\n Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) greets guard Bennedict Mathurin (00) after losing Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
\n AP\n <\/p>\n
INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 The Oklahoma City Thunder showed their bounce-back capability in Game 2. The Indiana Pacers know they better do the same in Game 3.<\/p>\n
The NBA Finals resume Wednesday night with the series tied at a game apiece, the matchup shifting to Indianapolis for Game 3 and what will be the first finals game in that city in 25 years. And the Pacers know it’s on them to respond after Game 2 wasn’t much of a contest.<\/p>\n
It’s obviously possible: The Pacers haven’t lost back-to-back games in three months, going 9-0 after losses in that span. This would be a good time for them to extend that run.<\/p>\n
\u201cBiggest game of the year,\u201d Pacers forward Pascal Siakam said.<\/p>\n
That’s technically accurate when said before any finals game, but it does ring especially true in this case. Indiana did what it had to do in Oklahoma City; it got a win and stole home-court advantage. Win three games at home over the next week or so, and the Pacers will be NBA champions. Lose any game at home, and the Thunder get the edge right back.<\/p>\n
But the Pacers have shown a penchant for resiliency. It’s much like how Oklahoma City is 17-2 after losses this season (or 18-2, if counting the NBA Cup final); the latest bounce-back effort for the Thunder came in Game 2 after Indiana won Game 1 of the finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that we try not to dwell on things,\u201d Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton said. \u201cAs NBA players, just as basketball players in general, it\u2019s easy to make a mistake and dwell on it, give up a bucket or whatever. I feel like we do a great job of getting to the next play.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the finals are tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner eventually wins the title 80.5% of the time. It’s a big, big game and everybody knows the stakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we just have to keep finding ways to get better as a group,\u201d Thunder guard and NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. \u201cIf we continue to do that, we\u2019ll be just fine. If we\u2019ve struggled in an area, that\u2019s an area we can get better at. We have to attack that opportunity. I think Game 3 is a perfect example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haliburton’s status<\/p>\n
Haliburton was limping after Game 2 and acknowledged there’s an issue with his lower leg. He didn’t offer much in the way of details, and it doesn’t matter. He’s playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe practiced. He went through everything,\u201d Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. \u201cI know he has some discomfort. He feels it. But each day it\u2019s getting better. I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to hear him making a big deal out of it. This is the time of year where it just doesn\u2019t get any better than this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pacers at home<\/p>\n
The Thunder have a big home-court edge thanks to their crowd at Paycom Center. The Pacers are hoping for just as much energy \u2014 if not more \u2014 from their crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Games 3 and 4.<\/p>\n
And the Thunder know what’s coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one thing we have to be ready for coming in here, is understand they\u2019re going to be playing with a lot of energy,\u201d Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. \u201cThey play very well here. They play very comfortable here. We\u2019ve got to level up to that if we want to give ourselves a chance to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long time coming<\/p>\n
Indiana’s Myles Turner has played in 346 games at home with the Pacers, including playoffs \u2014 by far more than anyone else on the team.<\/p>\n
No. 347 will be his first there in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the city\u2019s been waiting for an opportunity like this. I expect a hell of an environment (Wednesday),\u201d Turner said. \u201cI know it\u2019s going to be. It\u2019s exciting times for everybody, just to experience the finals in Indianapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thunder in the first half<\/p>\n
The Thunder won the first and second quarters in Games 1 and 2, taking a 12-point halftime lead in Game 1 and an 18-point halftime lead in Game 2.<\/p>\n
Indiana knows that can’t keep happening. Oklahoma City is 63-9 with halftime leads this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously it\u2019s going to be a different challenge coming on the road,\u201d Thunder guard Alex Caruso said. \u201cThis place will be rowdy. They\u2019ll be excited to cheer on their team. For us, I think just sticking with the details of the stuff that we\u2019ve talked about as a team that are important to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winning on the road<\/p>\n
Road teams are still winning at about a 44% clip in these playoffs, which is on pace to be the best record in 30 years. Entering Wednesday, road teams are 35-44 in this postseason.<\/p>\n
Teams won road games at a 45% clip in 1995.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t count the 2020 COVID-19 \u201cbubble\u201d playoffs, where everybody was in one spot at Lake Buena Vista, Florida and the \u201croad\u201d winning percentage was .518 \u2014 43-40.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City is 4-3 on the road in these playoffs. Indiana is 7-3.<\/p>\n
The best league-wide road record for a playoff season was in 1966 \u2014 14-13, a .519 winning percentage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams (6) reacts after winning Game 2 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)
\n AP\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) greets guard Bennedict Mathurin (00) after losing Game 2 of the NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[2097,7,4781,113,126,3866,6,114,4779],"class_list":{"0":"post-90120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-associated-press","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-content-providers","11":"tag-indiana","12":"tag-indiana-pacers","13":"tag-indianapacers","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-pacers","16":"tag-pro-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114661766709677682","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90120","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=90120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}