NBA Finals Notes: Game 6, Daigneault, SGA, Haliburton
With a chance to capture their first title since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City, Thunder players are focused on the process of winning Game 6 rather than its historical implications, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Heavy favorites when the series began, OKC has a chance to celebrate tonight on the Pacers‘ home court.
“We want to win the game tomorrow, but the most important thing we need to do to win the game tomorrow is prepare today and prepare tomorrow and play the first possession really well, then the next possession, then the next possession,” coach Mark Daigneault told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s how we try to approach a game, how we try to approach the playoff series, how we try to approach every single day and let that win the day.”
The Thunder have largely controlled the series after letting Game 1 slip away due to a miraculous Indiana comeback. They won handily in Game 2, staged a rally of their own in Game 4, then took their first lead of the series in Game 5. MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is encouraging his teammates to take their normal approach to tonight’s game and not get distracted by thoughts of a victory celebration.
“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.”
There’s more on the Finals:
- Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is considered to be a game-time decision, but ESPN’s Brian Windhorst expects him to play. Appearing this morning on Get Up (YouTube link), Windhorst noted that Indiana’s medical staff already had the results of Haliburton’s MRI from Tuesday when the team listed him as questionable. He believes the Pacers are “setting the stage” for Haliburton to be active, but it’s uncertain if the right calf strain is too severe for him to be effective.
- An ESPN panel doesn’t give the Pacers much chance of extending the series if Haliburton can’t live up to his normal standards. While most of the group expects the Finals to end tonight, Jamal Collier observes that Indiana’s role players have performed better at home, while Zach Kram points to Andrew Nembhard as someone who could swing the series if he can find a way to score like he did earlier in the playoffs.
- With the Finals nearing their conclusion, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic examines why the games often seem less important than they used to. He cites a number of factors, including a “humdrum” presentation and the league-wide focus on the transactions cycle, and suggests that things may change when NBC resumes its coverage of the NBA this fall.
Thunder Notes: SGA, Williams, Wiggins, Finals MVP
Heroic NBA Finals performances from Thunder All-Stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams have brought Oklahoma City to the brink of its first franchise championship since leaving Seattle, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.
With MVP Gilgeous-Alexander still just 26 and Williams merely 24, the future is bright for this young Thunder squad.
Grange notes that Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player in NBA history to compile at least 31 points, 10 assists, four blocks, and two steals in a Finals game in Monday’s pivotal 120-109 win over Indiana, while Williams scored a whopping 40 points.
“He was, like, really gutsy tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander raved about Williams after Game 5. “Felt like every time we needed a shot, he made it. He wasn’t afraid. He was fearless tonight.”
There’s more out of Oklahoma City:
- The Thunder’s role players are happy to sacrifice individual accomplishments to serve the greater whole, writes Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman. Beyond stars Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and center Chet Holmgren, role players Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins proved critical off the bench in Game 5, notching 25 combined points, to help Oklahoma City ice the victory. All-Defensive wings Luguentz Dort and Alex Caruso have been crucial on both ends of the hardwood throughout the series. “That’s the culture of our whole team,” Williams said. “Everybody is ready to do whatever it takes to win.”
- Wiggins in particular has been a valuable contributor for the Thunder during the Finals on both sides of the ball. As Rylan Stiles of Thunder On SI observes, the fact that a former No. 55 draft pick can even have any kind of playoff impact is a great reflection on Oklahoma City’s developmental program.
- Although Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 32.4 points, 5.0 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.8 blocks per night through five Finals games for the Thunder, Zach Harper of The Athletic wonders if an ascendant Williams could swipe the Finals MVP award from him with his terrific two-way play of late. Across the last three contests, including two Oklahoma City wins, Williams has averaged 31 points while shooting 50.8% from the field and 40% from distance.
Thunder Notes: Jaylin Williams, SGA, Hartenstein, Defense
Even though they have the reigning MVP, everyone is considered to be equal in the Thunder‘s locker room, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic. Along with the team’s obvious talent level, that philosophy of valuing input from the entire roster has helped Oklahoma City weather a long season and climb to within two wins of a championship.
“Being able to watch it from the side, I get a different view,” said backup center Jaylin Williams, who has only made one brief appearance in the NBA Finals. “Trying to kind of echo what we need to do, echo the plan. Sometimes it’s different hearing it from a player that’s going through battle with you than hearing it from a coach, so I’m trying to talk to the guys. We’ve always had this saying where if you feel like there’s something that you want to say to a teammate, like, nobody’s bigger than the program. So, you just say it to each other.”
The concept of “chemistry” is frequently talked about in NBA circles, but Hollinger notes that it’s hard to obtain. However, it appears to come easy for Thunder players, who seem to genuinely like each other and are always having fun, even on the NBA’s biggest stage. Good-natured trash talk is constant in the locker room, and teammates regularly surround whoever is doing a post-game interview on the court and finish it up by barking.
“They have a winning mindset outside of basketball, I’ll put it like that,” Kenrich Williams said. “When we have a tough loss, or performance-wise, somebody doesn’t play well, when you walk in the building, practice or arena, everybody is very positive. Other places … there are times where you can just feel the weight. And that starts with the front office bringing in great workers, great staff, whether that’s the medical and training staff, the weight room guys, the chefs. There’s all positive energy when you walk in the building.”
There’s more on the Thunder:
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has become the league’s best scorer by mastering mid-range shots that many players ignore, notes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell, who was with the Clippers when they drafted Gilgeous-Alexander, worked with him early in his career and encouraged him to develop that part of his game. “I know that’s the shot that in today’s game that they’re giving up. They’re giving you the 15-foot pull-up shot,” Cassell said. “So I just told him from day one, if this is the shot they’re giving, let’s be exceptional at this shot. Let’s be the only player in the league that can be exceptional at this shot since they’re giving it to you. The analytic guys say it’s a bad shot, but it ain’t a bad shot for him. We worked on the same stuff for days. If anything go wrong, this is your bread and butter.”
- After starting Cason Wallace in the first three games of the Finals, coach Mark Daigneault went with a bigger approach in Game 4 and replaced him with Isaiah Hartenstein. “It was a point to get Hart more minutes tonight. I thought he’s been helpful in his minutes,” Daigneault said, per Clemente Almanza of The Thunder Wire. “But in terms of the lineup, I mean, we go into every game trying to figure out the formula to win that game. That’s what we thought was best to win Game 4 tonight.”
- Eric Nehm and Fred Katz of the Athletic analyze Oklahoma City’s defense and explain why they’re willing to accept a few fouls to maintain their aggressive approach.
Finals Notes: Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder Resilience, Takeaways, Pacers
The NBA Finals between the Thunder and the Pacers is heading back to Oklahoma City with the series tied at two games apiece following fourth quarter heroics from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. As Tim MacMahon of ESPN writes, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 of his 35 points in the game’s final four-and-a-half minutes to help the Thunder overcome a two-possession deficit.
“I knew what it would have looked like if we lost tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I didn’t want to go out not swinging. I didn’t want to go out not doing everything I could do in my power, in my control, to try to win the game.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s 11 points in the final three minutes are the most during that stretch of a Finals game in 50 years, per MacMahon. The Thunder’s defense also held the Pacers to just one point in the final 3:20.
“I relish those moments, love the moments, good or bad,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “When I was a kid shooting at my driveway, I’d count down the clock for those moments. Now I get to live it. It’s a blessing, it’s fun, and I relish it.”
We have more notes from the NBA Finals:
- Game 4 of the NBA Finals felt “eerily reminiscent” of Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals between Oklahoma City and Denver, Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes. The Thunder trailed on the road in that game by multiple possessions before rallying and ultimately winning that series in seven. For the first time all series, it felt like the Pacers tired in the fourth quarter, missing all eight of their three-point attempts in the period after making 39% in the first three quarters.
- Gilgeous-Alexander’s chill demeanor is shining through in these playoffs, and his legendary Game 4 performance showed no moment is too big for him, Sam Amick of The Athletic writes. “You wouldn’t know if it was a preseason game or it’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals down 2-1 with him,” teammate Alex Caruso said. “That’s why we have such a good mentality as a group. That’s why we are able to find success in adversity. No matter what’s going on, you look at him and he’s the same. Underneath that stoic personality or (his) look on the court is a deep, deep-rooted competitiveness. That is sprinkled throughout the whole team. …He never blinks, never shies away from the moment.“
- The Pacers let little things slip in their Game 4 loss, The Athletic’s Shakeia Taylor writes. Indiana missed eight free throws, including some late attempts from Bennedict Mathurin, while the team committed more fouls, lost the offensive rebound battle, turned the ball over more, and allowed far more second chance points. Still, the Pacers are confident they’re still in a good spot as the series heads back to OKC. “We’ve won some games on the road before, so I think we just gotta go out there with our confidence,” Pascal Siakam said. “We’ll watch [film on] what we did wrong and try to get better at those things. We just gotta go out there and do things that we’ve done in the past.“
Thunder Notes: Identity, Gilgeous-Alexander, Shooting, Turnovers
In Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, the Thunder struggled to maintain the identity that made them such a powerhouse throughout the regular season and much of the playoffs, writes Joel Lorezni of The Oklahoman. If they want to head back to Oklahoma City having tied the series against the Pacers, they need to reclaim their composure.
It’s a sentiment that head coach Mark Daigneault shares, though he’s not overreacting to the 2-1 deficit.
“I think that happens in a playoff series,” he said on Thursday. “Four games, five games, six games, seven games is a long time. You’re going to get a range of games and experiences in that.”
Lorenzi points to the passing numbers for the Thunder as proof of them getting away from their game. In the team’s two losses to Indiana, Oklahoma City has posted its two lowest assist totals of the season. That, coupled with uncharacteristically sloppy turnovers, points to a team out of sorts and needing to settle into its game.
“At the end of the day,” Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says, “we have to be who we are and who we’ve been all season. I think we got back to that in that series. If we want to give ourselves a chance in this series, it has to be the same thing.”
We have more from the Thunder:
- The Pacers have made life difficult for Gilgeous-Alexander, hounding him throughout the game and wearing him down late, writes ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. That’s no excuse in the MVP’s eyes. “To me, the way I see it, you got to suck it up, get it done and try to get a win,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. MacMahon writes that the Pacers began defending Gilgeous-Alexander an average of 65.5 feet from the basket, a level of defensive intensity the young star has never faced before, and that resulted in him bringing the ball up far less often than he typically would. Indiana employed a similar tactic against the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson in the Eastern Conference Finals and was successful in getting the ball out of his hands for stretches. In the Game 3 loss, Gilgeous-Alexander only scored three points on three shots and had no assists in the pivotal fourth quarter. How he bounces back in Game 4 will go a long way in determining the Thunder’s fate.
- Beyond the pressure on their star, the Thunder’s struggles to convert mid-range shots is another issue facing the team, writes John Hollinger of The Athletic. Hollinger writes that while the Thunder have shot well on three-pointers and drawn fouls, their two-point shooting, which is usually a strength, has deserted them. They’re making 47.2% of two-pointers this series, compared to their average of 55.9%, after shooting 54% against the Nuggets and 55.7% against the Timberwolves. Jalen Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander have particularly struggled from that range, which is a problem since that’s the bread and butter for the Thunder’s two best players.
- Turnovers have been another major factor in Oklahoma City’s struggles, says Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Most glaringly, the team committed three inbounds turnovers off of made baskets, which led to three T.J. McConnell steals. These kinds of unforced errors can have huge consequences, says Alex Caruso, who was responsible for one of them. “I call them pick-sixes,” Caruso said. “It’s a live-ball turnover in your third of the court and they score. It can add up to eight, 10, 12 points, which might be the difference in the game.” The Thunder finished the game with 19 turnovers, their highest total of the playoffs, with Gilgeous-Alexander responsible for six of them. “It just goes back to being tighter, being more focused, being more forceful all night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Thunder Notes: Caruso, Wiggins, Ownership, Depth, Defensive Strategy
Alex Caruso played 19.3 minutes per game during the regular season but is averaging 23 minutes during the postseason. Caruso, who averaged 28.7 minutes last season with Chicago, said the reduced playing time over the course of the year was by design. The Thunder wanted to keep the hard-nosed guard fresh for a deep playoff run.
“I just only have one gear. I don’t know how to play at 75 percent. Some of that was keeping me out of my own way, out of harm’s way. I don’t do a good job of that on my own,” Caruso said, per Ryan Stiles of Sports Illustrated. “Yeah, some of that, it was difficult just because I am such a competitive guy. If I’m only playing 15 to 20 minutes, if it’s one of those nights where it’s 15, we’re not playing great, like my instinct is to, all right, coach, leave me in there, let me fix it, let me be the one to help us get out of it.”
We have more on the Thunder with Game 3 of the NBA Finals approaching on Wednesday:
- Aaron Wiggins erupted for 18 points in 21 minutes in Game 2 after playing just nine minutes in Game 1. That made a strong impression on one of his All Star teammates. “It’s the hardest job in the league, I feel like. I think he’s underrated … It’s really hard to stay engaged and stay ready. For him to be able to do that on the biggest stage he’s ever played on and have a really good game, very special player. I always keep that in mind. Yeah, it’s a really tough job. He does it very well,” Jalen Williams said, per Stiles.
- Some investors may be regretting their decision to not grab a stake in the franchise. According to Kurt Badenhausen and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico, shares of the team held by the estate of fracking baron Aubrey McClendon, who died in 2016, were put up for sale in 2019. McClendon was part of Clay Bennett‘s group that paid $350MM for Seattle SuperSonics in 2006. Those shares, approximately 20 percent of the franchise, remained on the market for a while before ultimately purchased by the current majority stakeholders.
- The Thunder were a plus-11 in Game 2 during the 12 minutes that MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench, a showcase of their depth, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater notes. The five-man unit of Caruso (who had 20 points), Williams, Wiggins, Cason Wallace and Isaiah Hartenstein was particularly potent. “We’ve played that lineup a lot through the playoffs,” Caruso said. “(Head coach) Mark (Daigneault) went back to it because we’ve had a lot of success. Me and Cason do a good job of mixing it up with whoever is the lead guard. Dub has great hands. We have a versatility in the lineup. It lets Wigs get a little bit loose, too.”
- In Game 2, Oklahoma City found success via a combination of ball screen location, aggression and overall defensive alignment, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic. He breaks down OKC’s defensive strategy that slowed the Pacers’ high-octane attack.
Thunder Notes: SGA, Caruso, Williams, Holmgren, Game 2 Adjustments
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander set a record for the most combined points by a player in his first two NBA Finals games as the Thunder defeated Indiana to even their series at 1-1, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. After taking 30 shots to reach 38 points in Game 1, Gilgeous-Alexander was more efficient on Sunday, going 11-of-21 from the field and 11-of-12 from the foul line en route to a 34-point performance.
MacMahon notes that SGA also established a franchise record with his 12th 30-point game of this year’s playoffs, topping the mark set by Kevin Durant in 2014.
“I’m being myself,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I don’t think I tried to reinvent the wheel or step up to the plate with a different mindset. Just try to attack the game the right way. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that so far.”
The reigning MVP and the league’s best regular season team both looked more in character in Game 2 than they did while letting a 15-point fourth quarter lead slip away in the opener. Gilgeous-Alexander resumed his normal role as a facilitator as well as a scorer, handing out eight assists after having just three in Game 1. His assists went to seven different teammates, and six of them resulted in made three-pointers.
“He’s just getting better and better, which is very impressive,” Jalen Williams said. “Obviously, he’s the MVP of the league. For him to continue to get better is good. He just trusts us to make plays. I think when your best player is out there and he trusts you to make a play, it just gives you more confidence. He understands that. I think that’s one of the roles he’s gotten really good at and grown at, and it just makes our team better.”
There’s more on the Thunder:
- Defensive sparkplug Alex Caruso delivered 20 points off the bench to help keep the game out of reach, per Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. It was a scoring mark he didn’t achieve in any game during the regular season, and it was more than any Pacers player was able to muster. “He’s one of those guys who you know is going to bring it every single night,” Chet Holmgren said. “Whether he’s 22 or 30, doesn’t matter. He’s going to bring it. I feel like, as a collective, we really feed off of that. Then also his ability to kind of process things that are happening out there and relay it and communicate it to everybody else is really important for us.”
- After subpar showings in the series opener, Williams and Holmgren delivered more typical outings in Game 2, notes Will Guillory of The Athletic. Williams contributed 19 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Holmgren added 15 points and six rebounds. Aaron Wiggins chipped in 18 points off the bench as the Thunder reserves outscored the Pacers’ reserves, 48-34.
- Coach Mark Daigneault stuck with his smaller starting lineup from Game 1 — with Cason Wallace replacing Isaiah Hartenstein — but he made a few adjustments on Sunday, observes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Holmgren and Hartenstein saw time together, allowing Oklahoma City to be more competitive on the boards, and rookie guard Ajay Mitchell was barely used.
NBA Finals Notes: Court Design, Nembhard, SGA, Game 2
Responding to online complaints about the plain nature of the court for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, commissioner Adam Silver said the league office will have discussions this summer about bringing back the Larry O’Brien Trophy logo, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic. The Paycom Center floor on Thursday was indistinguishable from a regular season game, lacking the trophy and the distinctive NBA Finals logo that used to be a tradition.
Amick explains that the league stopped using the trophy logo in 2014 in response to complaints about “slipperiness” on the courts. The Cavaliers had a small version of the trophy in the corner of their home court in 2017, and a much larger logo with a YouTube sponsorship was featured on the court during the 2020 Finals at the bubble in Orlando.
Silver is sympathetic toward fans who want the court for the league’s biggest event to have a special look.
“Maybe there’s a way around it,” he said. “To be honest, I hadn’t thought all that much about it until I (saw) it (on social media). I’m nostalgic, as well, for certain things. And also, I think for a media-driven culture, whether it’s people watching live or seeing those images on social media, it’s nice when you’re looking back on highlights and they stand out because you see that trophy logo or some other indication that it’s a special event. So, we’ll look at it.”
There’s more on the NBA Finals as the series gets set to resume Sunday night:
- Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard has a long-running friendship and rivalry with Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, per Tim Reyonolds of the Associated Press. They grew up playing basketball together, and they’re both members of Canada’s national team. Nembhard was SGA’s primary defender in Game 1, and even though the reigning MVP finished with 38 points, he admits that he had to work hard for them. “He’s a competitor. He’s a winner,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Nembhard. “Plays the game the right way on both ends of the floor. Really good player. Yeah, he’s a winner for sure. No doubt.”
- The Thunder have been exceptional after losses throughout the regular season and playoffs, so the Pacers will have a huge challenge in Game 2, Reynolds adds in a separate story. Oklahoma City has a 17-2 record in the next game coming off a defeat with an average margin of victory of 17.5 points. “You don’t want to be reactive to the last game because then you can be too high after wins, you can be too low after losses,” OKC coach Mark Daigneault said. “We just get ourselves to neutral. Understand every game is different, every game is unwritten. You go out there, the ball goes up in the air, and the team that competes better on that night wins.”
- John Hollinger of The Athletic analyzes several key plays from the series opener to understand how Indiana was able to erase a 15-point fourth quarter deficit.
Thunder Notes: Jalen Williams, Holmgren, SGA, Presti
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander carried the scoring load as expected for the Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren both suffered through off nights, combining for 23 points while shooting 8-of-28 from the field, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Williams saw his normal workload, but Holmgren was limited to 23 minutes as OKC coach Mark Daigneault went away from his two-big lineups.
At Saturday’s practice, Daigneault noted that Williams and Holmgren, who were both drafted in 2022, are young players who are being asked to produce on the league’s biggest stage.
“They have carved out huge roles on our team — they are a huge reason why we’re here,” he said. “They are in an uncommon position for third-year players. These are guys that are in their third year. Usually, delivering in the Finals is not on the curriculum for third-year players, you know, and they have thrust themselves into that situation, which is a credit to them.
“And now that they are here, they have to continue to do what they have done all the way through the playoffs, which is go out there, fully compete, learn the lessons, and apply it forward. And they have done a great job of that. I think you’ve seen that over the course of the playoffs. They haven’t always played their best game, but they always get themselves ready to play the next one.”
There’s more from Oklahoma City:
- In an interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Williams talks about his quick rise from a mid-major college team to NBA stardom. Williams reveals that he didn’t receive any Power 5 scholarship offers, so he opted for Santa Clara, where he gradually developed into an NBA prospect. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to appreciate everything that happened and I look back and believe that if it didn’t happen that way, I don’t think I would be in the position I was,” Williams said. “So, in a way, honestly, it just makes me feel kind of relieved and happy that was the way it went. I remember a lot of times I would work out because something went wrong or I didn’t get picked for something I thought I should get picked for. It made me go to the gym. It made me take it way more seriously.”
- With an MVP award already in his possession, Gilgeous-Alexander has a chance to join an elite list of players by winning an NBA championship, observes Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. Lorenzi points out that Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the only players to capture a scoring title, MVP honors and Finals MVP in the same season.
- John Hollinger of The Athletic examines how general manager Sam Presti was able to build a second great team in Oklahoma City after his first one fell apart without winning a title.
NBA Finals Notes: Game 1, Haliburton, Carlisle, Nembhard, Presentation
The Pacers continue to defy the odds in these NBA playoffs, pulling off an improbable fourth-quarter comeback for a fourth consecutive series and a second straight Game 1. Indiana didn’t hold a lead on Thursday in Oklahoma City until Tyrese Haliburton made a jumper that put the team up 111-110 with 0.3 seconds left on the game clock. It was the fourth time during the 2025 postseason that Haliburton has converted a game-winning or game-tying shot with less than five seconds remaining, notes Jamal Collier of ESPN.
“I don’t know what you say about it, but I know that this group is a resilient group,” Haliburton said. “And we don’t give up until it’s 0.0 on the clock.”
The Pacers turned the ball over 24 times and attempted just 82 field goals and 21 free throws on the night, compared to six turnovers, 98 field goal attempts, and 24 free throws for the Thunder. But a strong shooting performance that included a 46.2% mark from beyond the arc (18-of-39) kept Indiana within striking distance.
Haliburton didn’t play a major part in the Pacers’ three-point success, scoring just 14 points and knocking down 2-of-7 shots from long range. However, his teammates had full trust in their point guard when he raced up the court with the ball in his hands during that final possession.
“I swear as soon as he jumped up to shoot, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s good,'” Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith said, according to Collier. “Every time it’s in his hands in those situations, I just think it’s good.”
“(He has) ultimate, ultimate confidence in himself,” center Myles Turner added, per Grant Afseth of Hardwood Heroics. “Some players will say they have it but there’s other players that show it, and he’s going to let you know about it, too. That’s one of the things I respect about him. He’s a baller and a hooper and really just a gamer. When it comes to the moments, he wants the ball. He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn’t shy away from the moment, and it is very important this time of the year to have a go-to guy. He just keeps finding a way, and we keep putting the ball in the right positions, and the rest is history.”
Here’s more on the NBA Finals in the wake of a thrilling first game:
- Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, who has spent 23 seasons as an NBA coach and won a title in 2011 in Dallas, said on Thursday that he has a special appreciation for this Pacers team, as Afseth relays. “It’s a group I love,” Carlisle said. “It’s a group that we’ve invested a lot in — in how we were going to draft, who we were going to draft, and development. From a coaching perspective, I’m proud of this year because not only did we win enough games to get into the top four, but we are still developing players.”
- The Game 1 loss was similar to the Thunder’s other home loss during these playoffs, when they let a 13-point fourth quarter lead slip away in Game 3 of the conference semifinals vs. Denver, notes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The Thunder came back in that series after falling behind 2-1 as a result of that home loss, so while they were disappointed by Thursday’s outcome, they’re confident in their ability to bounce back. “It sucks, but we have been here before,” Jalen Williams said, while head coach Mark Daigneault added, “We would’ve liked to win tonight, but tonight was a starting point, not an end point.” As MacMahon writes, Oklahoma City is 4-0 after losses during these playoffs, with an average margin of victory of 20.5 points per game.
- With Isaiah Hartenstein removed from the starting lineup and limited to just 17 minutes of action, the Thunder were out-rebounded 56-39 by one of the league’s worst rebounding teams. “Some of it is the cost of doing business,” Daigneault said of sticking with a smaller lineup, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic. “To be able to get perimeter speed on the court, get more switching in the game. It’s obviously something that is a tradeoff. I thought the small lineup at the end of the first half looked pretty good. That’s why I went back to it down the stretch. When we’re small, we have to be pressure-oriented and contain the ball. I thought they got some cracks against us that hurt us a little bit more than the post-ups did.”
- While Haliburton was the Game 1 hero, Andrew Nembhard deserves a lot of credit for helping the Pacers stay in the game and complete their comeback, according to David Aldridge of The Athletic. In addition to hitting a big three-pointer in the game’s final minutes, Nembhard served as the primary defender on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 38 points but needed 30 shots to do it. “If there wasn’t the 65-game rule, he’s an All-Defensive guy, plain and simple,” Haliburton said of Nembhard. “We have the most trust in him. Shai is the hardest guard in the NBA. He’s the hardest guy to cover one-on-one in the NBA. So there’s no one look we can give him that is going to work every time. We trust Drew in those situations.”
- Amid myriad complaints on social media that Game 1 of the NBA Finals felt like just another regular season contest, Dan Shanoff of The Athletic offers three suggestions that the NBA and ABC could make for the rest of the series to improve the presentation, including putting the Finals logo on the court and showing the in-arena starting lineup introductions on the TV broadcast.