Tyrese Haliburton exited Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals with a left hamstring injury, throwing the IndianaPacers' already slim chances to advance to the NBA Finals into jeopardy.
Haliburton checked out of Thursday’s game against the Boston Celtics shortly after stumbling backward while playing defense on a play in the third quarter. At the time that it appeared Haliburton sustained the injury at the 6:17 mark in the third, the Pacers trailed by four points. Indiana was outscored by 12 points for the rest of the game with Haliburton off the floor for the final 15:44 of game time.
This is the play in the 3rd quarter where Tyrese Haliburton appeared to suffer a leg injury.
He left the game and was ruled OUT for the remainder of Game 2 vs. the Celtics 🙏🏽pic.twitter.com/7jbacfe7Nl
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 24, 2024
Haliburton missed 10 games earlier this season with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain and is officially listed as questionable for Game 3 with left hamstring soreness. The Celtics opened as 6-point road favorites in Game 3 and have moved as high as 7.5-point favorites, according to the latest NBA odds.
Sportsbooks gave the Pacers long-shot odds to win this series ahead of Game 1 — the Celtics were the third-largest series favorite entering the Conference finals since 1988 — and after the Pacers lost in Game 2, those odds moved even further in Boston’s direction.
Now, with Halliburton’s status in question, a sweep is even more likely. Ahead of the series, BetMGM listed a Celtics sweep at +230 odds and the Celtics in five games at +150 odds. After two games, a Celtics sweep was -145, and Celtics in five games moved to +175.
