Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle talks with referee Ben Taylor following a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second half during game two of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center.
As the Indiana Pacers lost in Game 2 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, 127-103, one can point to multiple aspects throughout the game that led to the team's demise. While the Pacers suffered the blowout loss to the Thunder, head coach Rick Carlisle gave his thoughts about the team's performance, that was short and straight to the point.
After an exciting ending to Game 1, which featured Tyrese Haliburton hitting the go-ahead shot to give them the comeback win, Indiana in Game 2 was dominated by a hungry Oklahoma City team. When Carlisle was asked how he felt the team handled the increased physicality from the Thunder, he didn't waste too much time with his answer via video from X, formerly Twitter, user “@ohnohedidnt24.”
“Not well,” Carlisle said.
Rick Carlisle on how his team handled OKC's physicality: “Not well” pic.twitter.com/T5XstOKshE — Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) June 9, 2025
Carlisle would open his post-game press conference by speaking about it now, back-to-back contests with struggles in the first half, according to the team's YouTube page.
“Another bad first half,” Carlisle said after Indiana scored 41 points in the first half compared to Oklahoma City's 59. “Obviously, it was a big problem, and we just played poorly. A little better in the second half, but you can’t be a team that’s reactive and expect to be successful or have consistency. So, we’re going to have to feel a lot better on Wednesday.”
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Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner (33) drives to the basket against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) during the first quarter during game two of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center.
during the third quarter of game two of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) brings the ball up court past Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin (00) during the third quarter during game one of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center.
Rick Carlisle speaks on Tyrese Haliburton, rest of Pacers
Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
With the loss, there was conversation around the frustrating game from the Pacers' star in Haliburton, who totaled 17 points, scoring 12 in the final period. Also having six assists, there are fingers pointed to Haliburton for the loss, but Carlisle would come to his defense, saying that “everybody's got to do more” and the team works best as an “ecosystem.”
“There's a lot more to the game than just scoring. Everybody's got to do more,” Carlisle said. “Starts with the best players, starts with Tyrese and Pascal and Myles, and then it goes from there. People shouldn't just look at his points and assists and judge how he played or judge how any of our guys played just on that, that's not how our team is built, We're an ecoystem that has to function together and we gotta score enough points to win the game, but who gets them and how thety get them, not important.”
At any rate, the series is now tied at one win apiece, with Game 3 taking place in Indiana as the team looks for the first championship in franchise history.