SI

Stephen A. Smith Glad Tyrese Haliburton Injured During Game 5 After Bad Half

Stephen Douglas

Tyrese Haliburton on the bench during Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Tyrese Haliburton on the bench during Game 5 of the NBA Finals. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
In this story:

Tyrese Haliburton hurt his right leg during the first half of Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers. A hobbled Haliburton was held scoreless as the Thunder took a 14-point lead into halftime.

During the ESPN halftime show, Shams Charania reported that Haliburton was dealing with right calf tightness. This was good news in the mind of Stephen A. Smith, as he was glad there was a reason Haliburton was playing so poorly.

"Haliburton has looked awful and I'm glad he's injured," said Smith. " I'm not saying I'm glad he's injured, but I'm glad we got that as a rational."

When Bob Myers brought Haliburton back up a few moments later, Smith jumped in.

"You want to be nice all the damn time," shouted Smith. "I'm not trying to be mean or whatever. Just being factual! He looks bad! He was not active. He was not aggressive. And now that we know he's not healthy, I totally agree with Big Perk. Sit him down! Get him ready for Game 6 because he's a minus-16 on the floor. He ain't helping the team!"

Haliburton started the second half.

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

feed

Published
Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

Home/Media