Inside the Comeback: How the Pacers pulled off a stunner in Game 1 of the NBA Finals

By TIM REYNOLDS OKLAHOMA CITY AP The event plan was the obvious one Just chip away the Indiana Pacers mentioned because there was no other option that would have made any sense at that point They were down by with remaining They were turning the ball over about once every three possessions couldn t stop Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and had the Oklahoma City crowd in a deafening fury We just declared Hey let s just keep chipping away at the rock Pacers coach Rick Carlisle disclosed Got to keep pounding the rock and just chip away and hang in With seconds left there was no more rock left to pound Not for Encounter anyway Tyrese Haliburton scored with that much time left and the Pacers stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder - in the opener of this year s NBA Finals on Thursday night A look inside the comeback The run The Pacers outscored the Thunder - in that final with only six players getting used for those final minutes and all of them figuring into the scoring column Obi Toppin took two shots Both were -pointers Both connected Myles Turner and Andrew Nembhard each scored eight points to lead Indiana during the flurry Aaron Nesmith led the Pacers with four rebounds in that stretch And Haliburton provided the exclamation point with the jumper at the end I ve worked my entire life to get to this stage so there s no holding back Turner commented The collapse The Thunder shot for in that closing stretch Gilgeous-Alexander was for everyone else on the Thunder combined to shoot for The MVP had points everyone else on the Thunder combined for six The reasons for all that A little bit of everything Thunder coach Mark Daigneault stated They made particular plays On specific of those plays they made various shots They got a couple that you wish you d get back We had bonus fouls which were costly Then offensively we didn t move the scoreboard as well as we could have So you just add all that up and that s how you get that sort of comeback The reactions There was no choke sign from Haliburton no celebratory dance just a bunch of hugs with teammates and a big hug with his father John Haliburton in the hallway near the Pacers locker room afterward The Pacers coach Rick Carlisle stated haven t engaged in a ton of raucous postgame success laps during this playoff run This is going to be a long journey and a lot going on Carlisle stated So we re just going to have to keep our eye on the ball and keep focusing on one another The big plays Here were selected of the key moments Carlisle subbed in five new players Haliburton Nembhard Nesmith Toppin and Turner with left and Indiana trailing - Turner hits a -pointer with left cutting the lead to - and forcing an OKC time-out Toppin and Turner made -pointers on consecutive possessions Turner keeping the second one alive with an offensive rebound to get Indiana within - with left Gilgeous-Alexander s two free throws with left pushed the Thunder lead to - Nesmith and Nembhard connected on back-to-back s and Indiana was within thee with left The Pacers got a stop with seconds left and didn t call time having taken advantage of a challenge stoppage seconds earlier to map out scenarios The clock kept running and Haliburton hit the winner with seconds left The final word I don t know what you say about it but I know that this group is a resilient group and we don t give up until it s on the clock Haliburton AP NBA https apnews com hub NBA