No cheering in the press box. So why do I want the Pacers to win Game 7?

Tyrese Haliburton is a showman, the kind who lures fans into events they had previously dismissed. He's not a universally beloved entertainer — alone in the NBA, the Golden State Warriors ' Stephen Curry holds that distinction — but his showmanship comes naturally, in the most endearing ways.
For that reason above all, I'd love to see the Indiana Pacers win Game 7 of the Finals on Sunday in Oklahoma City. The Thunder are equally deserving — neither franchise has won an NBA title — but when it comes to raw emotion, Haliburton is a cut-above story line come to life.
He still moves elegantly about the court, even with his right-calf injury portending a trip to surgery. (That's how it began for Kevin Durant, a lower calf strain leading to a torn Achilles tendon.) Haliburton is not explosive, picking his spots to move freely, but he willed his way to 14 points, five assists and two steals in Thursday night's Game 6 rout, because the special athletes find a way.
They also discover the sweet satisfaction of winning championships on the road — and there's nothing quite like it. The mind recalls Rick Barry's Warriors (1975, on the Washington Bullets' floor), Bill Russell at the L.A. Forum, Magic Johnson in Philadelphia, Michael Jordan in Utah, and Curry's pair of conquests in Cleveland and Boston.
That first title for coach Steve Kerr 's Warriors, in 2015, truly captured the essence of the accomplishment. You're playing in front of fans absolutely certain their boys will bring the title home. Early on, you've thrown a blanket of eerie silence over the arena. You wind up celebrating all by yourselves, and for those passing by the visitors' locker room in the after-hours, there's the faint but distinct whiff of Champagne.
That party lasted all night long in Cleveland, and as someone fortunate to be in the press section, I'll never forget the sight of Curry and Draymond Green after the final buzzer, face to face, bellowing at each other in triumph. There's a proper outcome in store Sunday if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his admirable teammates bring home a title for OKC, but better to see that joyous smile on Haliburton's face, one more time. It cuts to the heart.
Short Takes
• Watching these Finals, you realize who Brandin Podziemski aspires to be. The Warriors' spark plug has the desire and the league's respect, but for pure skill, consistency and big-game performance, Indiana's T.J. McConnell sets the standard for guards coming off the bench. He's an absolute madman out there, never off the rails and a true difference maker under pressure.
• For coming off another seat — and we refer to courtside at Chase Center — nobody can top Podziemski at Golden State Valkyries games. It doesn't seem that cool that he's perched alongside Joe Lacob and Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy — is he trying to make sure he doesn't get traded? — but he's Pod, he makes it work. Decked out in Valks gear, he leaped onto the court and did a little dance Thursday night when Caitlin Clark was called for traveling. You couldn't miss him if you were sitting in the very top row.
• Clark and Haliburton happen to be the best of friends, in a tight-knit group that includes Haliburton's longtime girlfriend Jade Jones and Clark's boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, and 'the four of us hang out all the time,' Haliburton told ESPN. 'We're talking 24/7.'
Clark says she 'pretty much goes crazy' as she celebrates Haliburton's best moments, and she could use a bit of Pacers levity on Sunday after suffering one of the worst performances of her life (3-for-14 shooting, six turnovers, missed all seven 3-pointers) as the Valkyries dispatched Indiana on Thursday night.
• It took far too long to bring a WNBA team to San Francisco, but it was really worth the wait. Players constantly claim 'we've got the best fans in sports,' and it's always sort of a tolerable fib, but that's definitely the case for the WNBA at Chase Center. Nothing I've seen around the league, either on full telecasts or the league's 10-minute highlight packages, compares to the Valkyries' home crowd.
• From the classy Clark and such welcome Indiana faces as Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, the Valkyries get a different set of vibes from the visiting Connecticut Sun on Sunday. You'd better be right if you call someone a 'dirty' player, but that reputation hounds Marina Mabrey and Jacy Sheldon, both of whom crossed the line in their reckless treatment of Clark when the teams played Tuesday night.
Sheldon was a fun player to watch at Ohio State, but after all those years in Clark's shadow, she seems bent on revenge. In a disturbing trend that goes unchecked by officials around the league, she's among many players (notably including the Wings' DiJonai Carrington) throwing open-hand swipes at an opponent's head. That's not sound, aggressive defense — that's mean-spirited venom that could cause a concussion or serious eye damage. (It seems accidental until you've seen it too many times, invariably resulting in some kind of scuffle.)
Mabrey is a tremendous competitor and outside shooter, but she's got a history, often all too eager to throw her weight around. When she blindsided Clark to the floor that night, at a time the players were arguing back and forth, she should have been suspended for Connecticut's next game. Seriously: To actually make a point of bullying Clark, a very decent person about to make every WNBA player a lot more money, is the height of stupidity.
• With the Red Sox so conveniently in town, it's easy for fans to examine how things went sour for Rafael Devers in Boston. But there is no connection between that crisis and Devers' relocation.
Devers wasn't a leader in Boston, nor would he assume that role anywhere else, but that's a team built around very young players — hardly the case in San Francisco with the likes of Logan Webb, Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, Justin Verlander and Mike Yastrzemski running the clubhouse.
From the moment the Red Sox lied to Devers — insisting he would hold his third-base job, then handing it over to new arrival Alex Bregman — Devers was done with management. He'll find that Buster Posey and Bob Melvin are very straight shooters, and it helps to be joining the most riveting division race in baseball.
Posey is about players, the spiritual connections, the humanity. Red Sox general manager Craig Breslow talks in circles (what does he mean by 'alignment'?), and when he made a point of flying to Seattle in the immediate aftermath of the trade, he didn't call the team to a collective meeting, merely extending an invitation for private conversations. That's just strange, and Devers is hardly alone in his frustration with the Red Sox. After saying farewell to Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and now Devers without a hint of stardom in return, the club's entire fan base feels that way.

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