Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers gave the reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a lesson that he’ll never forget.
Haliburton buried a jumper from the right-top corner with 0.3 seconds left as the Indiana Pacers escaped with a 111-110 win over a stunned Oklahoma City Thunder and their fans in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, June 5, at Paycom Center.
Haliburton’s fourth game-winning or tying shot in this wild Pacers postseason run came on the heels of a Gilgeous-Alexander miss with 11 seconds left that could have given the Thunder a 3-point cushion.
“It happened so fast. I feel like we got matched,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Haliburton’s game-winning shot. “He got down going right, pulled up from the middy, and knocked down the shot. I don’t know. It didn’t feel like anything crazy. He just made a play with time winding down.”
Pacers’ Furious Comeback
The Thunder were comfortably ahead by 15 early in the fourth quarter. But the Pacers are no strangers to mounting comebacks. They outscored the Thunder 32-16 the rest of the way to grab a 1-0 series lead.
“We had control of the game for the most part of it. Now it is a 48-minute game and they teach you that lesson more than anybody else in the league the hard way,” added Gilgeous-Alexander.
Haliburton only scored 14 points on 6-of-13 shots but he hit the most important basket of the game, which is all that mattered. He was one of the six Pacers who scored in double figures for a balanced scoring attack.
Gilgeous-Alexander was unstoppable with a game-high 38 points until the final 68 seconds, missing his final two shots that did the Thunder in.
Thunder Unfazed
Despite the Pacers’ stunner in Game 1, the Thunder are still the heavy favorites to win Game 2, scheduled for Sunday, June 8 in Oklahoma City, with the tip-off set for 8 p.m. on ABC.
The Thunders are -10.5 favorites as of Friday, June 6, at 30Bet, one of the top recommended casinos by About Slots.
If the Pacers have stunned their past opponents with such comeback wins and Haliburton heroics on their way to the NBA Finals, the Thunder have survived one before.
In the Western Conference semis against the Denver Nuggets, the Thunder lost Game 1 on Aaron Gordon’s game-winning 3-pointer. They rebounded and went on to win the series, 4-3.
“We’ve just got to focus on being better,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters after losing Game 1 of the NBA Finals to Indiana. “The series isn’t first to one, it’s first to four. So we have four more games to get and they have three, and that’s just where we are. We’ve got to understand that and we’ve got to get to four before they get to three if we want to win an NBA Championship. And it’s that simple.”
The Thunder lost despite forcing the Pacers to 24 turnovers which led to more attempts, 98 to Indiana’s 82. But they shot themselves in the foot with an awful 39.8% shooting. They only 11-of-30 3-pointers.
“It’s not rocket science. We lost Game 1, we have to be better. … There are definitely areas to get better on both ends of the floor,” the reigning NBA MVP added. “That’s what the next two days are for, try to get better and try to come out here and be a better team for Game 2.”
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