The Indiana Pacers face off in a championship-deciding Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In their NBA history, the Pacers have an all-time of 4-6 in Game 7s, with nine of the ten coming on the road where they are 3-6.
“It’s exciting, man,” Tyrese Haliburton said after the Pacers win in Game 6. “As a basketball fan, there’s nothing like a Game 7. There’s nothing like a Game 7 in the NBA Finals. Dreamed of being in this situation my whole life. So to be here is really exciting.”
This will be their first Game 7 in the NBA Finals with the Larry O’Brien trophy on the line for both teams. Their only previous NBA Finals appearance ended in six games with a loss to the Kobe and Shaq Lakers. The Pacers did have a Game 7 in the ABA Finals to win their final ABA title as they beat the Kentucky Colonels on the road in Louisville by a 88-81 final score.
The last Game 7 for Indiana in a major finals (ABA or NBA) came in the 1973 ABA Finals against the Kentucky Colonels & Pacers won the Championship #YesCers
Never Forget these names :
Bob Arnzen
Roger Brown
Don Buse
Mel Daniels
Donnie Freeman
Darnell Hillman
Gus Johnson… pic.twitter.com/26s5cAD3sP
— Yvan Montgury, The Gravedigger (@YvanMontgury) June 20, 2025
“To play the last day possible of the season, Game 7, you dream about that as a kid,” TJ McConnell said. “So I know we have to be ready for the challenge.”
Here’s a brief overview of each winner-take-all playoff game in their NBA History:
1994 Eastern Conference Finals
Indiana Pacers 90, New York Knicks 94
In the first of the team’s Game 7s in their NBA history, the Pacers and Knicks faced off in the playoffs for the second-straight season. One of the epic series battles chronicled in one of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries: Winning Time. The Pacers came up short in this one, losing 94-90. Reggie Miller led both teams in scoring with 25 points but airballed a potential game winner with less than five seconds left after Patrick Ewing gave the Knicks the lead with a tip dunk (offensive goaltending) on the previous possession. The referees called a bizarre flagrant penalty that allowed the Knicks to push their lead to 4 instead of it remaining a one-possession game.
Game 7 between the Knicks and Pacers allows me to resurface one of the most jaw-dropping moments in NBA history, when the refs called a flagrant foul on Reggie Miller in the final seconds of 1994’s version. A one-point game. pic.twitter.com/VhpkAlqw35
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) May 18, 2024
Full highlights here.
1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals
Indiana Pacers 97, New York Knicks 95
The Pacers beat their arch-nemesis of the 90s for the first time in the playoffs in a road win in Game 7 in the third playoff meeting between the two teams. Patrick Ewing missed a game-tying layup at the buzzer. Reggie Miller led the way for the Pacers with 29 points. “Ding dong the witch is dead” Mark Boyle said as the buzzer sounded with Indiana advancing to the conference finals. This was the last time the Knicks played in a Game 7.
1995 Eastern Conference Finals
Indiana Pacers 81, Orlando Magic 105
The Pacers blew out the Magic in Game 6 but received the same treatment in Game 7. Dale Davis had 15 points and 14 rebounds, but the Pacers were no match in this game for the dynamic duo of Shaq and Penny who combined for 42 points.
1998 Eastern Conference Finals
Indiana Pacers 83, Chicago Bulls 88
The Pacers took the 2-time defending champions all the way to Game 7 but came up short. Reggie Miller scored an efficient 22 points, but Michael Jordan nearly had a triple double with 28/9/8 to finish the only time Jordan and Miller ever met in the playoffs. The Pacers were up 3 with about six minutes left when the Bulls won a crucial tip ball, then got an offensive rebound and Steve Kerr tied the game with a 3. That swung the momentum to the Bulls and the Pacers never quite got it back.
2005 Eastern Conference First Round
Indiana Pacers 97, Boston Celtics 70
The lower-seeded Pacers pulled off the upset in the year of the Brawl and Reggie Miller’s final season. Stephen Jackson led the Pacers in scoring with 24 points and it was clear it was his night as his first shot was a corner 3-pointer that bounced high off the rim and fell in. The Pacers won three times on the road in the series, and this was the second of three times the Pacers won on the road in a Game 7.
2013 Eastern Conference Finals
Miami Heat 99, Indiana Pacers 76
The Pacers kept it close for a quarter, but the LeBron James-led Heat ran away in the second quarter outscoring the Pacers 33-16 and it was never a game after that. Leading scorer for the Pacers was Roy Hibbert with 18. A disappointing ending to a fantastic series.
2014 Eastern Conference First Round
Indiana Pacers 92, Atlanta Hawks 80
In their most recent Game 7 win prior to last season, the Pacers avoided a historic collapse by finally beating the 8-seeded Hawks. Paul George led the Pacers with 30 points as they won their second straight after falling behind 2-3 in the series.
2016 Eastern Conference First Round
Indiana Pacers 84, Toronto Raptors 8 9
The Indiana Pacers had a starting lineup of George Hill, Monta Ellis, Paul George, a rookie Myles Turner, and Ian Mahimni. The 7-seed Pacers were behind by double digits for much of the second half and made a big run late to get within three points twice as the Raptors scored just 11 points in the final quarter. However, three turnovers in the final two minutes caused the rally to fall short. Paul George had 26 points and 12 rebounds. DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points on 10 of 32 shooting to lead the Raptors as they finally got out of the first round with that Lowry/DeRozan core.
2018 Eastern Conference First Round
Indiana Pacers 101, Cleveland Cavaliers 105
The incredible Victor Oladipo season ended with a Game 7 loss to LeBron James and the Cavaliers. The Pacers fell behind by as much as 14 points in the first half but they came back to take a 3-point lead halfway through the third quarter. The Cavaliers though stormed back and stayed ahead around 8 points for the remainder of the game. Tristan Thompson, improbably now a Pacers legend, still gives me nightmares after being inserted into the starting lineup for this game (15 points and 10 rebounds). Myles Turner fouled out with about six minutes left on what could have been a big play as he fought for a rebound and put it in, much like Thompson had done to him in the game without getting called for a foul. LeBron scored 45. Victor Oladipo had 30 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals in defeat.
2024 Eastern Conference Semi-finals
Indiana Pacers 130, New York Knicks 109
The Indiana Pacers came out and couldn’t miss a shot. They shot 76% in the first half and really didn’t slow down all that much from there. Tyrese Haliburton looked like Reggie Miller, even jawing with a courtside fan in the first quarter. It was a dominating performance where the Knicks simply had no answers as they continued to suffer injuries including losing Jalen Brunson to a fractured hand in the second half. But the Pacers left no doubt, weathering the inevitable Knicks run to start the second half and pushing the lead back beyond 20. It was an incredible performance to advance to the conference finals last season.
Game 7. NBA Finals. Oklahoma City. Sunday, June 22nd. Here we go.
-#31-