The images were straight out of a nightmare for Pacers fans. Their franchise superstar on crutches, consoling his exhausted teammates in the hallway, as ‘We Are the Champions’ blasts through the speakers of the Paycom Center.

Tyrese Haliburton gave everything he had – until he could literally not walk anymore. The scenes of him embracing his defeated teammates on their way to the locker room, juxtaposed against the sheer joy the Thunder were enjoying back out on the hardwood, forced everyone to confront how unfair this all felt – that he leaves with nothing.

Haliburton was a man on a mission throughout the 2025 playoffs. He brought everyone along for the ride, and despite all the toxic discourse that surrounds the modern NBA – that he in particular has been a victim of – he reminded everyone why we love basketball.

His averages will speak for themselves, but they won’t do what he accomplished justice. The story of Haliburton’s post-season spectacular instead lives through the moments he created; the game winners, the celebrations, the comebacks he spearheaded, and the bravery.

The playoffs are conventionally defined by the champions, but 2025 might be the exception to the rule. Instead of thinking about where they were when OKC hoisted the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, fans may instead think about where they were when Hali sent Milwaukee home, or his buzzer beater in game one of the Finals. Or the moment when that all came crashing down.

Coming off a summer where he rode the pine for the U.S. Olympic team in Paris en route to a gold medal, and a season in which he was omitted from the all-star team after him and the Pacers started slowly, Haliburton entered the playoffs with an overrated label that many before him have never been able to shake.

The narrative became so strong that his own peers bought into it, voting him the most overrated player in the league in an anonymous player poll that was released at the beginning of the playoffs.

Haliburton’s reaction to the poll seemed unbothered, but one can’t help but wonder if it at least somewhat fuelled the rampage he would go on over the ensuing two months, leading his Pacers to within one win of a championship.

Game-by-game, and series-by-series, more and more of his detractors went into hiding. Pundits still took their swipes. Richard Jefferson infamously criticised his scoring in game one of the Finals, accusing him of shooting “tour dates,” only minutes before Haliburton buried his legendary game winner.

It seemed as if for every bit criticism or adversity, Haliburton had a response. OKC’s championship was ultimately a product of their league-best defence, and while they did an excellent job on the 25-year-old, the Pacers’ point guard still showed he could have his way, with his 22 points and 11 assists to give Indiana a 2-1 series lead being all the proof of that.

Oklahoma City Thunder celebrate. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

He wasn’t invincible, but his methodical, disciplined approach meant he was pretty close – until that damn calf strain.

With the series at a deadlock, game five, as it often is, was always going to be pivotal in determining the Finals. Having dropped 31 points against the Bucks and 26 against the Cavs in game five’s earlier in the playoffs, Haliburton seemed primed for another big performance. But a fall in the first quarter would see him holding his calf in pain, later revealed to be a strain that would put in jeopardy his availability for the rest of the series.

He saw out the game, but struggled mightily, entering halftime scoreless, and finishing the game without a made field goal, as the Thunder ran the Pacers out of the building to take a 3-2 series lead.

Haliburton’s injury under normal circumstances would’ve necessitated a weeks-long stint on the sidelines, but with his team’s backs against the wall, he would not abandon them. The Pacers blew the Thunder out to save their season, with Haliburton not having to exert too much energy in a contest that was over by halftime.

The ability of athletes to absorb and play through pain is perhaps what sports fans adore most. The capacity to deliver elite performances on the biggest stage while in extraordinary amounts of discomfort is the stuff of legend – particularly in basketball. Willis Reed in the 1970 Finals, Kevin McHale in the 1987 Finals, Isiah Thomas in the 1988 Finals; Hali was following in their footsteps.

It was beautiful. After the critics came after his scoring ability all series, it was Haliburton, in the most high-pressure game possible in the sport, that looked the most comfortable putting the ball in the hoop. He hit three triples in the opening five minutes, forcing the Thunder into an early timeout, and he was loving every moment of it – heading to the bench while talking to the crowd, the lights were not too bright at all for Tyrese Haliburton.

Despite the Pacers building an identity in the 2025 playoffs off the back of doing the impossible, many still wrote them off in game seven. But with the way Haliburton bolted out of the gates, it started to feel like the sky was really the limit for Indiana – until it all came crashing down.

Australian guard Johnny Furphy drives to the basket. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Haliburton put the ball on-the-floor, looking to get aggressive and create another scoring opportunity before he slipped, in an eerily similar fashion to when he initially strained the calf in game five.

Collapsed on the court, screaming and smacking the floor, you could almost immediately recognise what was happening. The fearless, determined expression on his face was replaced by one of agony and heartache – not for the physical pain of tearing his Achilles, but for the emotional toll that was his dream slipping away from him.

It was sickening to watch live, and the endless replays combined with him being carried to the back ruined almost any appetite for basketball, let alone celebrations later in the night.

The Pacers fought valiantly in his absence, but inevitably the 68-win Thunder proved to be too much.

Indiana took a lead into halftime, keeping the door ajar for a miracle. But without Hali’s presence the Pacers struggled to score and look after the ball in the third quarter, the best efforts of T.J. McConnell notwithstanding.

Despite critics imploring Haliburton all series to be aggressive scoring the ball, it ended up being his greatest strength – the ability to distribute and take care of the ball – that they missed most.

The lightning-quick Pacers became almost unrecognisable from their usual uptempo style that had guided them to the championship round. After leading the playoffs in passes per game with 318, the ball became stuck in the championship decider, as they threw just 269.

The turnovers were most costly though, with the Pacers giving up the ball seven times in the third quarter for 18 Thunder points. It was the type of game that Haliburton, the league leader in assist-turnover ratio, would’ve made an undeniable impact on.

With the deficit at 13 heading into the final quarter, and soon ballooning out to 22, the mountain was too much to overcome, even for these Pacers. Indiana leading at the half very quickly snowballed into a distant memory, but one that makes you consider what could’ve been if Haliburton was there.

It’s the question that not only we, but Haliburton himself, deserved an answer to.

As his head coach Rick Carlisle put it post-game, he “authored” one of the great playoff runs in recent memory, taking fans on a joyride, while simultaneously putting every stigma about him and his game to rest. None of this, of course, entitled him to a championship. But he certainly deserved the right to have that opportunity be decided on his terms.

Instead, his chance to stamp a legendary run was stripped away from him in the cruellest way possible, and the ramifications for his career could be disastrous, with the unknown of how he responds to such a devastating injury.

One thing for certain though is that he would roll the dice on his calf again and again, even with the power of hindsight.

“I don’t regret it. I’d do it again, and again after that, to fight for this city and my brothers. For the chance to do something special,” Haliburton said in a statement.

The chance to win a championship can often be a one-off, even for the NBA’s elite. Haliburton, representing a franchise that made the Finals for the first time in 25 years was all too familiar with that. He took the risk knowing he may never have this opportunity again.

Having been questioned his entire career, particularly over the last few months, what we can no longer doubt is his heart – which is that of a champion.