Tyrese Haliburton could only watch from the sidelines, as the Boston Celtics swept his Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Haliburton suffered a hamstring injury in Game 2, which led to him missing the rest of the series and it made the 24-year-old understand the importance of health in the playoffs.
“It’s been really frustrating,” Haliburton said during his exit interview. “It’s been trash, honestly. You work so hard to get somewhere and something happens that’s kind of out of your control. Obviously, that’s frustrating for me.
“But what I’ve understood more than anything is that usually in the playoffs, the healthier team wins,” Haliburton continued. “They’re a hell of a team. Boston’s a great team. But obviously very frustrating for me and how I was playing at the time and how we were playing as a group.”
Health has indeed dictated the outcome in the playoffs so many times over the years. The Pacers themselves benefited from some breaks in the earlier rounds of this postseason.
Indiana faced a Milwaukee Bucks team in the first round that was without Giannis Antetokounmpo. Damian Lillard also missed a couple of games and the Bucks ended up losing in six.
Then in the second round, the Pacers played the New York Knicks, who were ravaged by injuries. Julius Randle and Bojan Bogdanovic missed the entire series, Mitchell Robinson played just one game, and OG Anunoby played three. Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart also played through injuries as the Knicks lost in seven.
Unfortunately for the Pacers, it was their turn to see a star go down due to injury in the Conference Finals against the Celtics. I didn’t pick them to win the series anyway, but when Haliburton, who averaged 18.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game in the playoffs, went down, you knew it was all over.
Haliburton’s absence wasn’t the only break that Boston got in these playoffs either. The Celtics played the Miami Heat in the first round and Jimmy Butler was out for the entire series. In the second round, they faced the Cleveland Cavaliers who were without Donovan Mitchell for the last two games of the series.
Do I think the Celtics would have won if Butler and Mitchell were healthy? Yes, but they would have had a harder time dispatching the Heat and the Cavaliers if those two weren’t injured, as both those series ended in five games.
To be fair to the Celtics, they aren’t fully healthy either. Kristaps Porzingis went down with a right soleus strain in Game 4 against the Heat and hasn’t played since. They have just been good enough to overcome his absence and deserve some credit for that.
The 2015 Warriors Were The Classic Case Of The Healthier Team Winning
When you look at NBA history, you’ll find a fair few instances where a team just had things go their way in terms of injuries. One of the most notable examples of that would be the Golden State Warriors in 2015.
On their way to the NBA Finals that year, the Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies, and Houston Rockets. All three teams had their starting point guards (Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley, and Patrick Beverley respectively) miss either the whole series or some part of it.
Then in the Finals, the Warriors faced a Cleveland Cavaliers team that was without Kevin Love heading into the series. Things got worse for the Cavaliers in Game 1, as Kyrie Irving fractured his left kneecap at the end of the contest. With two of the stars out, the Cavaliers ended up losing in six games to hand the Warriors the title.
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