{"id":113660,"date":"2025-06-21T04:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T04:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/113660\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T04:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T04:23:17","slug":"bbnba-pacers-route-thunder-to-force-nba-finals-game-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/113660\/","title":{"rendered":"BBNBA: Pacers route Thunder to force NBA Finals Game 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indiana had its backs against the ropes heading into Game 6 of the NBA Finals, one loss away from crowning Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company NBA Champions. But to channel the words<\/a> of Rocky Balboa, the Pacers didn\u2019t hear no bell. Tyrese Haliburton and his squad of guys whom you think you\u2019ve heard of but can\u2019t quite remember where, dominated Game 6 from the opening tip.<\/p>\n

The Pacers defeated OKC with a final score of 108-91, but that margin is skewed from 4th quarter garbage time. Any hope for a Thunder comeback when they were down 22 points at halftime ended shortly after the break. It took the Thunder over five minutes to score in the 3rd quarter, a period where they usually dominate. <\/p>\n

The Pacers, on the other hand, were scoring with flair. Haliburton and Pascal Siakam hooked up on a steal, no-look pass combo on a fast break, creating the best highlight of the entire NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n

The 3rd quarter ended with a Pacers 3-point buzzer-beater, a microcosm of the entire game. The Thunder found themselves down 30 going into the 4th quarter, as they played with the level of energy of a team that knew they had a game to spare if they lost this one.<\/p>\n

As for the former Kentucky players out there, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> led all scoring with 21 points, but had a mere two assists, as nothing seemed to be falling for the Thunder all night. They shot just 26.7 percent as a team from behind the arc, 41.9 percent from the field as a whole, and combined for only 14 team assists. Cason Wallace<\/a> chipped in just two points in 14 minutes on the court.<\/p>\n

For the Pacers, Jacob\u2019s older brother Obi Toppin led his team in scoring off the bench with 20, exemplifying the team-ball approach they\u2019ve showcased extensively during this incredible playoff run. <\/p>\n

It all leads to one final matchup on Sunday for the NBA title. One final bout. One final showdown. One Finals Game 7.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana had its backs against the ropes heading into Game 6 of the NBA Finals, one loss away…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,4724,6,11,1667],"class_list":{"0":"post-113660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cason-wallace-22-richardson","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-playoffs","12":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander-17-hamilton-heights-christian-academy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114719451040268705","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}