Pacers star suffers injury in ugly Game 2 loss

Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton was removed from Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against Boston with 3:44 left in the third quarter and didn’t return. The team announced that Haliburton was dealing with left leg soreness, while ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski specifies that it was hamstring pain that forced the 24-year-old out of action.

It’s a concerning development for the Pacers, given that Haliburton strained his left hamstring in January and missed 10 games as a result of that injury — he attempted to return after just five games, but ended up missing five more following that lone appearance.

There’s no reason yet to think that his new hamstring issue is as significant as the previous one, but with the Pacers facing a 2-0 deficit in the series following Boston’s victory on Thursday, they’ll be in real trouble if the All-NBA guard has to miss any additional time.

After battling lower-back spasms, a right ankle sprain and a sacral contusion during the Eastern semifinals, Haliburton once again had to deal with multiple health issues on Thursday. As Joe Vardon of The Athletic notes, the Pacers star underwent imaging on a sore chest at halftime of Game 2. According to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, when Haliburton was warming up at halftime, he was shaking his head and slamming the ball on the floor in frustration.

If Haliburton is forced to miss any games going forward, the Pacers would have to lean more heavily on guards Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell as ball-handlers and playmakers. Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday in Indiana.