NBA Finals<\/a> after a comeback for the ages.<\/p>\n\u201cMan, basketball\u2019s fun,\u201d Haliburton said. \u201cWinning is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Especially like this.<\/p>\n
The Pacers turned the ball over 25 times, trailed by 15 points in the fourth quarter against a team with the best home record in the NBA and had no answers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander \u2014 the NBA MVP who led all scorers with 38 points.<\/p>\n
But they had the league\u2019s new Mr. Big Shot, who has now had one of these moments in every series the Pacers have played in these playoffs.<\/p>\n
April 29, Indiana trailed Milwaukee 118-111 with 34.6 seconds left in overtime. Haliburton scored with 1.4 seconds remaining and the Pacers won 119-118.
\nMay 6, Indiana trailed Cleveland 119-112 with 48 seconds left and won 120-119. Haliburton got the game-winner with 1.1 seconds to play.
\nMay 21, Indiana trailed New York 121-112 with 51.1 seconds left in regulation. Haliburton sent it to overtime on a jumper with no time on the clock; Indiana won 138-135.<\/p>\n
Now, this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had lots of experience in these kinds of games,\u201d Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.<\/p>\n
The Pacers were down by 15 with 9:42 left, their rally the biggest in the fourth quarter of a finals game since Dallas also came from 15 down to beat Miami on June 2, 2011.<\/p>\n
Carlisle coached those Mavericks. And, well, here he is again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a really good team,\u201d Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. \u201cCredit them for not only tonight but their run. They\u2019ve had so many games like that that have seemed improbable. And they just play with a great spirit and they keep coming. They keep playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 19 points. Obi Toppin scored 17, Myles Turner had 15, and Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard each had 14.<\/p>\n
Jalen Williams had 17 and Lu Dort scored 15 for Oklahoma City, which was 36-1 at home with 15-point leads this season.<\/p>\n
Game 2 is at Oklahoma City on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City led by 15 early in the fourth when Carlisle called time and subbed out all five players, seeking a spark. It worked. The Pacers outscored the Thunder 15-4 over the next 3:26 \u2014 getting within 98-94 on a 3 by Turner with 6:16 left.<\/p>\n
They weren\u2019t done. And in the final second, they found a way. Again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had control of the game for the most part,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said. \u201cNow, it\u2019s a 48-minute game. And they teach you that lesson more than anyone else in the league \u2014 the hard way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana trailed the entire game in Oklahoma City before Tyrese Haliburton hit the game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,6,17031,11],"class_list":{"0":"post-600220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-finals-game-1","11":"tag-nba-playoffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116061493570468430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600220","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=600220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}