The Indiana Pacers have made a habit of defying the odds during these playoffs. But on Thursday night, in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, they delivered their most improbable escape yet.
Behind a fearless performance from Tyrese Haliburton and another jaw-dropping late-game rally, the Pacers erased a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit and stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-110, seizing a 1-0 lead in the series. Haliburton’s go-ahead 21-foot jumper with 0.3 seconds left — Indiana’s first and only lead of the game — capped off one of the wildest finishes in NBA Finals history.
“Especially like this,” head coach Rick Carlisle said after the game. “You just don’t win games like that — not here, not against that team. But we’ve got something special brewing.”
Haliburton has now delivered the game-winner in four separate games this postseason:
- April 29 vs. Milwaukee: Pacers down 118-111 in OT with 34.6 seconds left; Haliburton hit a floater with 1.4 seconds left for a 119-118 win.
- May 6 vs. Cleveland: Down 119-112 with 48 seconds remaining; Haliburton nailed the game-winner with 1.1 seconds left in a 120-119 victory.
- May 21 vs. New York: Trailed 121-112 with 51.1 seconds in regulation; Haliburton forced OT with a buzzer-beater. Pacers won 138-135.
- June 5 vs. Oklahoma City: Trailed by 15 with 9:42 left; Haliburton hit the go-ahead shot with 0.3 seconds left for the 111-110 stunner.
The rising superstar finished with 14 points and 8 assists in Game 1, but once again, it was his clutch gene that defined the night.
Oklahoma City, led by newly crowned NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 38 points, seemed to be in full control. The Thunder held a 15-point lead early in the fourth and were 36-1 this season when holding such an advantage at home.
But Carlisle, who famously coached the 2011 Dallas Mavericks’ 15-point comeback against Miami in the Finals, reached into his bag of tricks again. With 9:42 left, he pulled all five starters in a bold timeout move. The bench responded immediately, sparking a 15-4 run to cut the deficit to four.
A Myles Turner 3-pointer with 6:16 to play made it 98-94. And the Pacers just kept coming. While Haliburton owned the spotlight, Indiana’s team effort was crucial. Pascal Siakam led the team with 19 points. Obi Toppin added 17, Turner had 15, and Andrew Nembhard also contributed 14.
“I’ve been around a lot of locker rooms,” Siakam said. “This one just doesn’t blink. We believe, no matter what.”
The Thunder received strong support from Jalen Williams (17 points) and Lu Dort (15 points), but they failed to close out a game they had led from the opening tip until the final half-second.
“We just didn’t finish,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We had them. But they never went away.”
Indiana’s comeback was the largest fourth-quarter rally in an NBA Finals game since Carlisle’s Mavericks overcame a 15-point deficit to defeat Miami on June 2, 2011.
Now, Carlisle and the Pacers are three wins away from the franchise’s first-ever NBA championship.
Game 2 is Sunday night in Oklahoma City. The Thunder will try to regroup and avoid falling into an 0-2 hole before the series shifts to Indianapolis.
But for now, Indiana has snatched home-court advantage — and proven, once again, that no lead is safe against the league’s most resilient team.
