The Pacers are once again the comeback kings. How will the Thunder respond?
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On this day in 1946, the National Basketball Association was founded. It happened at the Commodore Hotel in New York City. Despite the low ratings, it somehow managed to stick around. It's almost like the ratings conversation is kind of meaningless.
Pacers have new massive late-game comeback
The absolute worst thing you can do against the Pacers is have a double-digit, fourth-quarter lead. The Thunder, in their days of scouting to prepare for the NBA Finals, failed to recognize that. When the Thunder were up 15 points with less than 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, they should have known they had put themselves in great peril.
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The Pacers just can't be killed. I don't know what it is about them. You can't flap them. They're unflappable – even against the best defense in the NBA. Even against the most dominant team in the NBA. The Pacers just methodically and calmly start chipping away, just waiting for that moment to throw a dagger into the hearts of their opponents and satisfy some oddly gratification of sending the opposing crowd home in utter shock.
I'm going to paint this scenario for you, and you tell me how much you think the Thunder would win this game by:
You'd probably guess it was yet another 30-point victory for the Thunder, but the Pacers won that game. They won it with a furious 29-14 run in the final 8:47 of the game. After Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed a midrange jumper with 14 seconds left and a one-point lead, the Pacers opted to not call a timeout and just put the ball in the hands of Tyrese Haliburton – the man who has terrorized clutch defenses all playoffs long. Hali decided to take on the best defense in the world, and knocked that thing down. Cold.
Another fun thing to do here is watch Dwyane Wade's reaction to it on a live stream as it happened.
The legend of Haliburton and these Pacers continues to grow. This is Haliburton's fifth game-tying or go-ahead shot in the last five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime of a playoff game. Only LeBron James (eight) and Reggie Miller (five also five) have as many or more since 1997. He's now 6-of-7 on shots to tie or take the lead in the last 90 seconds of the fourth or overtime, the most of those shots since 1997.
And the Pacers now have five wins when they are down by 15 or more points in a playoff game this postseason. Their record is 5-3 when they trail by 15 in a game in the 2025 playoffs. That is absurd.
The reasons all of those bad stats for the Pacers and good stats for the Thunder in the bullet points above didn't sink Indiana?
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They only gave up 11 points off those 25 turnovers. The Pacers went 18-of-39 (46.2 percent) from deep. And they outrebounded the Thunder 57-39. Yes, they gave the ball up but they limited the damage it did. They lit up one of the best defenses from 3 — with five different players hitting multiple 3s, led by Obi Toppin's five. And they hammered the boards.
Before the opening tip, OKC changed their lineup to Cason Wallace starting over Isaiah Hartenstein. A curious change from current Coach of the Year Mark Daigneault concerned about the pace and quickness of Indiana.
Following the game, my friend Shaker Samman threw this breakdown of why either team will win the title in this series:
'Thunder:
– sixth best regular season record in history
– has the MVP
– incredible efficiency numbers
– young stars across the floor
– great on both ends
– no real weakness
Pacers:
– have the juice'
Sometimes the simple reason is the best explanation. The Pacers have the juice.
Knick fans dodge a bullet in coaching search
🏀 No thank you. Rick Pitino has quelled any speculation of his interest in the Knicks job. Knicks fans can rest easy.
🎙️ Showing support. Rick Carlisle put out his support for ESPN broadcaster Doris Burke. Her spot on the lead team may not be guaranteed.
🏀 He's here. The Suns named Jordan Ott their new head coach. How he got here.
🏀 Big honor. NBA referees are much maligned, but they know when they've made it: Earning the illustrious white jacket.
🏀 Remix! Don't forget this article from Jason Jones last week. Haliburton is a new villain.
🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' discusses how last night's electric Game 1 finish changes the vibe of the NBA Finals.
The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process.
The story of the greatest players in NBA history.
How do Thunder respond in Game 2?
When you only trail in a finals game for 0.3 seconds, I'm not sure how many adjustments you need going into the next game. But Sunday at 8 p.m. ET (on ABC), we're going to see the Thunder in a surprisingly desperate situation. They're going to have to win Game 2 of the NBA Finals, or risk facing some real peril in this series down 2-0 headed back to Indianapolis. The Thunder have been in this scenario already once before in this postseason.
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In Game 1 of the second round, the Nuggets came back to win a tight game in OKC by two points. The Thunder responded in Game 2 with a 43-point drubbing of Nikola Jokić's friends. We know the Thunder are capable of bouncing back in a big way. OKC has only lost back-to-back games only twice this season. One set of losses happened toward the end of the season when its fate as the No. 1 seed was already decided. The Thunder lost to the Rockets and Lakers in consecutive games. The other set happened against San Antonio and Dallas before Thanksgiving.
On the flip side of that, the Pacers won Games 1 and 2 in both Cleveland and New York in their previous two rounds. As good as the Thunder are, the Pacers are no strangers to pulling this off. So how do the Thunder avoid that from happening? Here are three keys:
1. The turnovers have to equal points. Going into Game 1, the Thunder were averaging just under 24 points off opponents turnovers. That's a ridiculous number. They were scoring 1.36 points per possession on steals. That's also a ridiculous number. So, why didn't OKC turn turnovers into a wave of points?
The Thunder only had eight shot attempts on fast breaks. Three of their 14 steals were immediately given right back to the Pacers with immediate turnovers by their opponents. And OKC just seemed to rush a lot of shots.
2. Protect the 3-point line. Getting lit up for 18 3-points on nearly 50 percent efficiency does not scream Thunder basketball. They were top 10 in 3-point rate allowed and allowed the lowest 3-point percentage. On the season, they're 12-5 when they allow 18 or more 3-pointers. They seemed content on allowing 3-pointers to guys they weren't worried about beating them. It backfired because Toppin was knocking down shots and being a difference-maker. The Thunder have to run Indiana off the 3-point line while still protecting the paint.
3. Go back to what you know. I did not like the decision out of nowhere to start Wallace over Hartenstein going into Game 1. In a vacuum, I understand the logic behind Daigneault's decision, given the speed and persistence of the Pacers' tempo. But adjusting to an opponent before a game even starts can give that opponent a psychological edge. OKC should go back to the original starting lineup, be big and try to make sure it's hammering the boards and the paint.
What to make of commissioner's new comments
NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the media prior to the tip-off of the 2025 NBA Finals, and he had some very interesting statements about expansion before letting us know he loves the new All-Star format. Before we get to that, I want to go back to some comments Commissioner Silver made on FS1 just a couple days ago. He was addressing the idea of people not being excited about two small markets being in the NBA Finals:
'It's one thing I really admire about the NFL. If we were going into a Super Bowl, and it was Packers against Steelers, you guys would be celebrating that. Nobody would be talking about how Pittsburgh is a small market.'
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This is where I have frustrations with the commissioner and his approach to this subject. Silver is too nice of a guy sometimes, and he tries to be so accommodating to all who want to bring up 'issues' for the league. If I were him and someone wanted me to address the small-market problem for ratings in the NBA Finals, I'd grab one of those money shooting guns from under the desk, make it rain and remind everybody I just negotiated a $76 billion deal for the league amidst all of these conversations about low ratings hurting the league.
There's no need to address this stuff sometimes. Sell your league. Don't sell the NFL. Someone asks if you're worried about the ratings of the upcoming NBA Finals? Start spittin' about how dominant SGA is and neg them into believing they don't actually like sports or competition if they don't want to watch him play basketball.
As for the press conference before the finals began, Silver addressed the idea of expansion, as people are still clamoring for a return for the Seattle SuperSonics – apropos considering the OKC Thunder are in these Finals. This was his response regarding expansion:
'It depends on your perspective on the future of the league. You know, as I said before, expansion in a way is selling equity in the league, and, if you believe in the league, you don't necessarily want to add partners.'
Sounds like some current owners simply don't want to give up a cut of that revenue. That doesn't bode well for the expansion into the assumed destinations of Seattle and Las Vegas. At least not any time soon.
As for the All-Star format with the game headed to NBC in a post-TNT world?
Silver said the league was still determining the exact format and how to break up the teams, which he said would likely be wider and more specific than a simple 'USA versus World' format.
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So, they're going to try some version of the NHL 4 Nations Cup? That's going to be a great fix to the format until it isn't.
Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
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