Pacers’ Haliburton Shares Side-Splitting Story About Shedding Minute Restrictions During Game

Fans of the Indiana Pacers waited with bated breath for an update when Tyrese Haliburton went down on January 8 against the Boston Celtics with what appeared to be a serious injury. The Pacers, thankfully, dodged a major bullet when Haliburton was simply diagnosed with a Grade 1 hamstring strain, an injury that, according to experts, kept players out for an average of 13 days. But now, Haliburton has seemed to put this injury woe in the past, with the Pacers releasing their All-Star floor general from his minutes restriction.

In fact, Haliburton only learned that his minutes restriction was gone in the middle of the Pacers’ 129-115 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night in their first game back from the All-Star break. According to Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star, Haliburton asked the Pacers’ physical therapist/athletic trainer Carl Eaton whether he was done with the minutes restriction. Eaton simply replied, “Yeah, it’s done,” much to the delight of the All-Star point guard.

It took around six games since Tyrese Haliburton’s return on January 30 for the Pacers to start easing him off his minutes restriction and returning him to his usual workload. Indiana became cautious with overtaxing Haliburton after the 23-year old star returned too early from his hamstring injury on January 19 against the Portland Trail Blazers and played 34 minutes. Haliburton then missed the next five games after that, hence the minutes restriction upon his return.

Before the All-Star break, Haliburton began to cross the 30-minute mark; in fact, the Pacers have ramped up his minutes slowly, with their star point guard logging 30:17, 34:10, and 34:23 of game time in three games right before the week-long break. During the All-Star game, Haliburton played in 27 minutes; he logged the second-most playing time among the East All-Stars, trailing only Damian Lillard, which is a sign of his improved health.

Against the Pistons, Tyrese Haliburton played in only 33:35 of game time since the Pacers had already built such a huge lead in the first half. Now that he’s no longer on a short leash, expect Haliburton to log even heavier minutes moving forward, beginning with their Sunday night battle against the surging Dallas Mavericks.