Haliburton status up in air after injuring hamstring

BOSTON — Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton left in the third quarter of Thursday night’s 126-110 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals and did not return because of a sore left hamstring.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Haliburton aggravated an injury he suffered earlier in the season and that the team would know more about his status Friday. Indiana trails 2-0 in the series, with Game 3 on Saturday in Indianapolis.

“He was sore at halftime,” Carlisle said after the game. “He was getting work done for the entirety of halftime. He came out, gave it a shot and all the effort that he could. I haven’t talked about it directly to him, so I can’t read minds, but it wasn’t going well. The trainers determined he had to be brought to the back to be worked on, and then he was ruled out.”

Haliburton missed 10 games with a left hamstring strain suffered Jan. 8 against the Celtics when he slipped and fell and had to be helped off the court. The Pacers went 6-4 during that stretch.

“That’s a time for this group for everyone to step up and take a bigger role,” Pacers guard T.J. McConnell said on the prospect of playing without Haliburton. “We’ve done a good job of that when he’s been out. It hurts when he goes down, but one of those things where it’s the ‘next man up’ mentality. Obviously, we’ll see. We haven’t heard anything yet, but guys will just have to step up and be ready.”

Haliburton, who was named to the All-NBA third team this week, was subbed out of the game with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter and went back to the locker room with Indiana trailing by 11. The Pacers announced during the fourth quarter that Haliburton would not return.

After posting 25 points and 10 assists in Game 1, Haliburton finished with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting (2-of-6 from 3-point range) and 8 assists. The Pacers outscored the Celtics by one point with Haliburton on the floor in Game 2 but were outscored by 17 when he was off it.

“He does so many things for our team,” McConnell said. “Where I think everyone has to move the ball more and get in the paint more. The ball movement just has to be on another level. He gets 10 assists in his sleep, so it’s hard for another person on our team to replicate that. It’s a group effort when he goes down to get the ball and get it moving.”