Chet Holmgren neared a record for how long humans can clench their jaw. For 8:15, so few words escaped his grinding teeth.
He settled into his postgame seat, bathing in a stunning 111-110 Game 1 defeat, with flames in his eyes and the visage of a man who’s seen gore. If looks could kill, his would do so serially.
He chewed on the bitter end of the paradox that saw the Indiana Pacers steal Game 1. The Oklahoma City Thunder, this millennium’s most handsy and incessant defense, is bound to rear its insensitive head. But these Indiana Pacers, immune to double-digit deficits — and apparently double-digit turnovers — have often found themselves riding comebacks off into the sunset.
The Thunder controlled every second of Thursday’s Game 1. All but one.
With 2:52 to play, OKC led by nine. Then came the 12-2 Indiana run to finish. The Thunder shot just 7 of 19 in the fourth, a quarter-long offensive shrug topped off by closing with a small lineup. Then came another signature Tyrese Haliburton moment in a postseason full of them, this time a leaning jumper that gave the Pacers their first lead of the night with 0.3 seconds to play.
And it was that look from Haliburton — tongue poking through his bite, eyes of anticipation, follow-through dangling — that’s taken aback the teams forced to bear witness to his late-game prowess.
“It is a 48-minute game,” said MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who ended with 38 points on 30 shots. “(The Pacers) teach you that lesson more than anybody else in the league, the hard way.”
At least a handful of Indiana’s wins in these playoffs have been out of a back vault, thrown in duffles like the robberies they are. Thursday was the fifth comeback from a 15-point deficit for the Pacers in this postseason, the most of any team since 1998. The last team to erase such a deficit in the fourth quarter of a Finals game and win?
Rick Carlisle’s 2011 Dallas Mavericks.
For a week, the Thunder watched the tendencies. It sought the common thread among all of Indiana’s wins of this nature in hopes of avoiding such a fate.
“The common denominator is them,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “That’s a really good team. Credit them for not only tonight but their run. They’ve had so many games like that that have seemed improbable. They just play with a great spirit, they keep coming, they made plays, made shots.
“They deserved to win by a point.”
Emphasis on a point. Not a full possession. Certainly not double digits. The Thunder led by 12 at halftime, having forced the most turnovers of any team in any Finals half in history. The Pacers had more turnovers (19) than field goals (15).
Entering this series, Indiana was branded by ball control. Entering the second half, the soundtrack to its possessions were Benny Hill’s theme, a cycle of offensive dysfunction for a team meant to be immune to it.
The Pacers were ripped on drives. They were crowded all over the floor. Center Myles Turner, who finished with six turnovers, appeared exasperated with the level of contract thrown his way.
But OKC scored just 11 points off a total of 24 turnovers, minced meat for a team that averaged 23.8 points off turnovers entering Thursday. Indy’s final turnover came with 9:45 to play. And while the turnovers slowed (just five in the second half), the Pacers’ hope hardly did.
In a duel of firm identities, Indiana stuck around longest. It shot 47.6% from the field and made 46.2% of its 39 3-point attempts.
Aaron Nesmith, a two-way gunner who’s helped shape this Pacers run, drilled a heavily contested 3 with just under three minutes to make the slow burn run truly smoke. Soon after, Andrew Nembhard reached in SGA’s bag for a size up and stepback 3 to further the notion.
The Pacers lived long enough to see their depth swing the game. Turner, at one point nearly ripping his locs out amid the sea of OKC’s defenders, finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, a plus-8. Nesmith drilled three 3s. Obi Toppin, a plus-13, knocked down five. Nembhard essentially shut out SGA for the game.
Inside the final 23 seconds, Gilgeous-Alexander sized up Nembhard, eventually bumping and grinding his way to a midrange jumper. The 15-footer was a fine shot by his standards. With a chance to put the Thunder up three, he leaned back and misfired.
These Pacers never needed the door opened. Only the window ajar.
“It wasn’t like they won the game,” center Isaiah Hartenstein said. “It felt like we lost the game.”
This feeling boiled inside Holmgren at least once these playoffs. After a Game 1 loss to Denver, in which he played a role after missing the free throws that allowed Aaron Gordon to steal the show, the big fella’s arms reached for his head. There was disbelief in his walk off the floor.
On Thursday, the 7-foot-1 Holmgren shrunk. He and All-Star Jalen Williams, both of which helped drown Minnesota last round, totaled 23 points on 8-of-28 shooting (Williams scored 17 to Holmgren’s 6, respectively).
In that fateful loss to the Nuggets, the first flag planted in a seven-game series this Thunder team sees as an inflection point, Holmgren walked away in disbelief. This time, his resting expression did the talking. The feeling, familiar as it might be, struck as harsh as the first time.
“It counts the same as when we lost by 40 in Minnesota in the last series,” veteran Alex Caruso said. “Counts the same as when we lost by two or three at Denver Game 3 that series. It’s all worth one. It’s the silver lining of it.
“But at the same time it’s a loss. If we don’t recognize that and feel, if it doesn’t hurt right now, you’re not frustrated with it, obviously there’s something wrong with you.”
That Oklahoma City knows it’s now victim to the Pacers’ late-game sorcery will sting. It’s no fun when Haliburton’s got the gun.
Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Joel’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
NBA Finals: Thunder vs. Pacers
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