The Thunder will look to close out the Pacers in Indianapolis when Game 6 of the NBA Finals tips off on Thursday night. While the Pacers have been a scrappy underdog all postseason long, Game 6 will likely be more difficult than anything they’ve been up against. Not just because Indy is facing its first elimination game of the playoffs, but also because Tyrese Haliburton is dealing with a calf injury that clearly hampered him in Game 5.
While Haliburton still managed to play 34 minutes in Monday’s loss, he wasn’t himself. He finished with just four points, including 0-for-6 from the field. OKC’s defense has been hounding Haliburton throughout these NBA Finals, keeping him under the majority of his props in every game outside of a Game 3 outburst.
As reported by Shams Charania, Haliburton is having an MRI done on what the team believes to be a strained right calf. It’s an injury that would normally cost Haliburton to miss some games, but given the urgency, he has come out and said that if he can walk he plans to play. While you admire Haliburton’s warrior mentality, if you watched Game 5, you know it’s not realistic to believe that he’ll be operating anywhere close to 100%. That left me looking for a Same Game Parlay that allows us to both fade Haliburton, while backing a key reserve that would likely absorb some of Hali’s production.
T.J. McConnell has been spectacular all series, and as fantastic a coach as Rick Carlisle is, many of us are wondering what is holding him back from playing McConnell more minutes. This could be a spot that Carlisle has no choice. McConnell is averaging 11.2 points and 4.2 assists through five NBA Finals games, all while playing just 18 minutes per. While the Pacers came up short in Game 5, more McConnell over Haliburton could’ve helped keep them in the game — he went for an 18-4-4 line, playing 22 minutes. That was a series-high for T.J. in playing time and points.
I’m lookin to back McConnell at modest numbers in Game 6, using 10+ points and 3+ assists in this SGP. However, part of the handicap is that we also see less time for an ineffective Haliburton, so I added in Haliburton U13.5 points, which gets us to +220 on the SGP. Important to note, if Haliburton is surprisingly ruled out, that leg would void, and we would be left with a two-leg SGP on McConnell’s props.
If you want to avoid the Haliburton fade, I still think backing McConnell on Game 6 props is the right look in this game.
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