Pacers Surprise Thunder in Down-to-the-Wire NBA Finals Opener
No one expected the Indiana Pacers to march into Oklahoma City and swipe Game 1 from the mighty Thunder, but here we are: a 111-110 win, with the final seconds as wild as it gets. The Pacers hadn’t been to the NBA Finals in more than twenty years, and on this stage, every second was a battle. The Thunder were supposed to walk away with this series—after all, they cruised through the regular season with a league-best 68 wins. But the Pacers didn’t care about the script.
All eyes were on Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers’ point guard who seems born for late-game chaos. When things got tense, he didn’t flinch. His passing set up open looks when it counted, and his composure was obvious, even as the crowd threatened to shake the roof off. The bench didn’t let him down either—Pascal Siakam, fresh off an Eastern Conference Finals MVP run, came in and dropped 18 points, giving Indiana exactly what it needed when starters hit the bench.
Shai Shines, But Pacers Clutch Up
Oklahoma City came in loaded, with reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander playing like the league’s brightest star. He poured in 34 points, hitting jumpers from everywhere and slicing to the rim as if Indiana’s defense wasn’t even there—for most of the night, anyway. But then, when the pressure dialed all the way up in the last few minutes, a couple of Thunder turnovers tipped the scale. Gilgeous-Alexander, usually calm under fire, made rare mistakes at the worst possible moment. Indiana snatched up loose balls and raced the other way—simple, but it worked.
It wasn’t just Haliburton and Siakam, either. The Pacers needed bodies flying to shooters, hands in passing lanes, and big-time rebounds, and they got it. For a team long seen as underdogs, it was gritty basketball at its finest. Defensively, they clamped down just in time, forcing Oklahoma City to miss key shots late and challenging every possession as if the season depended on it—because it does.
Now, the Thunder have to deal with something they haven’t faced much this season: serious NBA Finals adversity. They’re suddenly down 1-0 at home, with Game 2 set for June 8. The Pacers have already done the impossible by flipping home-court advantage in a single night. This series has just started, but the Pacers sure turned heads with their fearless performance.
