The last Game 7 in the NBA Finals was in 2016, with the Cleveland Cavaliers winning over the Golden State Warriors on the road. The Pacers are now hoping to achieve the feat when they face a ferocious Thunder team in their own home turf.

“We’ll do what’s necessary to try to get ourselves ready for that environment and that team,” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. OKC boasts a 9-2 record at home this postseason.

“This will be a monumental challenge,” Carlisle said.

The Pacers displayed an offensive masterclass in Game 6 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, on June 20, with Topin stringing 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals off the bench.

Aaron Nembhard put up an efficient scoring night on top of his MVP assignment, scoring 17 points on 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc alongside 4 assists and 3 steals.

Pascal Siakam notched 16 points while dominating the boards with 13 rebounds and a block as the first-year Pacer continued to be a reliable offensive option for the squad.

With concerns raised over his availability for Game 6, Tyrese Haliburton showed up for Indiana and managed to tally 14 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals despite a right-calf injury.

Full steam ahead

Down 2-10 to start things off, Siakam put up 5 straight points followed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Nembhard to quickly turn things around for the Pacers, 13-12.

Indiana entered the second frame with a 28-25 separation, but OKC kept close by only a point with 9 minutes to go in the quarter, 34-33. The Pacers later carried out a 17-2 run in a 5-minute stretch to go up by 16, 51-35.

The Pacers kept their offensive foot on the gas up to the end of the quarter. Siakam posterized last game’s stand-out Jalen Williams for a 20-point lead, 62-42, and a fadeaway buzzer-beater capped their pivotal first-half outburst.

The second half was no different for the Thunder as they succumbed to a 5-minute drought at the onset while the Pacers pulled away by 28, 70-42.

As if things were not going great enough for the Indiana home crowd, Ben Sheppard drilled a buzzer-beating triple for a whopping 30-point lead, 90-70.

‘We sucked tonight’

With the coveted NBA title just one win away from them, the Thunder had to run into some of the worst offensive and defensive showing they’ve ever seen.

“It was uncharacteristic, it was disappointing, it was collective,” said OKC head coach Mark Daigneault. “It wasn’t one guy. Just we were not where we needed to be on either end of the floor for much of the game. We have to be a lot better before Game 7.”

The final box score did not really show the true story of the Thunder tragedy in their close-out game on the road. Judging by the first-half stats, the Pacers simply outplayed them in multiple areas.

In 3-point shooting alone, Indiana buried 9-of-24 while OKC settled with a measly 1-of-11 production, courtesy of backup guard Aaron Wiggins.

Another uncharacteristic statline by the half was the turnover. Known for their pesky defensive swarm, the Thunder got a taste of their own medicine, giving up 12 turnovers as opposed to the Pacers’ 2. This huge contrast also saw Indiana converting 16 points off of turnovers while OKC only had 2 points.

Then there’s the overwhelming difference between the teams’ bench production: The Pacers’ secondary squad outscored the Thunder’s by 19-3 at the half.

While Toppin and T. J. McConnell were putting in work off-the-bench, OKC had only their main scorers, Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, to rely on for a combined 31 points at the half.

League MVP Gilgeous-Alexander finished the night with a dim 21 points in 31 minutes of play. The star also had the most turnovers for the Thunder with 8 total, which was higher than his field goals made of 7-of-15.

“The way I see it is we sucked tonight,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.

Following his 40-point explosion, Williams was limited to just 16 points as they failed to finish the job on the road.

The OKC Thunder now only have one final chance in this series at their first-ever championship before the loud Oklahoma home crowd in Game 7 at Paycom Center on June 23.

Read more: Pacers vs Thunder: a matchup of contrasting point guards, clashing play styles

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OKC now stands one win away from their very first NBA title in franchise history.

Williams, the 24-year-old shooting guard, struck for 14-of-25 from the field to become the second player in OKC franchise history to score 40-plus points in the NBA Finals, joining former Thunder star Russel Westbrook. He also tallied six rebounds and four assists.

“That was an unbelievable performance by him just throughout the whole game. He really was on the gas the entire night. [He] applied a ton of pressure,” said Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault.

“He made a lot of right plays and we’re gonna need a similar type of approach in Game 6 from him,” he added. 

Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander strung 31 points, 10 assists, four blocks, and two steals to lead the Thunder’s home domination with yet another stellar show on both ends of the court.  

Comeback averted

With the Thunder up by eight points into the final quarter, the Pacers pulled off another comeback attempt, 11-3, to close in by just a basket, 93-95, with 8:30 minutes remaining. 

Things looked eerily similar to their heartbreak Game 1 loss. OKC hot-hand Williams, however, zapped Indiana’s rally with a huge trey, setting off an 8-2 blitz to bring the Thunder’s lead back to eight, 103-95. 

Desperate for an offensive breakthrough, the Pacers found themselves paralyzed by the Thunder’s stifling defense as they committed four consecutive turnovers that saw OKC widening its lead by 16 points, 113-97. The Thunder never looked back since. 

A commanding start

Oklahoma took control of the first half after mounting an early 22-12 margin in the opening frame from an 11-0 run by Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander. They maintained the 10-point bulge heading into the second quarter, 32-22.

Tyrese Haliburton dealt with a painful calf stemming from an incident in the first quarter as the Pacers looked lost in the second frame. The Thunder ballooned their lead by as much as 18 points, 56-38. 

Haliburton eventually went scoreless in the first half for the first time in his playoff career while OKC sat comfortably with a 59-45 cushion going into the second half. 

Back-up point guard T. J. McConnell took it upon himself to lead the Pacers, scoring 13 points in the quarter and even managing to pull his team close just within five points, 76-81. The Thunder closed the quarter ahead by eight, 87-79. 

Eastern Conference Finals MVP Pascal Siakam paced Indiana once more with 28 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks. McConnell finished with 18 points, four assists, and two steals. 

Tyrese Haliburton ended up tallying four points, seven rebounds, and six assists as he shot blank, 0-for-6, from the field all throughout the match.

“Nobody said that this is going to be sweet,” said Haliburton on the frustrating loss and his uncharacteristic off-night. “We gotta be ready to go for Game 6. Our backs are against the wall,” he added. 

The Pacers will look to level the series back at home in a must-win Game 6 of the NBA Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on June 20.

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