The rest that's built into the NBA Finals can be a good thing, especially now

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Given the way Indiana guard Tyrese Haliburton was limping on his way out of the postgame news conference after Game 5 of the NBA Finals, it's safe to assume he's a fan of the schedule right about now.

Put simply, he could use a couple of days off — at least.

Haliburton has a lower leg injury — nobody's saying exactly what it is, whether it's ankle or calf or something else, though he was having an MRI on Tuesday to try to figure things out. It seems to be the sort of injury that if this were a back-to-back situation in December, he'd be missing at least one game.

But these are the finals, this is June, there no back-to-backs in the playoffs and when the league gets to the last series two-day breaks between games aren't uncommon. Amen to that, the Pacers are probably saying right about now.

“The Finals, the NBA Finals, is one of the great stages in all of sports,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “And so, it shouldn’t happen quickly and abruptly. It should happen at the right pace and the right tempo, and the space in between games does help player health. That's a very important aspect of it.”

There was a one-day gap between games in this year's finals just once, separating Games 3 and 4 in Indianapolis. Everything else has seen a two-day gap, as will be the case going into Game 6 at Indy on Thursday night. And if the Pacers win to force a Game 7 back in Oklahoma City, that'll be preceded by another two days off going into an ultimate game on Sunday night.

It should be noted that the Thunder don't mind the schedule being drawn out, either.

“We recover,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “The finals are great because you get extra time in between the games. I think that’s huge in terms of rest and recovery at this time of the year. I think it’s good for the product. I think it’s a good thing and by the time the ball goes up in the air, everybody is going to be ready to play and everybody is going to be excited.”

Even those who aren't dealing with an injury seem to be welcoming the two-day gaps between finals games.

“It’s a lot of games. It’s tiring, for sure,” Thunder star and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But every game is tiring. When you’re giving your all, every possession, you’re going to be tired. I don’t think I’m the only one out there that is tired.”

It wasn’t always like this.

The first NBA Finals were in 1947, before the league was called the NBA (it was the Basketball Association of America then) and before the title round was called the finals (after being called the BAA Finals in the early years, it was called the NBA World Championship Series until the mid-1980s).

That first year, Philadelphia and Chicago played five games in seven days. It would be unthinkable to play at that pace now; the NBA, for much of the last decade, hasn't even scheduled stretches like that in the regular season.

The finals between Minneapolis and New York did the same thing — five games, seven days — in 1953. Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers played a five-game series in an eight-day span in 1965. Golden State and Washington played four games in eight days in 1975, with two cross-country flights in there as well. And this was long before charter flights became the rule in the NBA, too.

“We’re fortunate in this series. Travel is pretty reasonable. Not a long distance,” Carlisle said, evidently aware that the finals has the shortest distance between the dueling cities — Oklahoma City and Indianapolis are separated by 688 miles by air — than any finals matchup since 1956. “Not a long flight. I do believe it’s a better circumstance for the overall integrity of the competition.”

The two extra days gives everybody — Haliburton, coaches, everyone — more time to get ready. Daigneault, the father of kids ages 3 and 2, said it gives him more time to be a dad between games.

“I do twice as much parenting,” he said, “not twice as much work.”

Carlisle said coaches get more time to study film, though at this point in the series it's pretty clear that the Thunder and Pacers know each other about as well as they can. And Haliburton will get another 24 hours of whatever scheme the Pacers' medical staff draws up to try to get his leg good to go in Game 6.

“All these guys playing in this series on both sides. I think it’s pretty clear now that we’re going into the sixth game, and all attention and the crowd noise in both arenas, everything, this is a lifetime opportunity,” Carlisle said. “Not many guys are going to sit, even if they are a little banged up.”

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) dunks against the Indiana Pacers during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Indianapolis. (Matthew Stockman/Pool Photo via AP)

Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) dunks over Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner (33) during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Indianapolis. (Matthew Stockman/Pool Photo via AP)

Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren, left, and Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, center, battle for the rebound during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) drives past Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A man handed an illegal prison sentence years longer than the maximum penalty for his crime has been granted clemency by Mississippi's governor, weeks after the man's brother received clemency in a similar case.

Gov. Tate Reeves announced Wednesday that he was granting clemency to Maurice Taylor. The man's brother, Marcus Taylor, received clemency earlier this month from the governor for another illegal sentence.

In February 2015, both brothers accepted plea bargains and pled guilty to conspiracy to sell a Schedule III substance.

At the time, the maximum penalty for conspiracy to sell a Schedule III substance was five years. Yet Maurice Taylor was sentenced to 20 years in prison with five years suspended, and Marcus Taylor to 15 years.

“Like his brother, Maurice Taylor received a sentence more than three times longer than allowed under Mississippi law,” Reeves wrote in his announcement. “When justice is denied to even one Mississippian, it is denied to us all.”

In May, the Mississippi Court of Appeals had ruled that Marcus Taylor’s sentence was illegal, but did not commute his sentence because Taylor had missed the deadline to apply for post-conviction relief. After rehearing that case in November, the court reversed course and ordered his release.

In Wednesday's order, Reeves wrote that Maurice Taylor's post-conviction counsel contacted his office for the first time a few weeks ago, providing legal documents in his case. Maurice Taylor must be released within five days, according to Reeves’ order.

The Associated Press was not immediately able to identify and contact Maurice Taylor's post-conviction counsel.

The brothers are the only people to receive clemency from Reeves.

FILE - Republican Gov. Tate Reeves responds to a reporter's question during a news conference Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)