OKLAHOMA CITY — It was a recreation that they did every little thing to win till they misplaced it. Or extra precisely, till the Indiana Pacers received it.
The Pacers arrived in Oklahoma Metropolis as underdogs in opposition to the 68-win Thunder who had adopted up their dominant common season by largely steamrolling their means into the NBA Finals, and for a lot of Recreation 1 on the Paycom Heart, the 2 groups performed to kind.
In a matchup of considered one of NBA’s most scientific offences — the Pacers turned it over simply 13.2 instances per recreation in the course of the common season regardless of taking part in a peak velocity every time doable — and the NBA’s most tenacious ballhawks — the Thunder led the league in pressured turnovers with 18 a recreation — Oklahoma Metropolis was in a position to impose its will.
They pressured the Pacers into 25 turnovers whereas making solely six of their very own.
The plus-19 turnover benefit was the Thunder’s largest by way of 17 playoff video games and their second-largest on the season.
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The Thunder have been 20-2 this season when recording at the least 20 opponent turnovers and 6-0 within the playoffs earlier than Thursday evening. After they had 25 or extra opponent turnovers within the common season, they received the video games by a median of 18 factors. Their earlier excessive in the course of the post-season was after they had 24 opponent turnovers in opposition to the Memphis Grizzlies and received by 51.
However the Pacers aren’t like anybody else the Thunder have performed throughout their playoff run. They’re a group that thrives on adversity, just like the 15-point deficit they have been trailing by with 9:42 left within the fourth quarter of Recreation 1.
They’d been trailing by double figures for the overwhelming majority of the sport.
Indiana is just not a group that appears bothered by such statistical improbabilities, and by the point the horn sounded, the Pacers had earned their fifth comeback from down 15 or extra in 17 playoff begins, this one placing them up 1-0 and securing them homecourt benefit for the remainder of the Finals.
As soon as once more it was Tyrese Haliburton working his magic and he shrugged off an in any other case odd night by his requirements (14 factors, 6 assists, three turnovers) to weave his means by way of the Thunder defence earlier than pulling up from 21 ft for the sport winner with 0.3 seconds left, slamming the automobile door on the Thunder’s grabby fingers for the wholly surprising 111-110 win.
“I do not know. I do not know. I believe we’re only a actually resilient group,” mentioned Haliburton of the Pacers’ penchant for playoff comebacks. “We do only a nice job of sticking in and simply settling into the sport.
“You recognize, by way of the course of the sport, it stored getting — it felt prefer it might get ugly, who is aware of the place this recreation is heading. I believed we did an awesome job of simply strolling them down. When it will get to fifteen, you possibly can panic, or you possibly can speak about ‘how can we get it to 10 and the way can we get it to 5 and (go) from there.’”
For the Thunder, the hope is that the loss is merely a missed alternative somewhat than a important mistake. The final time the Thunder misplaced a playoff recreation they’d managed from begin to end — the Pacers’ first lead got here on Haliburton’s recreation winner — was when Aaron Gordon stole Recreation 1 of the second spherical from them with a buzzer-beating putback on behalf of the Denver Nuggets. That helped Denver push the Thunder to seven video games, however OKC prevailed.
There isn’t any assure the Thunder may have the chance to study from their errors once more, not in opposition to a group as opportunistic because the Pacers.
“We simply acquired to give attention to being higher,” mentioned Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. “The sequence is not first to at least one, it is first to 4. We have now 4 extra video games to get, they’ve three. That is simply the place we’re. We acquired to know that, and we acquired to get to 4 earlier than they get to a few, if we need to win the NBA championship. It is that straightforward. It isn’t rocket science. We misplaced Recreation 1. We have now to be higher.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was fairly darn good in his NBA Finals debut. He completed with 38 factors, 5 rebounds, three assists and three steals, though his 14-of-30 capturing was not his typical customary for effectivity. He had a very good look from 14 ft with 11 seconds left that might have put OKC up by three. The Thunder had retained the ball after the Pacers used their coach’s problem when it was dominated that Pascal Siakam (19 factors, 10 rebounds) had fallen out of bounds after grabbing the rebound when Thunder wing Jalen Williams missed a floater.
Gilgeous-Alexander acquired some robust help from fellow Canadian Olympic group member Lu Dort, who was the Thunder’s subsequent most dependable offensive menace by way of the primary three quarters. The Montreal native hit all 5 of his threes — on seven makes an attempt — for 15 factors.
He additionally contributed 4 of the Thunder’s 14 steals and blocked two pictures, together with climbing the ladder for a spectacular contest of high-flying Aaron Nesmith after Indiana had minimize the Thunder’s result in three with 1:33 to play.
Entrance and centre within the Pacers’ comeback was one other Canadian Olympian, Andrew Nembhard, who scored eight of his 14 factors and counted three of his six assists in the course of the Pacers’ comeback push within the fourth, together with a step-back three over Gilgeous-Alexander with 1:59 left that minimize the Thunder’s result in three.
Nembhard was the first defender on Gilgeous-Alexander all evening and held his personal as a lot as anybody can in opposition to him. He was current with out fouling Gilgeous-Alexander’s last shot.
“He made performs at each ends,” mentioned Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. “The one cease on Shai on the finish was a giant play, after which we acquired the rebound. There was (his) step-back three, which was a giant momentum play. I believe it went from six to a few.
“And there was an and-one, he acquired to the rim, I do not know what level it was within the fourth (with 9:27 left, kicking off the Pacers’ comeback), however numerous huge performs and you have to have playmakers in opposition to Oklahoma Metropolis. They make it so troublesome defensively.”
Maybe the largest factor working within the Pacers’ favour is that even after making 20 of their turnovers within the first half, they have been solely down 57-45 because the Thunder, maybe exhibiting a few of their Finals jitters, scored solely 9 factors off these 20 takeaways.
“I believe clearly whenever you flip the ball over that a lot, you count on to be down 20-plus,” mentioned Siakam. “So the truth that we have been nonetheless within the recreation only for us is simply … follow the sport plan and handle the turnovers, which is tough in opposition to a group like that, particularly with the tempo we play with.”
The surroundings was one other ingredient that ought to have labored within the Thunder’s favour, however didn’t.
Oklahoma Metropolis hadn’t hosted a Finals recreation since 2012 when James Harden was only a man with a beard who got here off the bench behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, as a substitute of The Beard, and considered one of three eventual MVPs the Thunder had on the roster on the time.
Main as much as the tip, the power inside Paycom Centre was palpable. Everybody within the area was clad completely in white. All of them had noise makers that they have been slapping on their knees to the rhythm of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” and music after music after that. There was no scoreboard messaging or in-arena announcers exhorting something. It was 18,203 individuals locked in on one process, being as loud and engaged as doable.
“Look, this area is insanity. I imply, that is, from a highway perspective, this was — the decibels have been insane,” mentioned Carlisle, who was final within the Finals when he led the Dallas Mavericks to an upset over the Miami Warmth in 2011. “There’s quite a bit occurring. You recognize, (and we’re) grateful to hold in and provides ourselves an opportunity in the long run, however now we have to maintain our eye on the ball.”
If they will preserve higher maintain of it — they solely made 5 of their turnovers within the second half, which needs to be encouraging — they may not should go right down to the wire with OKC to get a win. However they now have the arrogance going into Recreation 2 that in the event that they should, they will.
