indiana Pacers’ incredible playoff run come up one game short, it appears that their quest to repeat as Eastern Conference Champions took a major hit on Sunday night, as star Tyrese Haliburton suffered what appeared to be a major Achilles injury late in the first quarter.
Haliburton, who was already nursing a right calf strain, crumpled to the ground in obvious pain during a drive in which he attempted to accelerate off his right foot. The video shows a reverberation in his lower calf area, and as we’ve seen with numerous athletes in the past, it’s almost certainly an Achilles tendon tear. In fact, Haliburton’s father, John, told an ESPN sidelines reporter during the game that his son had suffered an Achilles injury.
This marks the third Achilles injury to a major star in these NBA playoffs alone. The Milwaukee Bucks lost Damian Lillard to a torn Achilles in the first round, the Boston Celtics lost Jayson Tatum or a similar tear in the second round, and now the Pacers lost Haliburton in during Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Assuming the Achilles tear is confirmed, there’s a decent chance that Haliburton misses all of next season as he works to recover from the injury and corrective surgery.
Dr. Silverman Comments
Haliburton’s injury is eerily similar to Jayson Tatum’s Achilles tendon tear. Both players are pushing off their foot, trying to accelerate forward in a quick manner. This shifted the foot into ankle dorsiflexion with maximal gastrocnemius contraction, which is a classic mechanism for a midsubstance Achilles tendon rupture.
Also similar to Tatum, we can expect Haliburton to undergo a corrective surgical procedure once the Achilles rupture is confirmed. As we talked about on the other blog, open or minimally invasive Achilles tendon repair is the best way to not only restore strength to the tendon, but it also takes the rate of re-rupture down to about 2-4%, whereas non-surgical correction sits at about 10-12%. Most NBA players can return to the court at a high level around the 9-12 month mark, and considering Haliburton hurt his Achilles in the last game of the season, it seems unlikely that he’ll be recovered and back up to speed for the regular season next year. Even then, pushing him back onto the court for a playoff run may not be the wisest move unless everything is cleared by his surgical and medical staff.
It’s an unfortunate end to the season for Haliburton and the Pacers, who on a different night, may be jumping up and down on a bus lifting the NBA Finals trophy through the streets of Indianapolis. Instead, their underdog season comes to a painful close, and next season’s chances look much bleaker than they did 24 hours ago.
We wish the best for Haliburton on his expected surgery and recovery.