Insider gives a brutal update for Tyrese Haliburton in Eastern Conference Finals

Already facing an 0-2 series deficit, the Indiana Pacers are in an unfavorable position. They received a death knell ahead of Game 3 on Saturday, losing All-NBA floor general Tyrese Haliburton for the contest due to a hamstring injury. But it doesn't stop there.

ESPN's Senior NBA insider appeared on NBA Countdown to provide a live update on Haliburton leading up to the contest, and it was brutal -- to be frank.

"The Pacers are going to err on the side of caution with this left hamstring injury," Wojnarowski said. But wait, it gets worse. "And for that reason, you may have seen the Tyrese Haliburton for the last time in this series," he added.

Insider gives a brutal update for Tyrese Haliburton in Eastern Conference Finals

Talk about a devastatingly crushing blow for the Pacers. 

As Wojnarowski points out, this is the same soft tissue injury that kept Haliburton for 10 games in the regular season. He re-aggravated it in the third quarter of their Game 2 loss in Boston on Thursday.

Despite the series returning to Indiana, the Pacers have a daunting task of turning things around sans their franchise player. It will be an uphill battle, especially against the top-seeded Celtics.

Wojnarowski compares the situation to the one the Pacers witnessed first-hand in their Game 7 second-round clash against the New York Knicks.

"They [Pacers] are not going to put him in a position where if he went out and played, it's going to look like OG Anunoby in Game 7 for the Knicks against Indiana, where he was so limited in what he could do," Wojnarowski stated.

Haliburton has averaged 18.7 points, 8.2 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals with .488/.379/.850 shooting splits across 15 games this postseason. He has been the hub of what has been the second-most efficient and top-ranked scoring offense in the Association. Indiana will be hard-pressed to replicate his production and shear playmaking threat, likely seeing their season come to a screeching halt in short order.