The Oklahoma City Thunder are well deserved NBA champions after a Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers, but fans will still feel robbed after the anticipation of the season finale was cruelled by a devastating first-quarter injury to Tyrese Haliburton.
The All-Star guard had battled through a calf strain to play 23 minutes in Game 6 and help the Pacers force a series decider, yet only lasted seven minutes on Sunday before suffering what is a suspected torn achilles injury.
The Pacers battled hard and even held a one-point half-time lead on the road without their best, only to be overrun and predictably struggle to generate enough offense in what resulted as a 103-91 defeat.
The Warriors made the right decision with Stephen Curry's hamstring
The Haliburton injury brings flashbacks for the Warriors who had Kevin Durant return in the 2019 Finals after a calf injury, only for the superstar forward to suffer a torn achilles nine minutes into Game 5.
Assuming Haliburton does have a torn achilles, he'll be the latest star to suffer the injury in recent months after Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum also experienced the same fate in what's put a real dampener on the final stages of the season.
As tough and sad as Haliburton's injury is, it does prove that Golden State made the right decision in playing it safe with Stephen Curry's hamstring injury. The 2x MVP suffered the strain after playing 13 minutes in Game 1 of the second-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, with the injury dealing a fatal blow to the Warriors chances as they lost four-straight games to be eliminated.
Dang! Really glad Steph didn’t rush to come back in the playoffs from his hamstring injury. Another unfortunate example of why that’s a bad idea
— Festus Ezeli (@FestusEzeli) June 23, 2025
Curry was on track to return in Game 6, but even then that would have been a quick turnaround after suffering the injury less than two weeks earlier. It's far from a guarantee that Curry would have re-aggravated his hamstring or suffered something even worse, but this injury to Haliburton proves just how perilous it can be to play through injury.
It's such a tough predicament to be in. Haliburton might have been willing to sacrifice his achilles if it meant having his team lift the title, but now a Finals loss is compounded by the fact he's likely to spend all of next season on the sidelines.
Curry, on the other hand, will be fully recovered and ready to go for his 17th season as the Warriors and 28 other teams look to chase down the Thunder and de-throne them from the NBA mountaintop.