The Indiana Pacers’ locker room after Game 5 was quieter than usual. Not the kind of quiet that comes from defeat; this was different. Players exchanged glances, spoke in hushed tones, and kept stealing looks toward the training room where Tyrese Haliburton was getting his right calf examined. The mood? Respectful concern. Because everyone in that room knew: their leader was hurting, and his fight to stay on the court might have cost them the game.

This wasn’t just another loss. This was a reality check. The Pacers had clawed back from 18 down, cutting OKC’s lead to two in the third quarter, only to watch Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander rip the game away. But the real story wasn’t on the scoreboard; it was in the way Haliburton limped through 34 minutes, failing to hit a single field goal for the first time in his career. And now, with their season on the line in Game 6, Indiana faces an impossible question: Do they risk him again?

According to @NBATV, Rick Carlisle isn’t making any promises. “We will not really know for sure until late tomorrow afternoon or evening,” the Pacers coach admitted, his tone measured but tense. “He participated in all our walkthrough stuff, so, but it’s a walkthrough; so it’s not—there wasn’t any real running or moving or anything so,” Translation: Haliburton’s status is up in the air, and Indiana is preparing for life without him.

But here’s what Carlisle didn’t say; what the locker room already knew. As The Athletic’s Sam Amick revealed, teammates watched Haliburton struggle just to close out on defense, his usual lightning-quick stops replaced by labored hops. “Everybody could see the impact,” Amick noted. “He was leaving his feet because he didn’t have the ability to shuffle…. and against obviously a team the calibre as the Thunder, that’s an issue.” Yet, true to form, Haliburton refused to sit. “If I can walk, I want to play,” he insisted postgame. The question is: Should he?

Let’s be real; Haliburton at 50% might be worse than no Haliburton at all. In Game 5, he finished with 4 points (0-6 FG), 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and a -13 rating. Meanwhile, backup T.J. McConnell sparked Indiana’s near-comeback with 13 third-quarter points in just six minutes. The math is brutal: With Haliburton hobbled, the Pacers’ offense sputtered. Without him? They might actually have a shot if McConnell gets starter minutes.

But this isn’t just about X’s and O’s. The locker room respects Haliburton’s grit, but as Amick concluded, “Chance to push the whole thing to 7, go back to OKC. Rick Carlisle is going to have to make sure that he makes the right calls here.” Carlisle’s decision isn’t just medical; it’s psychological. Does he bench his star to save him from himself? Or roll the dice and hope one-legged Hali can summon magic?

Whatever Carlisle chooses, he’s running out of time. And if Paul Pierce has his way, the Pacers’ coach needs to overhaul everything; starting with…

Paul Pierce’s Blueprint for Carlisle

Paul Pierce’s frustration boiled over as he dissected the Pacers’ Game 5 collapse, zeroing in on what he saw as Rick Carlisle’s critical missteps. The Celtics legend turned analyst didn’t mince words when breaking down Indiana’s defensive approach against Oklahoma City’s dynamic duo. “It’s Rick Carlisle not changing the defense. You supposed to take them from their strengths,” Pierce emphasized, his voice rising with each syllable. ” When they come off that pick—it should be a trap everytime, every single time.” His solution was blunt: throw the defensive playbook out the window and implement an aggressive trapping scheme on every high screen. Force the Thunder guards to give up the ball early, and live with the consequences.

The Hall of Famer saved particular criticism for Carlisle’s fourth-quarter rotations, pounding the table about T.J. McConnell’s limited minutes during crunch time. “The other thing, that Carlisle didn’t do. He didn’t put TJ McConnell in to the fourth quarter, until late.” Pierce questioned, shaking his head in disbelief. “Like he had it going, you supposed to play him the whole fourth, like—like it was the little things,” The numbers backed Pierce’s argument.

But Pierce’s impassioned blueprint came with a sobering caveat that hung over the entire discussion. None of these strategic adjustments would matter if Tyrese Haliburton remained sidelined or severely limited by his calf injury. The Thunder’s margin for error had shrunk to zero, and Carlisle now faced the ultimate coaching paradox.

The weight of Carlisle’s impending decision could define not just this Finals series, but how his second stint in Indiana is ultimately remembered. As either a masterful overachievement or a missed opportunity.