Tyrese Haliburton Waited 486 Days to Play Again and Put Up 23 and 12 in His First Game Back
Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon in the first quarter of Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. He had already made three 3-pointers. Oklahoma City went on to win the title, and Indiana went on to lose 63 games without him.
On Wednesday night in New Orleans, 486 days later, he scored 23 points and handed out 12 assists in a 123-120 win over the Pelicans.
Nobody had a right to expect that. He looked like himself inside of a quarter.
The Line Was Better Than Anyone Had a Right to Expect
Haliburton shot 8-of-15 from the floor, 2-of-6 from 3, and 5-of-5 from the line in about 33 minutes. He had three turnovers and two rebounds. He also picked up a technical foul for taunting Pelicans rookie Derik Queen, which is its own kind of health update.
The finish belonged to him. With the game tied at 116, he drove past Trey Murphy III for a layup, then drew a foul on Herb Jones and turned it into a three-point play. Quenton Jackson free throws made it 123-120 with 45.7 seconds left, and Zion Williamson missed a layup that would have tied it.
Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 30 points. Ivica Zubac went for 16 and 15. Andrew Nembhard added 18 points and nine assists, and Obi Toppin scored 20 off the bench. Indiana got outscored 35-18 in the second quarter and won anyway, which was the part Haliburton wanted to talk about.
“We got a lot to pick up. Second quarter wasn’t good, but you know, we’re battle-tested, so we finished this game the right way,” he said.
Coach Rick Carlisle put the night in context: “Tyrese played extremely well. It’s the first time he played over 30 minutes in 16 and a half months.”
He Cried, and He Did Not See It Coming
Haliburton broke down during a courtside interview with Pacers sideline reporter Jeremiah Johnson. He said afterward that it caught him off guard.
“I thought that this moment would just feel like super emotional for me. I didn’t think I was going to cry,” he told reporters, per the Associated Press. “It hit me kind of there when talking to Jeremiah, and you know, seeing all those like Pacers fans in the arena.”
It was Indiana’s first win in New Orleans since January 2021, and Haliburton kept coming back to the fans who made the trip.
He also said the most reassuring moment of the night was a fall. He collided with Williamson, hit the floor, and got up.
“The thing that’s made me feel most like normal is falling and our whole team not panicking,” he said.
The Context Makes This Bigger Than One Box Score
Indiana finished 19-63 last season, the worst record in franchise history, two years after reaching the Finals. Pacers players missed a combined 429 games to injury, and 18 different players finished the season on the roster.
Haliburton is 26, a two-time All-Star on a rookie-max extension that still owes him roughly $157 million through 2028-29, per Basketball-Reference. His rehab was not clean, either. He had surgery the day after the tear, and he dealt with a severe case of shingles in February.
He is also the guy who said in August that he was “shocked” his first game back was not scheduled for national television. He was right to be annoyed, and the opener proved his point. A 23-point, 12-assist return with tears on the broadcast went out locally.
His actual home introduction comes Friday against Dallas. Based on Wednesday, the Pacers are worth watching again.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
