Stephen A. Smith didn’t hold back while criticizing Tyrese Haliburton after his disastrous performance in Game 5 of the NBA Finals earlier today. He pointed to Haliburton’s poor outing as a major reason for the Indiana Pacers’ defeat, which now puts their opponents within reach of championship glory.
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In the 120-109 defeat, Haliburton put up just 4 points, 6 assists, and 7 rebounds in 34 minutes. Absolutely woeful from a man who has been in “superstar” debates over the last few weeks. Offensively, his movement was all over the place, and there wasn’t a single part of the game where he looked comfortable with the ball in his hands.
That said, reports before the game indicated that Haliburton was dealing with an injury. The Indiana guard has seemingly been nursing right calf tightness throughout the series. Smith, however, showed little sympathy for it.
In an ESPN segment after the game, Smith analyzed Jalen Williams’ performance, suggesting that his 40-point outing was the driving force behind OKC’s emphatic victory. Rather smoothly, he brought Haliburton into the conversation, revealing how he, too, was a major reason behind the same. “They were also helped out by one of the most horrific performances we have seen from a starting point guard in an NBA Finals.”
“That was bad in terms of Haliburton,” Smith continued. “He’s hurt, that’s what they said. We’re gonna go with that. But he was an absolute non-factor on the offensive side of the ball for the Indiana Pacers…”
Haliburton’s right-calf tightness — if it did, in fact, lead to his abysmal showing — could not have affected him at a worse time. In Game 4, the Pacers, despite holding a double-digit lead in the third quarter, had a brutal end to the game, one that experts felt would haunt them moving forward, as it allowed OKC to level the series at 2–2 and regain home-court advantage.
Now, Indiana’s loss means that to win the championship, they’ll have to push the series to Game 7. That is, if they can survive the Thunder at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday.
Whether Haliburton gets fit for Game 6 remains to be seen. However, he should have definitely sat out of today’s game, according to both Smith and Kendrick Perkins. “If he’s not gonna go out there and be aggressive, then don’t hurt your team by putting him out on the floor!” Perkins insisted.
Malika Andrews, who was on the panel, then asked whether T.J. McConnell should have been brought into the game earlier, considering he was the one who had sparked hopes of a Pacers comeback. Unsurprisingly, both Perkins and Smith said yes. “He was playing exceptional in that third quarter. Doing what they needed to do, setting the tone, bringing the tenacity, and getting buckets,” Perkins explained.
For Indiana, this will be a hard pill to swallow. Truthfully, the series now appears to be tipping heavily in OKC’s favor. Even if the loud and proud Indiana faithful help push them across the finish line on Thursday, they’ll still have to face the Thunder on the road in Game 7. Mental fatigue, combined with Haliburton’s possible injury, may prove too much to overcome for the Eastern Conference champs.
