I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few days balancing my excitement for a long NBA Finals series with equal parts exhaustion for how drawn-out the playoffs feel. Back in April I remember my delusional self standing in the shower imagining how the then-on-fire LA Clippers could run through the Western Conference. I’m only two months removed and that moment feels totally lost to memory.
I firmly believe the NBA has to find a way to shorten these seasons, whether that’s a five game series for the first two playoff rounds or a shorter regular season or at least something similar. The amount that’s happened these last few weeks is insane: the Pistons proving themselves, the Bucks facing a collapse, the Nuggets vs. Clippers epic, an underwhelming Lakers playoff introduction for Luka Doncic, the Warriors-Rockets scraps, Jayson Tatum’s injury, Timothee Chalamet’s courtside tour — did I miss anything?
All that said, the average NBA fan — Thunder fans included — have to admit that these playoffs belonged to Tyrese Haliburton. Never before have I developed such an affinity for a player on a random other team so quickly as I did with Haliburton these last few weeks.
There’s those who believe in Indiana’s brand of “ethical hoops” and those who believe in magic. I think I believe in both!
To see a team like Indiana with a 10-deep rotation littered with misfit toys-type players waltz past superstars was a true joy. Especially when just a few years ago it seemed like the NBA was going to be dominated by superteams designed in free agency. Here’s Tyrese Haliburton: a shamelessly-goofy, pass-first guard with a horribly ugly jumpshot that refuses to fail.
Four game-winning or game-tying heaves in this playoffs alone from Tyrese Haliburton: one for each of the opponents he’d faced. That number — four — matches the total number of such shots hit by the late, great Kobe Bryant in his entire playoff career.
His and the Pacers’ success honestly served to remind me that there’s no right way to try to win in this league. You have to be flexible and you have to believe.
Finals Game 7 began Sunday evening with a general agreement among observers: we could be on the brink of an all-time great NBA Championship. And in those first few minutes, I could help but think, ‘damn, it’s really going to happen?’
But no — nothing good ever happens.
I sat watching the game with friends at an absolutely packed sports bar in Portland (Spirit Of 77 for those curious) where, while there was a mixture of both Pacers and Thunder supporters, most folks were excited just for what we all felt would be a hugely exciting game.
To this day I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced a feeling watching a live sporting event like what I felt yesterday. The instant ESPN cut its broadcast to Haliburton on the ground in tears, the entire venue cried out in distress. I felt legitimately sick, even as someone who up until maybe six weeks ago felt pretty ambivalent about the Indiana Pacers and their host of storylines.
How could it be that this was the ending destined for this team, for this version of Tyrese Haliburton? Yes, we knew he was playing through a calf injury but, did this really still have to happen?
The remaining 40-odd minutes of the game was a depressing death march, even as the Pacers kept it close through halftime. A deeply dark cloud had descended on what had otherwise been the brightest, most exciting playoff team in a decade. Players on both teams played through what seemed like obvious shock and trauma and eventually, Pacers not named TJ McConnell and Bennedict Mathurin completely lost their grip on the game they’d waited their whole lives to take part in.
The momentum swing for the Pacers franchise and fans must be unbelievable. But I also have to feel that this injury is nothing short of awful for the entire league.
For the Thunder — this is their first-ever championship after an 84-win season (the fourth most by any team ever). They were led by an MVP and Scoring Champion in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: a player their GM, Sam Presti, had believed in and built around. Presti drafted the right players to support Shai, made savvy trades to fill in the gaps to build an incredible defense and chose the right coach in Mark Daigenault to empower their young talents in ways other teams have failed.
Over a decade of patience and prescience led Oklahoma City to this moment, only for it to be marred by a tragedy of coincidence beyond their control. Because even though it’s still likely that they could’ve won with Haliburton healthy, the Thunder’s incredible feat will forever be asterisked with an all-time ‘what if?’
It’s an undeserving burden for such a great team, but it’s something they’ll likely never be able to evade.
I haven’t got a good idea for how the league should properly process this upset other than say ‘shucks’ and move on. ESPN caught a lot of flack for repeatedly showing the injury in slow motion and Haliburton’s tears throughout the broadcast but, honestly, I understand it. That moment defined the game and suddenly defined the career of a player in Haliburton who had captured the hearts of millions of fans across the world.
It now defines the Pacers’ immediate future and maybe even the Thunder’s too — as they’ll be desperate to prove to everyone they can do it again without something so horrible in their favor.
How can the NBA prevent these injuries? I don’t know. There’s always been lots of stop-and-go play in basketball, maybe it’s part of the modern game, maybe it’s coincidence. Haliburton obviously was risking injury for a championship and I’m sure he and his team knew what a worst-case scenario looked like.
Shorten the season. Shorten the playoffs. Or stop criticizing recovery times and load management. Because nobody wants to see a season like that. Not even the winners.