In Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals, Indiana Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton hit an unbelievable game-winning jumper against the Oklahoma City Thunder with 0.3 seconds remaining.Â
Haliburton led the Pacers on an unbelievable comeback in Game 1. They were down by as many as 15 points a few minutes into the fourth quarter and came all the way back to stun the Thunderâs home crowd.Â
Haliburton didnât have a great game by his standards, scoring only 14 points, but the Pacers had a great team effort with 6 players on the team including all 5 starters hitting double figures.
Star forward Pascal Siakam led Indiana in scoring with 19 points, Miles Turner had 15, Andrew Nembhard and Haliburton each added 14, and Aaron Nesmith recorded 10 points.
Obi Toppin was extremely valuable for the Pacers off the bench, scoring 17 points and hitting 5 of his 8 three-point attempts.
And ultimately, despite the fact that he had a quieter game, Haliburton’s teammates trusted him to hit the biggest shot of the game when it mattered. Down 1 point 110-109, Head Coach Rick Carlisle didn’t call timeout and none of the Pacers on the floor panicked, leaving the game in the hands of their star.Â
Haliburton mentioned in his postgame interview that that is something the Pacers have talked about and practiced.
“Coach trusts us in those moments to not call timeouts,” Haliburton said. “Trusts me in those moments, the guys trust me, and [I] just tried to make a play.”
Haliburton rewarded that trust by hitting the tough shot when it mattered.Â
The game-winner is the kind of shot that will go down in NBA history, and fans who were watching the game live will never forget where they were when it happened.
Haliburton Was Fired Up Postgame
Tyrese Haliburton celebrated vehemently after hitting the shot and couldn’t stop smiling in his postgame press conference.
“Basketball is fun man, winning is fun,” Haliburton told sideline reporter Lisa Salters postgame. “That’s a great win for us.”
Haliburton deflected all of the credit for the victory to his Pacers teammates, who he was clearly just as fired up for as himself in that moment.
“We’re a resilient group,” Haliburton said. “Just really proud of this group.”
He even went as far as to credit their superb effort to their relationships with one another, and their belief in one another.
“We keep believing and we stay together,” Haliburton said.
Throughout Game 1, during the winning shot and even during the postgame interview, Haliburton showcased the blend of skill, selfishness, and joy that has made him such a popular NBA superstar and has elevated his team to the 2025 NBA Finals.
Can the Thunder Recover?Â
Despite a 39-point outing from superstar guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder find themselves down 1-0 in the NBA Finals.
They will have a much tougher road to winning the series going forward because they have essentially lost their home-court advantage; they now need to win at least one game on the road in Indiana to win the series.
The good news for Thunder fans is that their team had a great record on the road this season. Their 32-8 mark was second best in the NBA, only slightly worse than the Boston Celtics who had a 33-8 clip.
They will likely need more production from Gilgeous-Alexander’s supporting cast to match the Pacers’ total team effort and take control of the series.
After such an entertaining matchup in Game 1, NBA fans will be glued to their screens to see if the Thunder can do it.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Tyrese Haliburton Shocks The World With Historic NBA Finals Moment appeared first on Heavy Sports.