Pacers assistant coach Jenny Boucek reflects on her journey to the NBA finals
NBC News' Shaquille Brewster sat down with Jenny Boucek, assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers, to reflect on her journey to the NBA Finals. Boucek is the first female assistant coach to reach the finals and believes she helps show that "women belong everywhere."June 19, 2025
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NBC News
6 hours ago
- NBC News
The ‘margin' stat that was the biggest key to the Indiana Pacers saving their season
INDIANAPOLIS — This late in a playoff series, as Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam put it Thursday night, there are no "secrets" left between opponents. There are very few — if any — surprise adjustments left on the board. The coaches know each other's plays. The players know each other's tendencies. Said Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton: 'All these games are coming down to the margins.' And there was one margin in particular that propelled Indiana to a stunning, 108-91 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, the same one that coach Rick Carlisle said cost them Game 5: Turnovers. 'We played better,' Carlisle said when asked about the giveaways after Game 6. 'We were where we should be most of the time. Well, a lot more than we were in Game 5. And we were stronger with the ball, and we had some that weren't great ones. But when we made a mistake, we bounced back well, and that's what you've got to do this time of year.' 'We watched film and it tells us what we do,' forward Obi Toppin added. 'They don't put too many good clips up on the film. We knew we had to be better today.' Thursday was a complete turnaround for the Pacers when it came to turnovers. In Game 5, the team coughed up the ball a whopping 22 times in an 11-point loss, including seven in the first quarter and eight in a tightly contested fourth. And they came in a variety of forms, from bad passes to aimlessly dribbling into traffic to picking up the ball too far away from the hoop. In Game 6, Indiana had zero turnovers in the first quarter, only two by halftime, and seven by the end of third — building a 30-point lead before backups played the majority of the fourth quarter. Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had more turnovers by himself (eight) than the entire Pacers roster after three quarters. 'We were at least a little bit stronger with the ball,' Siakam said about the difference between the last two games. 'Obviously, we are not a team that really turns the ball over but when you play against a defense like they do that really disrupts you. 'Just the key is two hands on the ball, like the most basic stuff. You know, just make the pass, the easy pass usually, not try to complicate it, and I think that's the most important.' After a miraculous comeback in Game 1, in which Indiana turned the ball over 25 times but still managed to steal the game at the end, holding onto the ball has been a key indicator for the Pacers' success. In their last two wins in the finals, Indiana has averaged only 12.5 turnovers. In their three losses? 18. Oklahoma City, meanwhile, has forced 3.1 more turnovers per game in its playoff wins compared to its playoff losses. The extra possessions for Indiana especially paid off early. In the first 12 minutes of the game, the Pacers shot only 8-of-25 from the field, a ghastly 32% conversion rate. And yet, they still led by three after the first, in large part because Indiana had the ball more than the Thunder, who had five turnovers in the opening period. Whereas the Pacers had their lowest giveaway total of the championship round in Game 6, OKC had its highest turnover game of the playoffs, with 23 blunders leading to 32 Indiana points. Against an incredibly stingy defense, and with Haliburton limited by a calf strain, the Pacers desperately need any and all easy scores. And now, as the series shifts to a Game 7, Haliburton says it is the margins that will ultimately decide the winner, and crown a champion for the 2024-25 season. 'Can you win the rebound battle, can you win the turnover battle, can you set the tone from a physicality standpoint?,' Haluburton said. 'Those are all what's been very important through all these games and I feel like whoever has done that has won game. 'So going into Game 7, it's just important for us to control the controllables, the effort stuff. That's going to be really important.'
The Independent
7 hours ago
- The Independent
For Pacers and Thunder, there's no looking back now. All eyes are only on Game 7 in the NBA Finals
Game 6 of the NBA Finals had been over for only about 10 or 15 minutes, and the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder were turning the page. What happened over the previous couple of hours in Indianapolis had already been deemed irrelevant. The only thing on their minds: Game 7. 'A privilege,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. 'A great privilege,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. A back-and-forth title matchup — Indiana led 1-0 and 2-1, Oklahoma City led 3-2 — will end on Sunday night with an ultimate game, the first winner-take-all contest in the NBA Finals since 2016. It'll be Pacers at Thunder, one team getting the Larry O'Brien Trophy when it is over, the other left to head into the offseason wondering how they let the chance slip away. 'We have one game for everything, for everything we've worked for, and so do they,' Thunder guard and reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'The better team Sunday will win.' History favors the home team in these moments: 15 of the previous 19 Game 7s in the NBA Finals were won by the club playing on its own court. The Thunder played a Game 7 at home earlier in these playoffs and won by 32, blowing out Denver to reach the Western Conference finals. Indiana's most recent Game 7 was at Madison Square Garden in last season's Eastern Conference semifinals; the Pacers blew out New York by 21 in that game. All-time, home teams are 112-38 in Game 7s (excluding the 2-2 record 'home' teams had in the bubble in the 2020 playoffs, when everything was played in Lake Buena Vista, Florida). But in recent years, home sweet home has been replaced by road sweet road; visiting teams have won nine of the last 14 Game 7s played since 2021. 'It's exciting, man. It's so, so, exciting,' Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton said. 'As a basketball fan, there's nothing like a Game 7. There's nothing like a Game 7 in the NBA Finals. Dreamed of being in this situation my whole life. So, to be here is really exciting. Really exciting for our group. What happened in the past doesn't matter. What happened today doesn't matter. It's all about one game and approaching that the right way." The fact that Haliburton is playing at all right now is a story in itself. He looked good as new in Game 6 even with a strained right calf, something that he's needed around-the-clock treatment on this week. The Pacers haven't had to coax him into it; Haliburton's own family is offering up constant reminders that he needs to be working on his leg. 'My family has been on me,' Haliburton said. 'If they call me, they are like, 'Are you doing treatment right now?' ... My family has been holding me accountable.' There's a lot of accountability going on among the Thunder right now as well. A different kind, of course. They were massive favorites going into Game 6 — +3000 odds to win the series, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. That means a $100 bet on the Thunder would have returned a whopping $103 or so if they had won the game and clinched the title. A 36-9 run by Indiana turned a one-point lead early in the second quarter into a full-fledged blowout early in the third. And with that, a Thunder team that finished with the best record in the NBA this season now has zero room for error. Win on Sunday, and all ends well for Oklahoma City. Lose on Sunday, and they'll go down in history as one of the best regular-season teams that failed to win a title. 'If they had won by one, they would have probably walked out of this game with confidence,' Thunder guard Jalen Williams said of the Pacers before leaving Indy's arena for the final time this season. 'That's what makes them a good team. That's what makes us a good team. ... They're going to go into Game 7 confident, and so are we.' The Thunder flew home after the game on Thursday night. The Pacers were flying to Oklahoma City on Friday afternoon. They'll spend some time looking at film, then go through the final practices — which won't be much more than glorified walk-throughs — of the season on Saturday. And then, Game 7. For everything. 'I think we played to exhaustion,' Pacers guard T.J. McConnell said after Game 6. 'But we have to do it again on Sunday.' ___
BBC News
14 hours ago
- BBC News
Pacers beat Thunder to force NBA game seven decider
The NBA Finals will be decided by a winner-takes-all game seven for the first time in nine years after the Indiana Pacers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-91 in game six to level the series. A fine attacking display from the Pacers, which included 20 points for Obi Toppin off the bench, stopped the Thunder from claiming the Championship in player Tyrese Haliburton, who missed game five with a calf injury, passed a late fitness test before tip-off and managed 14 points, five assists and two steals in 22 minutes of play."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. I'm really proud of this group."The victory means the NBA finals will go to game seven for the first time since 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first Championship with a 4-3 series win against the Golden State Thunder will host game seven on Monday (01:00 BST) but will need a much improved performance to win their first Championship since Gilgeous-Alexander, the newly-crowned Most Valuable Player, top scored for the Thunder with 21 points but his side paid the price for missing their first eight shots of the game, which gave the Pacers an early eight-point lead. "Credit Indiana," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "They earned the win. They outplayed us for most of the 48 minutes. They went out there and attacked the game."Monday's game will mark the 20th time the NBA Finals have gone to game seven, with the home side in the decider triumphing 15 times. Results Game one: Thunder 110-111 Pacers (Indiana lead 1-0)Game two: Thunder 123-107 Pacers (Series tied 1-1)Game three: Pacers 116-103 Thunder (Indiana lead 2-1)Game four: Pacers 104-111 Thunder (Series tied 2-2)Game five: Thunder 120-109 Pacers (Oklahoma Cit lead 3-2)Game six: Pacers 108-91 Thunder (Series tied 3-3)Game seven: Thunder v Pacers (Monday, 23 June 01:00 BST)
