Joe Vardon The Athletic
INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in nine years, there will be a Game 7 in the NBA Finals, and with it, a chance for the Indiana Pacers to pull off one of the greatest championship series upsets of all time.
Pascal Siakam produced maybe the most timely double-double of his career, given the stakes, Tyrese Haliburton fought through a strained right calf, and the Pacers kept their playoff identity as the comeback kings intact in a dominant, 108-91 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6.
Usually, Indiana digs itself out of big holes on the scoreboard, but on Thursday, the “comeback” was from the 3-2 series hole they had dug by losing the previous two games. With a win in Game 7 on Sunday, the Pacers would not only claim their first NBA title, they would be just the third champion in history to enter the tournament as something lower than a No. 3 seed.
Indiana was fourth in the East when the playoffs started. The 1969 Celtics were a four seed, and the 1995 Rockets won it all as a six seed. The finals began with the Pacers as the heaviest underdog in the finals since 2004.
Game 7 is at 8 p.m. Eastern Sunday in Oklahoma City. This is the first time the NBA Finals reached a seventh game since the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
There was no single hero for the Pacers on Thursday because too many of them were good. Obi Toppin was the team’s leading scorer with 20 points and six rebounds off the bench. Andrew Nembhard scored 17 and also contributed four assists and three steals. Siakam was right behind him with 16 points and 13 rebounds. He would seem to be in the driver’s seat for series MVP should Indiana finish this off on Sunday.
Haliburton recovered from his clunker (and injury) in Game 5 with 14 points, five assists and two steals in 23 minutes. He shot 5 of 13. The Pacers bench owned its counterpart – in addition to Toppin’s great game, T.J. McConnell scored 12 points with nine rebounds and six assists.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 points for the Thunder. Jalen Williams added 16 points and Isaiah Hartenstein contributed 10 points. Chet Holmgren shot just 2 of 9 from the field and finished with four points. No Oklahoma City starter played in the fourth quarter of this blowout – as the team was down 30 through three quarters.
Haliburton was cleared to play after passing tests and consulting with team doctors Thursday afternoon. He was moving well in the first quarter but his shot remained a mystery – he missed his first three shots (after missing all six in Game 5) before a 3-pointer finally fell for him with 4:16 left in the period for a 24-17 advantage. It only got better from there (or worse, depending on your basketball persuasion).
Haliburton launched one from the “F” in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, written on the court well behind the 3-point line, and splashed it. He stole the ball from Williams and threaded a lookaway pass to Siakam in transition for a nasty, soul-sucking dunk over Williams and Lu Dort. For good measure, Siakam buried an 18-footer just before time ran out in the first half, and the Pacers took a 64-42 lead into the locker room. It was easily Indiana’s largest lead in any game this series so far, forged by the Pacers outscoring the Thunder in the quarter, 36-17.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams accounted for all but 11 of Oklahoma City’s points in the first half. The Pacers outscored the Thunder by 25 – twenty-five! – in the first two quarters when Haliburton was on the court.
Oklahoma City made a lineup change to try to kickstart a comeback, swapping out big man Hartenstein (not the first time that’s happened this series) for wing defender Alex Caruso. And then the Thunder didn’t score for five minutes and three seconds – on a dunk by Hartenstein. That’s how swell things went for the Thunder. They shot 4 of 17 in the third quarter (this is not how you start a rally, folks), and Pacers backup Ben Sheppard’s 3-pointer at the buzzer made it 90-60 heading to the fourth.
The good news for the Thunder: home teams are 15-4 in Game 7s in the finals, and Sunday’s game is of course in Oklahoma. The Thunder were, after all, a 68-win team that won the West by 16 games and posted the best overall record. They earned the right to play at home in the most important game of the season.
The bad? Not only did the last home team in a Game 7 of the finals lose – but so did the Lakers, way back in 1969. To a No. 4 seed.
The Pacers will try to make history repeat itself.
### Backup point guards show up and out
McConnell believes playing hard is “a skill.”
The way he’s honed that skill has turned him into one of the Pacers’ top catalysts.
Ten years into his career, McConnell still competes as if he’s the undrafted guard out of Arizona just trying to make a roster. On Thursday, he was just trying to extend his team’s season. The Pacers’ backup point guard provided his usual all-out effort on both ends. McConnell jump-started the Pacers with his signature steal in the backcourt, which led to an Toppin 3 that gave Indiana a 21-15 lead in the first quarter, and then he called his own number.
The 33-year-old scored eight points in the second quarter, helping the Pacers build a 22-point halftime lead that ballooned to 31 points by the fourth quarter. McConnell finished with 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting with six assists and nine rebounds in 24 minutes.
Fellow guard Nembhard had a big game as well. After coughing up three brutal turnovers in the fourth quarter of Game 5, which allowed the Thunder to hang on for a win, Nembhard bounced back with a stellar performance in Game 6. The 2022 second-round pick scored 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting and dished out four assists. He also had three steals while holding his own against Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored his NBA Finals-low 21 points and had a game-high eight turnovers.
Sunday’s Game 7 will mark the 11th Game 7 in Pacers history. The franchise won its last Game 7 during the 2024 Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks, but they’re 4-6 all-time. _– James Boyd, The Athletic_
### Siakam’s impact
Although it was his second lowest-scoring game of the NBA Finals, Siakam delivered when the Pacers needed him most. Siakam posted his second double-double of these finals with 16 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and a block in the Game 6 win for Indiana.
While it was a collective effort from the Pacers, with six players scoring in double-figures, Siakam seemed to provide Indiana with a consistent combination of calm while also meeting the moment.
Siakam shot 6-for-14 from the field, leaving more to be desired from an efficiency standpoint, but the Pacers now have an opportunity to win their first NBA championship on Sunday. Siakam has reached the proverbial mountaintop of the NBA as an underdog before, when his former team, the Toronto Raptors, defeated the Golden State Warriors in 2019.
He’ll need to rely on every bit of the championship experience he’s gained to ensure the Pacers meet the moment and win a Game 7 on the road in Oklahoma City on Sunday. _– Hunter Patterson, The Athletic_
### OKC offense disappears … again
This was the worst-case scenario for the Thunder. While most of the NBA world assumed the Thunder would close out the NBA Finals in Game 6 and hoist the first NBA title on Thursday night, no one would have been shocked if the Indiana Pacers pulled off another gritty, late-game shocker to extend the series to Game 7.
Unfortunately for Oklahoma City, the Pacers didn’t need to dig deep for any late-game heroics to win Game 6. Thursday night’s 17-point triumph turned out to be the most lopsided victory by either team during these finals. A Thunder squad that looked like it finally broke through in Game 5 and solved some of the offensive issues that have plagued it throughout the playoffs registered maybe its most disjointed performance to date with the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the building. The confidence and connectivity that overwhelmed Indiana in Game 5 was nonexistent Thursday night. Through three quarters, the Thunder had six assists and 16 turnovers while shooting 3-of-20 from 3. They went into the fourth quarter down 30 points before deciding to sit their starters for the rest of the night.
Despite all the drama surrounding Haliburton’s injured calf coming into the game, the Pacers came away looking more dangerous than ever. Now, the Thunder have to prepare for Game 7 in their home arena with the weight of the world on their shoulders. If the shots aren’t falling early in Game 7, the stress in Paycom Center will be at an all-time high. The fear of blowing an NBA Finals that was once at their fingertips will be hard to ignore.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the Pacers will have the wind at their back, knowing one more miracle win would cement them as one of the most unlikely NBA champions ever. If there’s one team you don’t want to face with history on the line, it has to be the Pacers, right? This Thunder team has responded over and over again when their backs have been against the wall during this playoff run. Game 7 will be the biggest test any of them has ever faced. _– Will Guillory, The Athletic_