OMG OMG OMG!!!!
The Indiana Pacers are playing for the NBA championship Sunday night!
Thursday was a wonderful night of professional basketball. At least if you are a Pacers fan. They started out slow, missing like their first 100 shots, and trailed 10–2. From then on it really wasn’t much of a game. The Pacers destroyed the Thunder in pretty much every way. Their defense was suffocating. They were ferocious rebounders. Their offense was locked in. It was the proverbial snowball turning into an avalanche, and the best team in the NBA this season was powerless to stop it. The final margin of 17 points hides that the Pacers were up by 30 at the end of the third quarter, when OKC effectively threw in the towel, sitting their starters the entire fourth quarter. I’m not sure that has ever happened in the NBA Finals.
It was even more satisfying given every minute since game five ended was spent worrying about Tyrese Haliburton’s health. I was of the opinion that if he was not 100%, the Pacers had no chance. He was not 100%. The Thunder had no chance. Sports are weird.
What was great about this performance was that it embodied everything that the Pacers are about. Obi Toppin was the leading scorer with a modest 20 points, four of which came very late against the OKC scrubs. Pascal Siakam had 16 points, 13 rebounds. Andrew Nembhard scored 17. TJ Freaking McConnell, man. The reserve guard had a ridiculous 12 point, 9 rebound, six assist, four steal night. The Thunder know he’s coming and every game he does things they can’t handle. No one was incredible, but everyone pitched in. What is also crazy is that the Pacers had two long cold stretches. They could have easily led by 40 or more before the third quarter ended.
Haliburton played and was fine, scoring 14 points. He didn’t do anything spectacular. Well, other than this ridiculous pass to Pascal Siakam on the break just before halftime:
I yelled, too.
The huge lead allowed Hali to sit most of the second half. I’m not sure if we can count on him being fully healthy Sunday, but at least he should be available.
The series will be decided in Oklahoma City. This was a perfect final game of the season in Indianapolis, an extended celebration for a team that has brought this city a tremendous amount of excitement and pride during the postseason. It’s been fun for the national media to discover, or re-discover I guess, how great a venue Gainbridge Fieldhouse is. That place was rocking every minute of each of the three games it hosted over the past week.
Anything can happen in a game seven. Given how this series has swung, and how much it swung Thursday, it’s hard not to fear a hard correction back towards the Thunder. SGA might score 45. Jalen Williams might score 45. They BOTH might score 45. The Thunder may find their defensive mojo and keep the Pacers from getting into their offense before there are five seconds left to shoot. They might run Indiana out of the building, flipping the script from last night. But as I’ve been saying for two months, never count this team out.
All that matters is that the Pacers have a shot. Forty-eight minutes left on this wild ride that began back in March on a crazy Haliburton shot in a regular season game against Milwaukee. The crowd chanted “‘Cers in Seven!” as the clock ran out Thursday. That’s not as ridiculous as it sounded two weeks ago.
BTW, S and I watched outside on our porch, probably the first time we’ve ever watched a Pacers game there. They don’t play many games in June so we don’t get this opportunity often. C had a bunch of friends over and they were kind of loud in the basement, the weather was nice, so we decided to stick to the outside TV. Same spot I watched the Gold Medal game in last summer’s Olympics. Yes, I am hoping for good weather Sunday so I can watch outside again.