OKLAHOMA CITY – Discouraged and encouraged.
Angry and optimistic.
Those were the emotions the Indiana Pacers felt throughout Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Discouraged and angry about their inability to protect the basketball, which led to 20 first-half turnovers.
“They are a menace defensively,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
Discouraged and angry that sloppy play allowed the Thunder to take a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
But encouraged and optimistic that they were really never out of the game and encouraged and optimistic that they were within a possession of tying or taking the lead late in the fourth quarter.
The Pacers led once in Game 1. When it mattered most.
Tyrese Haliburton’s 21-foot jump shot with 0.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter gave the Pacers a 111-110 victory Thursday, June 5, and a 1-0 series lead.
It left the Thunder and their fans stunned.
“The common denominator is them,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “That’s a really good team. Credit them for not only tonight but their run. They’ve had so many games like that that have seemed improbable. They just play with a great spirit, they keep coming, they made plays, made shots. They deserved to win by a point.’
It left Carlisle once again marveling at his team’s ability to just keep playing and see what the score is when the final horn sounds and marveling at Haliburton’s ability to make gigantic plays with the game on the line.
Game 1 was the Pacers’ fifth comeback victory from a deficit of 15 or more points in the 2025 NBA playoffs, the most by a team in a single postseason since 1998.
“We just said, ‘Hey, let’s just keep chipping away at the rock. Got to keep pounding the rock and just chip away and hang in,’ ” Carlisle said. “We had a lot of experience in these kinds of games, and our guys have a real good feel for what it’s all about, giving ourselves a chance, and we got fortunate but made plays.”
Teams and players make their own fortune, and the Pacers did that.
The Thunder led 108-99 with 2:52 remaining the fourth quarter. They made just one basket the rest of the game as the Pacers made play after play.
Andrew Nembhard made a 3-pointer that cut Oklahoma City’s lead to 108-105 at the 1:59 mark and his two free throws with 1:22 to go kept it a three-point game at 110-107. Pascal Siakam made it 110-109, and the Pacers forced NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into a miss with 11.1 seconds remaining.
Aaron Nesmith collected the rebound and gave the ball to Haliburton, setting up the winning shot.
‘I’m obviously confident in my ability and feel like if I can get to that spot, I feel very comfortable in there,’ Haliburton said. ‘Just it’s a shot I’ve worked on a million times and I’ll work on it a million times more. Just have confidence in that shot.’
It was the fourth time in the playoffs that Haliburton made a shot that won a game or sent a game to overtime.
“We never think the game is over,” Haliburton said. “Never.”
(This story was updated with additional information.)
Follow NBA columnist Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt