Pacers Player Blamed His Poor Play In Game 7 on Tyrese Haliburton’s Injury

Andy Nesbitt | Jun 23, 2025

The Pacers lost Tyrese Haliburton to an injury in the first quarter of Game 7. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The Indiana Pacers' chances of winning Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night took a huge hit when star guard Tyrese Haliburton went down with a serious Achilles injury during the first quarter. While the Pacers were able to take a one-point lead into halftime, they had no answers for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second half and lost the game, 103-91.

One of Haliburton's teammates, Obi Toppin, spoke after the game about how the injury seemed to deflate the Pacers and even said his own game was hurt by it as he couldn't stop thinking about what happened to Haliburton.

"We needed Ty out there," said Toppin, who missed all four shots he took and didn't score a single point in his 21 minutes on the court. "It sucked the soul out of us. I ain't going to say out of everybody. But I don't feel like I played good because I was thinking about it the whole day and I felt like it was my fault."

#Pacers forward Obi Toppin on Tyrese Haliburton's injury:

"We needed Ty out there... It sucked the soul out of us. I ain't going to say out of everybody. But I don't feel like I played good because I was thinking about it the whole day and I felt like it was my fault." pic.twitter.com/yvlMzL0bMy

— WISH-TV News (@WISHNews8) June 23, 2025

Toppin had 20 points in the Pacers' Game 6 win and scored double-digit points in Games 4 and 5. The Pacers needed people to step up after Haliburton's injury and Toppin was unable to do that.

His brutally honest comments after the game show why that might have been the case.

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