“6 years damn, my ride or die always! Love you girl.” That was Tyrese Haliburton celebrating his anniversary with his girlfriend, Jade, just some time before the playoffs tipped off. He called her his “ride or die,” and as it turns out, in the middle of the biggest fight of his professional life, she’s the one making sure he’s ready for the war. While the world sees Haliburton gutting it out on a bad calf in the NBA Finals, it’s Jade who is holding him accountable behind the scenes—even if it means putting their Love Island marathon on hold.
The last 48 hours for Haliburton, especially after Game 5, have been a blur of non-stop, desperate treatment. When asked to walk through his schedule, it sounded more like a medical drama than a pre-game routine. “After the game, went to sleep, woke up, went to hyperbaric chamber, got an MRI, had a meeting with a couple specialists and my agents and the organization,” he began. The list went on: trainers at his house, H-wave machines, more hyperbaric sessions on game day, which he never does. It’s an all-out effort to manage what Shams Charania reported is a “multi-week” calf strain—an injury that former GM Bob Myers warned could be dangerously close to a full-blown tear.
The physical toll was immense, but the biggest hurdle was mental. Before he could even think about playing, he had to have a brutally honest conversation with coach Rick Carlisle. It wasn’t about strategy; it was about trust. “I just had to have an honest conversation with coach that if I didn’t look like myself and was hurting the team, like, sit me down,” Haliburton revealed after the game. “Obviously, I want to be on the floor, but I want to win more than anything.”
But amid the team of specialists, trainers, and private talks, the most important accountability was coming from his inner circle. “My family’s been on me,” Haliburton shared. “They call me, they’re like, ‘Are you doing treatment right now?’ I’m like, ‘I’m about to play the game, like, put something on your leg.’”
And then he revealed the real secret weapon behind his rehab. In a clip posted by SportsCenter, Haliburton let everyone in on the rule at his house, a rule enforced by his girlfriend. “Before we put [Love Island] on,” he confessed with a tired smile, “we have to put something on the calf.” And Jade made sure everyone knew she wasn’t playing around, reposting the video to her Instagram story with a simple, powerful two-word message: “you heard!!!!” It’s clear who is running the rehab show at home.
All that round-the-clock work paid off in Game 6. Even though he only played 23 minutes, his impact was immense. He wasn’t just on the floor; he was making plays. The signature moment came late in the second quarter when he jumped a passing lane, tight-roped the sideline to save the ball, and threw a gorgeous no-look pass to Pascal Siakam for a momentum-swinging dunk. He finished with 14 points, but more importantly, he gave his team the confidence they needed, proving he was ready to battle.
But, while Haliburton is in a 24/7 battle to just stay on the court, the key to the Pacers actually winning Game 7 might come from his backup. After their dominant Game 6 win, Haliburton was asked about the impact of T.J. McConnell, and his answer was pure gold.
“He’s the great white hope”: Tyrese Haliburton on the x-factor that could win the Pacers a title
“He’s unbelievable. I don’t even have the words. He’s the great white hope, that’s what we call him,” Haliburton said with a laugh, giving a peek inside the locker room’s nickname for their sparkplug guard, T.J. McConnell. “He’s just amazing. (He) just continues to go downhill to put on pressure on the defense.”
That pressure completely changed the series. In Game 6, it was McConnell’s energy that fueled a 36-17 second-quarter run that blew the game wide open. He finished with 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals, doing a little bit of everything and completely disrupting the Thunder’s rhythm. For a team whose MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, just had a career-high eight turnovers, McConnell is a matchup nightmare.
But if you ask T.J. himself, he’s just playing his part. “I’m just trying to do my job: come in and inject energy and get our team moving offensively and defensively,” he said, downplaying his incredible performance. That humility is what makes him so valuable. He’s not looking for the spotlight, but he keeps ending up in it.
The question now is, what does that mean for Game 7? For the Pacers, the formula is clear: they need another high-energy performance from their bench mob, and they need Haliburton to be a smart, efficient floor general. He doesn’t need to score 30, but he needs to protect the ball and make the simple plays that get guys like Obi Toppin and McConnell into space.
For OKC, the adjustment is obvious. Their leader, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, already knows what’s required. “I don’t feel like I have to do anything other than just be the best version of myself,” he said after the Game 6 loss. “I think that goes for everyone else in the room. We just have to bring what we bring to the table, what we’ve brought to the table all year.”
For the Thunder, it’s about slowing down McConnell and forcing a half-court game. But for the Pacers, it’s about something more elemental. It’s about grit, heart, and leaving everything on the floor one last time. It’s about the undrafted guy, the star playing on one leg, and a team that refuses to go home.
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