Pacers' Toppin: Haliburton injury 'sucked the soul out of us'

The Indiana Pacers went out fighting in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, as they had for their entire postseason run.

Yet even for this group of underdogs, watching Tyrese Haliburton be carried off the floor with an Achilles injury in the first quarter was simply too much to overcome. Following Indiana's 103-91 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, forward Obi Toppin said the superstar's absence impacted much of the team down the stretch.

"You don't want to see nobody get hurt, but - I don't know - we needed Ty out there. For him to go down, (in) a game like that, that shit sucked the soul out of us," Toppin said, according to Marcus Thompson II and Sam Amick of The Athletic. "I ain't gonna 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."

Haliburton suited up for Games 6 and 7 despite playing through a calf strain. The two-time All-Star came out like a man possessed Sunday, scoring nine points in the first seven minutes. Then, with 4:55 left in the first quarter, he slipped and fell to the floor while trying to drive by Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, immediately screaming in pain and pounding the floor.

Haliburton sustained a torn Achilles tendon on the play.

"Obviously, it hurts because we couldn't get it done, and I wanted it so bad for him just because I know that he gave us everything, everything he had," forward Pascal Siakam said, per ASAP Sports. "It just hurts that he couldn't see it through with us."

The Pacers continued to hang tough after Haliburton left the game, even taking a one-point lead into halftime. But his presence was sorely missed in the second half, when Oklahoma City outscored them 56-43 to ensure there wouldn't be one more Indiana miracle.

Despite being on crutches, Haliburton consoled his teammates as they exited the court - a gesture that touched his teammates.

"That's who he is as a person, a teammate. He put his ego aside constantly," guard T.J. McConnell said. "He could have been in the locker room feeling sorry for himself after something like that happened, but he wasn't. He was up greeting us.

"A lot of us were hurting from the loss and he was up there consoling us. That's who Tyrese Haliburton is. He's just the greatest, man."