Thunder vs. Pacers Game 6: Four things to watch as Indiana tries to extend season
INDIANAPOLIS — Do the Indiana Pacers have another improbable comeback in them? Or will we see an NBA champion crowned on Thursday night?
The way the Thunder have won the last two games and taken control of the series makes it seem like Game 6 could be the final game of the 2024-25 NBA season — but underestimate these Pacers at your own risk. Especially on their home court.
Here are four things to watch in Game 6 Thursday night:
Tyrese Haliburton
Everything Game 6 starts — and the Pacers' season could end — here.
Haliburton has a left calf strain, one that slowed him considerably in Game 5 when he scored four points on 0-of-6 shooting. He is the orchestrator of Indiana's high-paced offense, and if he's not playing at his All-NBA best, it's a massive advantage for the Thunder in a series where games have swung on the thinnest of margins.
Haliburton, for his part, was clear that he planned to be on the court Thursday.
'I'm a competitor; I want to play. I'm going to do everything in my power to play,' Haliburton said.
He has been undergoing around-the-clock treatment to make sure he is on the court.
'Massage, needles, hyperbaric, H waves. Everything you can do to get as comfortable as you can going into it,' Haliburton said, adding he is just following the instructions of the team's medical staff. 'The right tape and stuff while I am performing.'
Haliburton went through the Pacers' light practice on Wednesday, got up some shots, and was walking without a limp. However, Pacers' coach Rick Carlisle was more cautious about Haliburton's status.
'He participated in all our walk-through stuff. But it's a walk-through, so there was no real running,' Carlisle said. 'We'll see. We'll see where we are tomorrow... We will not really know for sure until late tomorrow afternoon or early evening.'
Expect more Pascal Siakam initiating the offense, more T.J. McConnell, and Carlisle is ready to lean into whatever role player gets hot at home. It's still not the same without Haliburton. The Pacers are 12-3 this postseason when Haliburton scores at least 20 points. Does he have that kind of night in him? The Pacers need him to.
Did OKC learn from Denver Game 6?
Oklahoma City has been here before. They were up 3-2 on the Denver Nuggets and, with the chance to put the Nuggets away in the Mile High City, the Thunder didn't come close. Jamal Murray scored 25 points, Christian Braun added 23 points and 12 rebounds, but this will mostly be remembered as the Julian Strawther game, he scored 15 second-half points off the bench to spark Denver and force a Game 7.
What can Oklahoma City take away from that Game 6 and bring to Indianapolis?
'Don't get complacent. Don't look too far ahead,' Cason Wallace said. 'We gotta take it one game at a time. I feel like we were, we're a little relaxed in that game, so just knowing that we can't, we can't make that same mistake again.'
'I feel like we didn't control the controllables,' Alex Caruso said of the Game 6 loss in Denver. 'That's what we do. It's what we have to do in this game.'
To a man at practices on Wednesday, the Thunder players discussed not getting ahead of themselves, staying in the moment, and coming out like the series is 0-0.
'We just got to come out with desperation again..' Isaiah Hartenstein said, referencing how the team played in Game 5. 'So we're not going to come in acting like everything's sealed, everything's done. They're going to come out with desperation. They're a great team, and we're and we're going to come out with the same and probably, maybe even more desperation.'
Can Indiana take care of the ball?
Haliburton's injury was part of what stalled out the Pacers' comeback dream in Game 5. The other thing was turnovers. Indiana had 23 turnovers that led to 32 Oklahoma City points. The Thunder had 13 more scoring opportunities on the night and won the possession battle, primarily because of the turnovers.
'That's the game. We've got to do a heck of a lot better there,' Carlisle said.
The Thunder ball pressure will be back. Can the Pacers handle it?
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on cusp of history
LeBron James in 2013 in Miami.
That was the last time a player won the NBA MVP, the Finals MVP, and an NBA championship in the same season. It's happened just 15 times since 1970.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one win away from that. Not that he was going to discuss the idea.
'The cusp of winning is not winning,' he said. 'The way I see it, winning is all that matters. It hasn't been fulfilled. We haven't done anything, the way I see it.'
Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder do need one more win, and if Jalen Williams has another massive night in Game 6, he could be voted Finals MVP. Still, SGA is on the cusp of history, as are the Thunder as a team, and it's something to watch.
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Advertisement But Carlisle finally accepted he'd need to put bigs on Williams if necessary. I wrote Thursday morning that the Pacers should start mixing in more pick-and-roll switches involving Siakam, Obi Toppin and Turner, even if it left them on an island guarding Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams in isolation. Siakam has been the Pacers' best help defender in this series, and having him guard either of the two Thunder stars takes him away from that role. Now, the Pacers have moved away from lineups with Siakam at center, giving them another big on the floor to take on the lane-clogging role if he needs to switch at the point of attack. In Game 6, Siakam was able to stay in front of Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander, then contest high to be an effective antidote. His length threw off Gilgeous-Alexander's tempo. Most defenders have to be within reaching distance of the Thunder guard to create leverage, but Siakam is long enough to sit a full dribble back. He can close his hips to shuffle backwards when Gilgeous-Alexander hits his trigger step into a drive and use his wingspan to contest any potential stepback jumper. That makes it easier for help defenders to sit deeper into the gaps and get Gilgeous-Alexander to pick up his dribble early. In contrast, there were many possessions in Games 1-5 where Nembhard and Nesmith stayed in front of the Thunder's drivers, but lacked the length to contest mid-paint stepbacks. The Pacers won't be able to catch the Thunder off guard two games in a row. But Oklahoma City's shooting, which has been mediocre in this series, will have to improve in a high-pressure situation to make the Pacers pay for dropping back into the gaps. The Thunder may need to rely even more on their defense, which failed to stop a hobbled Tyrese Haliburton from taking control of Game 6. Game plans can only do so much on the biggest stage in basketball. 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