The Indiana Pacers were just one win away from winning their first-ever NBA championship against the Oklahoma City Thunder in June. And they were well on their way to making it happen until star guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles in the first quarter.
At the time of his injury, the Wisconsin native had nine points on 3-for-5 shooting in seven minutes. The game was tied 16 a piece, and even in his absence, the Pacers had a 48-47 lead heading into halftime.
As everybody knows, Indiana couldn't hold on, and the Thunder went on to win the game and the title.
Nobody will ever know for sure, but there is an idea many fans share that, had Haliburton not gone down, the Pacers probably win that game. He was on fire early on, and it was clear that he and the Pacers were on a mission. They had a magical playoff run leading up to that point with all the upsets and late-game comebacks they pulled off, and having that culminate in a Game 7 NBA Finals victory on the road would have been a storybook ending.
The thing is, though, it's not just Pacers fans who believe this. And recently, former ESPN TV personality Max Kellerman made that clear.
The Pacers may have won Game 7 if Haliburton never got injured
In a recent appearance on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," Kellerman said he is "not 100% convinced" the Thunder still win Game 7 of the NBA Finals had Haliburton not suffered his injury.
"I'm not 100% convinced that [the Thunder] win the whole thing if Haliburton's in that game. I don't know," Kellerman said.
Kellerman didn't outright say he thinks Indiana would have won for sure, but it's safe to say he thinks that Haliburton's presence could have changed the outcome in a major way.
It's impossible to know for sure.
Was Haliburton going to keep up that pace? Was anybody else on the team going to step up, too? (Keep in mind that Bennedict Mathurin was the only Pacer to score at least 20 points in that game. And he was coming off the bench). The Thunder's defense was one of the best the NBA had ever seen. Would they not have been able to adjust?
There are a ton of questions that Pacers fans unfortunately will never know the answer to. However, the team still has a bright future and should be able to re-enter the title picture soon enough once Haliburton returns.
And, who knows? The NBA can sometimes work in mysterious ways. Maybe the Pacers make it back to the NBA Finals within the next few years. And maybe, just maybe, they will get their shot at revenge and go up against the Thunder once more and at least get some closure once and for all.