Tyrese Haliburton will likely miss rematch with Cavs

The Pacers could be without their best player as they look for seven-straight wins.

The Indiana Pacers might not be at full strength when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers later this evening. All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton is expected to miss Tuesday’s game against the Cavs with a hamstring injury. He’s listed as doubtful on the injury report ahead of the nationally televised contest.

Haliburton missed the entire second half with a hamstring injury on Sunday’s game in Cleveland. He collected just 2 points on 1-5 shooting in 18 minutes during the win.

The Pacers completely flipped the script against the Cavs on Sunday without Haliburton on the court. Indiana turned a 13-point halftime deficit into a 15-point win. They were able to do this because they shifted to a more aggressive defensive style with T.J. McConnell being forced into a more central role. This caused the Cavs to repeatedly turn the ball over in the third quarter where the game completely changed.

“Little errors start adding up,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said Sunday after the loss. “I don’t know if there was a little bit of a relax, oh, Haliburton is out, their best player. Do you just kind of relax? That’s not our team usually, but it happens. They’re human.”

Even though the Pacers were better without Haliburton on Sunday, that typically isn’t how things have gone for them. He is still a special player even though he isn’t putting up impressive numbers to the same level he did last season. Indiana is still 4.3 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court with an offensive rating that’s 7.2 points better with him than without him.

Haliburton is averaging 18.1 points and 8.8 assists per game on 44.5% shooting from the field and 36% shooting from three.