Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Pacers stunned the Thunder, seizing a 1-0 lead in the Finals

The Pacers muffled the roars inside the cavernous Paycom Center with a 12-2 run in crunch time, ripping victory from the Thunder’s grasp to take a 1-0 lead in the Finals.  

The Thunder were in control for 45 minutes as their instruments of destruction dismantled defenders and held the Pacers’ half-court attack to 97.9 points per 100 plays, good enough for the 53rd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.

OKC’s coach, Mark Daigneault, said the game was a starting point, not an endpoint, and his team needs to improve in Game 2.

The Thunder’s first change was inserting Cason Wallace for Isaiah Hartenstein in the starting lineup. Their pressure forced nine first-quarter turnovers, breaking Indiana’s rhythm like missed notes on the strings, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stabbed the paint thrice, beating Myles Turner and Andrew Nembhard on the dribble.  

They had a nine-point lead going into frame two and ended the half up a dozen, products of implacable hassling, raising Indiana’s turnover count to 19, Lu Dort’s three trifectas, and SGA nailing a pair of jumpers plus dribbling left through the lane for a scoop.

At intermission, the Pacers had four fewer field goals than giveaways. The Thunder took 18 more first-half shots and had nine points on off turnovers. Daigneault said, “We didn’t get the kind of juice for that squeeze that we normally do when we turn teams over…”

Then their defense started to crack in the last minute of the third quarter, giving up corner triples to Thomas Bryant and Pascal Siakam. SGA subsequently connected on a pull-up 3-pointer on the next possession, putting the Thunder up nine going into the fourth quarter. 

The Thunder opened the period on a 12-3 run, which included Jalen Williams’ pick-6 in their own territory, pushing the advantage to 15. OKC’s largest lead of the evening compelled coach Rick Carlisle to call a stoppage, and the Pacers followed up with a flurry, cutting the edge to eight with under eight minutes left. Then they let Indiana get within one point after Obi Toppin, Turner and Andrew Nembhard made 3-pointers, and Siakam had a key putback.

The Thunder were like a boxer who couldn’t put down a hurt opponent. SGA, guarded by Nembhard, missed a pull-up jumper with 11 seconds left, and Aaron Nesmith flew in for the miss. Next, Haliburton dribbled up the court, dropping a 21-foot pull-up shot on the right side, leaving .3 seconds remaining. He later said at the on-court interview that, “Coach trusts us in those moments to not call timeouts…”

The Pacers won 111-110 after Turner denied the lob to Chet Holmgren. They made 46.2% of 3-point attempts, their bench outscored OKC’s 39-28, and they never led until Haliburton’s jumper. Carlisle said, “We’ve had a lot of experience in these kinds of games and our guys have a real good feel for what it’s all about: giving ourselves a chance, and we got fortunate but made plays.”

The winner of Game 1 of the Finals on the road wins the series 44.4% of the time, per the NBA’s Facts and Figures. 

Game 2 is on Sunday.