In the first half of Game 1 against the OKC Thunder, the Indiana Pacers looked rattled like the nerves were hitting them hard in what was the first NBA Finals game for most of the roster.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” Tyrese Haliburton said of feeling the nerves early in his first NBA Finals game. “I felt like I was a little jittery in the first quarter. Getting off the ball quick. Flying off ball screens with no real setup. I felt that myself. So I’ll admit that I felt that way. So I’m sure other guys felt that way.”
Most of the team admitted on media day that it hadn’t really hit them yet that they were about to play in the Finals. It hit them hard at the start of the game in one of the loudest environments in the league.
The nervous energy manifested clearly with a lack of ball security. In the first half, the Pacers were more likely to turn the ball over than make a shot (19-15). Myles Turner had four first-half turnovers and was getting the ball ripped away immediately off of rebounds when he brought it down even slightly and passes stolen away at his knees as he urged his teammates to throw it higher. Obi Toppin had three turnovers himself by throwing passes beyond half court an all the way back to Indiana. Aaron Nesmith had four more as well by driving into crowds against a defense that thrives at taking the ball away, being called for an offensive foul, and stepping out of bounds on the perimeter. 11 of their 19 turnovers were from those three players.
“Well, obviously we know we turned the ball over way too much,” Pascal Siakam, one of the only Pacers that didn’t look phased by the moment early on. “It’s just not who we are but I mean credit to their defense, like they are just on another level in terms of just disrupting the game and making mistakes and stuff.”
What saved them from what felt like should have been a 25-point halftime deficit was that the Thunder were unable to capitalize on those turnovers themselves, scoring just 9 points on the 19 turnovers in the first half and only 2 points on the six in the second half. Despite 14 of the turnovers being live-ball steals. Meanwhile, the Pacers were slowly settling in, gaining traction against the incredible Thunder defense as the game went on, scoring more points in each successive quarter, and consistently hitting a higher percentage of their shots than OKC even while they couldn’t get up nearly as many. And if you let the Pacers hang around, they tend to make you pay for it.
“I think that we just knew we had to value the ball a lot more,” Turner said of the second half. “We started to put two hands, two eyes on the ball, whoever’s passing started to keep the ball high. It was just all the elementary stuff. Sometimes that’s what it’s about in this game is going back to fundamentals.”
In the fourth quarter as the Pacers made their push, it was the same players that felt like they were feeling the weight of the moment in this championship round that really rose to the moment.
Obi Toppin, who hit critical shots all night with the second most points on the team with 17, hit both of his 3-point attempts and assisted on another.
“Man, just his confidence never shook,” Turner said of Toppin. “He started the game with two or three turnovers and what not and he was able to make an impact, hit a couple threes right after that. Defensively was able to move his feet and get out and run. He’s someone that’s very important to our system. I think it was a huge confidence boost for him, especially Game 1.”
“I’ve worked my whole life to be in the position I am right now,” Toppin said. “Got great people around me who trust me as well as me trusting them, so just go out there and play basketball.”
Aaron Nesmith hit a difficult corner triple off movement that created a look out of nothing as Toppin was going nowhere at the end of the shot clock and grabbed four defensive rebounds including the most important one of the game that set up Tyrese Haliburton’s latest game winner.
Turner scored 8 of his 15 points in the final quarter including a side-step stepback 3 that banked in with 6 minutes left that cut the lead to four and a mid-range pick and pop from the elbow that kept the deficit at four immediately following that play as well. He caused enough problems for the Thunder defensively that OKC was just 10 for 27 at the rim while he was on the floor. OKC went super small to close the game partially because Turner posed such a threat and Carlisle closed small with Siakam and Toppin.
“Confidence, confidence, confidence,” Turner said of bouncing back from a rough first half with ugly turnovers. “Supreme confidence in myself. I’ve worked my entire life to get to this stage, so there’s no holding back. When I saw opportunities, I was going to be as aggressive as possible and I was able to hit two big shots or you know, whatever you want to call it. It’s just supreme confidence in myself.”
This play right here was when the Pacers black magic activated like the Winter Soldier.
You could feel the weather changing, the ground shaking, your body feeling lighter, and your eyes twitching once Myles Turner banked in this 3 pointer. pic.twitter.com/fnbbTatJDh
— 🎩 (@HR_6IX) June 6, 2025
Now, the Pacers will look ahead to Game 2 in a similar situation they’ve been in on the road for the third straight series while being up 1-0 and looking to get greedy. After coming up with a win with a stat sheet that screams blowout loss, they know they’ve got plenty to work on and they know how valuable a second win would be in Game 2.
“Another big comeback but there’s a lot more work to do. That’s just one game,” Haliburton said. “And this is the best team in the NBA, they don’t lose often. So we expect them to respond. We’ve got to be prepared for that.”
-#31-