The Oklahoma City Thunder had the advantage in Game 1 of the NBA Finals until they didn’t.
Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers did it again, sealing a wild 111-110 win over the Thunder and breaking the hearts of millions of OKC fans.
Following the game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander talked with ESPN about what went wrong.
He knows things ended badly, and it hurts, but he doesn’t think the final seconds of the game matter in the grand scheme of things.
“How you lose doesn’t really matter,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, whose 38 points were the third most in a Finals debut, according to ESPN Research. “Obviously it sucks — last-second shot, the energy in the arena and stuff like that. But we lost at the end of the day. We lost Game 1. We’ve lost Game 1 before. On the other side of that, we came out a better team. That’s our goal.”
So, the Thunder have a goal, but can they meet it?
They were the heavy favorites to win Thursday’s game.
Not only were they the top seed in the West this season, but the game was held on their home court.
Plus, they had an advantage for the entire game until the final seconds.
The end of the game was definitely very stinging, but that is not what Gilgeous-Alexander and his team are focused on.
Instead, they are attempting to figure out how to bounce back in a huge way in Game 2.
Because, simply put, they cannot face another defeat like that, especially not at home.
The Pacers have repeatedly shown that they can ruin things for their opponents in the last seconds of a game.
Will they do it again during Game 2, or can the Thunder get back on track?
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