Pacers proving they won’t be pushover in Finals

BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN - Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) and forward 

Aaron Nesmith (23) celebrate after Haliburton made the go-ahead basket to give 

Indiana a one-point lead in the final second of Game 1 against the Thunder.

8 Jun 2025 - The Oklahoman

Jordan Davis The Oklahoman USA TODAY NETWORK

A brief celebration unfolded in the Indiana Pacers' locker room deep inside Paycom Center on Thursday night.

Tyrese Haliburton had just delivered his third game-winning shot of the playoffs — a dagger with 0.3 seconds left — to lift Indiana to a stunning 111-110 win over the OKC Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

But the joy was short-lived. Smiles faded. The room fell quiet. Reality set in.

The opening act of a best-of-seven series had just ended, and the Pacers understood the weight of what lies ahead.

“We haven't been celebrating a whole lot with anything, really,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “Some of that is our experience last year. Some of it is Pascal having been through this kind of a run and getting to the Finals before. We know we have a lot of work to do, and we have to play a lot better.”

It was a sobering moment for Oklahoma City and its fans.

The Thunder, one of the most dominant teams in recent NBA history, had been stunned at home. A comeback win by Indiana on the road — against a 68win team with a top-three offense and defense — left both fans and pundits asking the same question:

Could the Pacers actually pull this off?

And could they do it against a team many see as the NBA's next dynasty?

The answer is complicated, but increasingly difficult to dismiss.

It's a question that bodes reasonable pushback on both sides. Through it all, it appears that Indiana has all of the ingredients to pull off one of the biggest upsets in NBA Finals history.

The Pacers have their closer in Haliburton, who is now 11 for 12 on shots to tie or take the lead in the final two minutes this season. Alongside him, Indiana has battle-tested veterans like Pascal Siakam and a top coach in Carlisle, both of whom already own championship rings.

But more than talent, Indiana's most defining trait might be its resilience.

“You've got to have guys that have kind of been in this league for a long time to help steady the negative parts of the game,” 10th-year Pacers guard TJ McConnell said. “(Carlisle) really instilled in us that no game is over until it's over, and fight to the final buzzer no matter the score.”

That mindset has carried them through consecutive postseasons that, to some, still feels tainted by injuries to key opponents.

The Pacers have been doubted by many dating back to last season, when their 2024 Eastern Conference finals run ended with a 4-0 sweep by the eventual champion Boston Celtics.

Even that run was viewed as a fluke, as Indiana defeated the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Milwaukee Bucks in the opening round and a New York Knicks team battling various injuries in the second round.

The same can be said about this postseason run, with the Bucks yet again missing a star with Damian Lillard going down with an Achilles injury and Cleveland missing All-Stars Darius Garland and Evan Mobley in several games.

But doubt can only go so far. This is the NBA Finals now.

“You come into the year with all the talk around how it was a fluke,” Haliburton said after Game 1. “You have an unsuccessful first couple months and now it's easy for everyone to clown you and talk about you in a negative way, and I think as a group we take everything personal as a group. It's not just me. It's everybody. I just think we do a great job of taking things personal and that gives this group more confidence.”

Of all the comebacks Indiana has pulled off this postseason, Thursday's may be the most significant.

Unlike their previous opponents, the Thunder is fully healthy. It's deep, versatile and elite on both ends of the floor. It doesn't lack rim protection or switchable defenders. It's not limping to the finish line — it's sprinting.

Yet, the Pacers still found a way. “We're battle-tested,” Pacers center Myles Turner said. “We do well with adversity. I think we thrive in adversity. I think that this team has not been a cupcake run for us. For the past, really, four years, we've really built towards this moment.

“I think that, more than anything, the last two months of the season we were in a position quite a bit where we had to fight from behind and come back. And when you have that mock test coming into the final test being here, it's only going to help you.”

OKC opened the series as massive betting favorites, in fact, the biggest since the 2018 NBA Finals between the Cavaliers and Warriors.

The Pacers had +560 odds to win the series ahead of Game 1 via FanDuel Sportsbook. After stealing the series opener on the road, those odds have narrowed closer in Indiana's favor to +265.

Still, none of that will matter when the ball tips in Game 2 on Sunday.

OKC can feel its back against the wall, and that may be a good thing for the Thunder.

The loss was certainly a gut punch, but not a knockout.

“We just got to focus on being better,” Thunder star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “The series isn't first to one, it's first to four. We have four more games to get, they have three. That's just where we are. We got to understand that and we got to get to four before they get to three, if we want to win the NBA championship.”