We might have a series after all.
The underdog Pacers stole Game 1 of the NBA Finals, stunning the Thunder 111-110 on Thursday night in Oklahoma City.
Let’s get to the grades.
Pre-order book on the Thunder’s journey to the NBA Finals
Gilgeous-Alexander missed a late jumper that would’ve given the Thunder a three-point cushion.
This loss isn’t on him, though.
Gilgeous-Alexander was mostly magnificent in his NBA Finals debut. He scored 38 points — the third most by a player in his first NBA Finals game behind Allen Iverson (48 in 2001) and George Mikan (42 in 1949).
SGA shot 14-of-30 and was 7-of-8 from the foul line.
—Joe Mussatto, columnist
The non-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander legs of the Thunder’s Big Three were wobbly Thursday.
Williams scored 17 points but hit only 6 of 19 shots. He was aggressive, getting downhill and going to the rim. But he seemed to rush some shots and failed to convert three in the restricted area, including a dunk that was blocked.
Holmgren managed only six points, his lowest scoring game of these playoffs. He made only 2 of 9 shots.
Williams dished six assists while Holmgren grabbed six rebounds and blocked one shot.
Still, the Thunder needs more from both.
—Jenni Carlson, columnist
I know, I know, the Pacers standout hit the last-second game-winner, but the Thunder guarded him well for about 47 minutes and 45 seconds.
He scored 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished six assists and committed three turnovers. This is a guy who has had triple doubles without a single turnover, so that stat line is one the Thunder would live with.
If not for those last two points.
Cason Wallace ended up matched up on Haliburton, and as good a defender as the Thunder sophomore is, Lu Dort had locked down Haliburton much of the night. Dort used his physicality to get into Haliburton, and Wallace should’ve bodied him up the same way.
Instead, he gave Haliburton a sliver of space, and he took advantage.
—Jenni Carlson, columnist
Participation points: A
Twenty players logged first-quarter minutes … 20! In Game 1 of the NBA Finals!
We knew Mark Daigneault and Rick Carlisle liked their benches, but holy smokes. It’s like they were coaching a regular season game in the dead of December.
Daigneault played an 11th man, Ajay Mitchell, to start the second quarter.
The rookie second rounder had played a grand total of 64 playoff minutes entering Thursday night. Mitchell threw a nice pass to Holmgren, which led to a foul and free throws, but he missed all three of his shots in four minutes of action.
— Joe Mussatto, columnist
Points off turnovers: D
Even though the Pacers had a whopping 25 turnovers, almost double their regular-season average of 13.2, the Thunder managed only 11 points off those turnovers.
OKC has to get more than that off that level of defensive pressure, and while it regularly capitalizes off turnovers by getting out on the break and scoring in transition, that didn’t happen Thursday.
OKC had 11 transition points to Indiana’s 10.
“I think you’ve got to look at what kind of turnovers we’re getting, too,” Thunder guard Jalen Williams said. “Sometimes you get a turnover in the backcourt, sometimes the defense is behind you now, so you try and obviously space out, run something.”
And when that didn’t happen much Thursday, the Thunder’s poor shooting night factored into the points off turnovers. OKC had 98 shots to Indiana’s 82, so the Thunder created more opportunities with their turnovers. But it didn’t make any more shots than the Pacers; both made 39 baskets.
—Jenni Carlson, columnist
Pacers’ role players: A-
Indiana outscored OKC 39-28 in bench points.
Obi Toppin, after throwing the ball all over the place in the first half, settled in and finished with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
T.J. McConnell had nine points on 4-of-6 shooting. Thomas Bryant went 2-for-2.
The Pacers’ bench shot 8-of-12 from 3-point range. The Pacers as a whole went 18-of-39 (46%).
—Joe Mussatto, columnist
Big Rob Clay: A+
Rob Clay walked to center court to sing the national anthem, and before he was even introduced, he was being cheered. Thunder fans gave him a huge ovation; they know his track record.
Clay sang the national anthem before Game 1 in the opening round of the playoffs against Memphis, then again before Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against Denver. And Oklahoma City won both series.
Even though Clay gave way to violinist Kyle Dillingham in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals — and the Thunder won that series against the Timberwolves — no chances were taken this time.
And Clay was masterful, as usual.
—Jenni Carlson, columnist
NBA Finals feel: D
The home crowd was awesome.
But whether you were watching from inside the arena or on TV, there weren’t a lot of visual cues reminding you that THESE ARE THE NBA FINALS!
Remember when a giant logo of the Larry O’Brien Trophy used to be under the team logo at midcourt? Those days are long gone, but we’ve zagged too far in the other direction.
No Larry ‘O logo. No iconic NBA Finals script on the court.
A certain grandeur was lacking.
— Joe Mussatto, columnist