Chet Holmgren on Thunder's Game 6 loss to Pacers: 'Nobody is happy right now'
Missing on an alley-oop throw and getting his outside attempt blocked once again, Chet Holmgren's offensive struggles finally boiled over. The defense has been valuable enough to stomach through his woes on the other end. But that was no longer the case.
Holmgren finished with four points on 2-of-9 shooting and six rebounds. He shot 0-of-3 from 3.
The Oklahoma City Thunder couldn't clinch a championship in their 108-91 Game 6 loss to the Indiana Pacers. The 2025 NBA Finals is now squared at 3-3 with a decisive Game 7 up next.
The shooting splits are as ugly as you could imagine. Maybe even worse. He's at 35% from the field and 12% from 3 for the series. The Thunder have collected three wins in the NBA Finals with their third-best player regressing on that end of the floor, but you can only get away with that for so long before it gets exposed.
The Thunder need more from Holmgren. The drives to the basket have often looked awkward. Most result in bad misses or turnovers. Sometimes he's shown flashes of being an acrobatic seven-foot finisher through contact. But that needs to be more sustainable. He'll have one more chance to play better in Game 7.
If not and Holmgren's struggles continue, that could open the door to some awkward conversations. He'll be viewed as the biggest reason for their failure to win a championship despite being the heavy title favorite over the Pacers.
"It's not fun. Nobody is happy right now. But you can't let the emotions kind of sidetrack you from what we need to do leading up to and during the game coming up," Holmgren said. "We've had wins and losses throughout the Playoffs, so it's kind of a similar mentality. Turn the page, don't forget just what happened, but see where you can be better and try to apply it going forward."
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Forbes
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2025 NBA Finals: Pacers Bury Unwanted Emotion, Force Game 7 Vs Thunder
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Johnson recited the quote, an old Muhammad Ali line about rising after a fall, word by word. Mathurin carefully scribbled it out, and the two worked together to get the spacing just right. 45 minutes before tipoff, they were done. Every player who walked through the locker room — all of them required to at least once — would see Mathurin's handiwork and Johnson's message. The Pacers were going to need to heed the words printed in ink. They were down in the Finals and facing elimination for the first time of the postseason. A win was required, and they needed to recover after consecutive losses. Their opponent, the Oklahoma City Thunder, won 68 games this season. Individual brilliance — while helpful, as Mathurin proved in Game 3 — is not enough to beat them. It takes a total team effort and sustained resilience. Johnson wanted to remind everyone of that before the pivotal battle. It was a new situation for the Pacers, who have largely cruised through in this postseason until this series. Now, they were navigating new emotions as they faced a series defeat on the biggest stage the NBA provides. Nerves, pressure, and urgency all appeared. Getting their mentality right was critical, and that's part of Johnson's role. Wing Aaron Nesmith, who has played in an NBA Finals before, was asked later Thursday night which of his teammates helped steady the locker room. '[Johnson] is always good about it,' Nemith began before talking about veteran forward Pascal Siakam. Nesmith feels as if it's important to be even-keeled in a one-game setting, and experienced teammates help everyone else stay grounded. So a small moment — one player who wanted a motivational quote on the whiteboard, another one eager to write it — became something bigger. It helped stabilize the locker room. 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