NBA finals go to game seven for first time since 2016 as Indiana Pacers beat Oklahoma City Thunder
Fuelled by defence, depth and defiance, the Indiana Pacers stormed to a 108-91 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, levelling the
NBA
finals at three games apiece and setting up a decisive Game 7 in Oklahoma City.
Obi Toppin came off the bench to score 20 points, Andrew Nembhard added 17 points with four assists and Pascal Siakam had 16 points and 13 rebounds as Indiana bounced back from consecutive losses. Tyrese Haliburton, cleared to play only hours before tipoff due to a strained right calf, delivered 14 points, five assists and two steals in 22 high-impact minutes.
'We just wanted to protect our court,' Haliburton said. 'We didn't want to see those guys celebrate a championship on our home floor. Backs against the wall, we just responded. So many different guys chipped in. It was a whole team effort. Really proud of this group.'
Indiana missed their first eight shots and quickly fell behind 10-2. But the Pacers flipped the game with a relentless two-way surge that spanned the second and third quarters. They outscored the Thunder 68-32 in that stretch and led by as many as 31 points early in the fourth. It was their first double-digit win of the series and the Thunder's second-largest deficit of the season.
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this angle of Pascal Siakam's poster dunk is incredible.
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers)
The Pacers dominated across the box score. They forced 21 turnovers – including eight by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – and turned those into 19 points. They held the Thunder to just 8-for-30 (26.7 per cent) from beyond the arc, outrebounded them 46-41, and led in fast-break points 22-11. TJ McConnell stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals, while Ben Sheppard added five points, five boards and a made three-pointer off the bench.
Haliburton, who had finished with four points in Game 5, helped ignite a 30-9 run late in the second quarter with two threes, a steal and an assist to Siakam for a transition dunk. He also buried a deep three late in the first quarter to put Indiana up 24-17, their first real cushion of the night. Siakam followed up his dunk with an 18-foot jumper just before the halftime buzzer, giving Indiana a 64-42 lead.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the newly minted Most Valuable Player, finished with a quiet 21 points. Jalen Williams, who erupted for 40 points in Game 5, was held to 16 on Thursday. The Thunder's usual defensive disruptiveness was absent and coach Mark Daigneault pulled his starters at the start of the fourth quarter.
Now the series shifts to a winner-take-all Game 7 in Oklahoma City on Sunday night, marking the first time the NBA finals has gone the distance since 2016. Home teams are 15-4 in such games, though the Thunder franchise suffered one of those rare defeats as the Seattle Supersonics in 1978. – Guardian
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