How Pacers won Game 6 with Haliburton hobbled

CHRISTINE TANNOUS/INDYSTAR

Nate Atkins

21 Jun 2025 - The Indianapolis Star USA TODAY NETWORK

INDIANAPOLIS – The Pacers were down early in Game 6 of the NBA Finals to the Thunder with their superstar hobbled. Their shots weren’t falling, and a duo in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams that just hit historic levels was ready to drive one final knife into the collective hearts at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Then Andrew Nembhard had something to say. The starting shooting guard caught a fireball pass from Tyrese Haliburton in the high corner and drilled a 3. On the next possession, he grabbed a quick pass from Aaron Nesmith and drilled another 3 from the top of the key. Then he scored again on the very next trip down the court.

In a flash, Nembhard poured in more points in three possessions than he managed all of Game 5, back when he fell apart in the second half with four backbreaking turnovers, a night emblematic of how the fort around Haliburton collapsed under the weight of his newly aching calf.

And his outburst to start Game 6 was illustrative of a flip of the switch that athletes promise but too often fall short of. The Pacers said they would bounce back, but they fully believed it once those shots went in and a deficit turned into a lead and a crowd roared and a favorite pressed and a 108-91 victory changed the trajectory, or at least brought one more chance to write a legacy.

“We’ve got one game. One game,” Haliburton said. “Nothing that’s happened before matters. And nothing that’s going to happen after matters.”

With his early scoring outburst and defense to hold league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a series-low 21 points, Nembhard sparked a night that was about the survival and drive of Haliburton but also so much more.

There was Nesmith’s terrorizing of Williams and Pascal Siakam’s 13 rebounds and posterizing dunk over Williams and Obi Toppin’s 20 points off the bench and the collective defensive trouncing of a Thunder duo and a team that so many expected to run away with this series, or at least a potentially deciding Game 6 against a Pacers team that appeared to be running out of gas.

Once more, these Pacers had more in the tank than anyone knew they had.

“You’ve got a group of guys who all have all had a somewhat similar path of being overlooked,” center Myles Turner said. “You have guys like Aaron Nesmith and Pascal getting traded and Tyrese getting traded and Nembhard is a second-round pick.

“I think we all carry a little bit of that weight with us. When you put a bunch of guys like that together, that starts to add up.”

This was the Pacers, doing what they have done this postseason: They defy odds, upset title favorites and laugh in the face of deficits. To date, that’s come in individual games and largely on the last-second heroics of a healthy Haliburton.

Thursday presented a different test, down 3-2 in the series after back-toback losses and on the verge of elimination while facing mounting uncertainty about the head of their snake.

Every question entering Thursday night’s game centered around that calf Haliburton strained and whether or not he could even play or muster more than the four points and zero shots he managed in the loss. Despite an injury that could have long-term risk, Indiana’s star put some short-term questions to rest with a 14-point, 5-assist performance.

But lost in that conversation was everyone else who has made this run what it is.

If they were going to win this game with a hobbled star against an 84-win Thunder team with an all-time defense, it was going to take them all -- the supporting guards, the men in the paint, the Robin to Haliburton’s Batman in Siakam, the league’s premier bench, the veteran coach and a Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd that needed to bring the pressure rather than feel it.

For the first two rounds of these playoffs, the fourth-seeded Pacers rose up like they did to reach last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, by pouncing on Bucks and Cavs teams with injured stars.

But these past two series, against the Knicks and Thunder, have been about winning critical games in clutch and blowout fashion with a best-on-best mentality. Results ultimately write the history, and these results have shown that the Pacers’ best was something still underrated entering their 104th game.

Game 7 on Sunday in Oklahoma City will be for all of the memories.

“It’s crazy. We’re playing to the last possible day,” Nesmith said. “I’m just trying to celebrate for the next three months.”

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CHRISTINE TANNOUS/INDYSTAR - Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard (2) 

shoots and makes a 3-pointer on June 19 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Pacers’ depth makes history for NBA playoffs

21 Jun 2025 - The Indianapolis Star

Matthew Glenesk

Indianapolis Star USA TODAY NETWORK 

You can argue all you want if the Indiana Pacers have a superstar, but their superpower is their depth.

In Thursday’s Game 6 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Pacers had six players score in double figures, and that’s been a constant this season — and postseason.

In fact, the Pacers are the first team in NBA history with eight players to score at least 200 points in a single playoffs: 

• Pascal Siakam (456)
• Tyrese Haliburton (390) 
• Myles Turner (311)
• Aaron Nesmith (288) 
• Andrew Nembhard (272) 
• Bennedict Mathurin (219)
• Obi Toppin (216)
• T.J. McConnell (202)

In six NBA Finals games so far, the Pacers have had four players lead the team in scoring (Siakam in Games 1, 4 and 5, Haliburton in Game 2, Mathurin in Game 3 and Toppin in Game 6).

“You’ve got a group of guys who all have all had a somewhat similar path of being overlooked,” Turner said after Game 6. “You have guys like Aaron Nesmith and Pascal getting traded and Tyrese getting traded and Nembhard is a second-round pick.

“I think we all carry a little bit of that weight with us. When you put a bunch of guys like that together, that starts to add up.”

Here are some more stats:

McConnell had 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals, becoming the first bench player to hit those numbers in an NBA Finals game since starters and bench players were first tracked in the 1970-71 season.

McConnell is the first bench player in NBA history with 60+ points, 25+ assists and 15+ rebounds in an NBA Finals, per StatMuse.

Per Statmuse, Obi Toppin is just the second bench player in NBA Finals history with 70+ points, 30+ rebounds and 12+ 3s made. The other? Big Shot Bob, Robert Horry.

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T.J. McConnell’s dad crashes son’s postgame interview: ‘He’s a warrior’

21 Jun 2025

Matthew Glenesk

Indianapolis Star USA TODAY NETWORK 

Once again T.J. McConnell proved a catalyst for the Indiana Pacers. The backup point guard scored 12 points in the Pacers’ 108-91 Game 6 win of the NBA Finals and got the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd into a frenzy with his hustle plays.

He added nine rebounds, six assists and four steals as the Pacers forced a decisive Game 7 back in Oklahoma City on Sunday night.

In his postgame interview on NBA TV, McConnell’s dad, Tim McConnell — one of Western Pennsylvania’s most-accomplished high school basketball coaches — crashed the party.

Tim was particularly tickled at the chance to talk with Isiah Thomas, admitting he was a “big fan.”

“I’ll tell you right now, he’s a warrior… it doesn’t matter how tall you are,” Tim said of his son, who is listed at 6-1.

“What do you think of his performance tonight?” NBA TV’s Jared Greenberg asked.

“Excellent. Just disappointed he missed two foul shots in the beginning,” Tim said. “I kept saying, ‘Man, I wish he had made those two foul shots, but he recovered, and we won the game, so I could forget about the foul shots.

“Anything can happen in Game 7. We’re going to OKC to try and win a world championship, and my son is a part of it, and I can’t believe that.”

McConnell’s sister Megan is on the Phoenix Mercury, which led to a followup question from Isiah:

“Why were you harder on him and softer on your daughter?”

“He says that, that’s a lie,” Tim said. “It’s true,” T.J. responded.

“My daughter was an undefeated state championship. He lost in the state championship. We lost two games. So, undefeated…,” Tim said with a shrug. “... He played great, but we didn’t win it… The truth hurts… And now she’s with the Mercury and I couldn’t be more proud to say, ‘I have a son in the NBA and I have a daughter in the WNBA. This is a dream come true. And I’m going to OKC for my son to play in a championship game and win the world championship.”