OKLAHOMA CITY – Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton hit a 21-foot pull-up jumper in the final second on Thursday as the Indiana Pacers completed a stunning comeback for a 111-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The Pacers hadn’t led in the game until Halliburton drained the shot with 0.3 seconds remaining.
The best-of-seven series resumes with Game 2 in Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Indiana trailed by 15 early in the fourth quarter before chipping away at the Thunder’s lead. Andrew Nembhard and Myles Turner each scored eight points in the period.
The Pacers cut the deficit to one with 48.6 seconds remaining on Pascal Siakam’s putback following a missed 3-point attempt by Nembhard.
After Haliburton’s shot, Oklahoma City tried to lob inside, but Siakam batted it away as time expired to end the game.
Indiana outscored the Thunder 35-25 in the fourth quarter.
Oklahoma City forced plenty of turnovers, especially early. However, the Thunder couldn’t take advantage often enough, scoring just 11 points on Indiana’s 25 giveaways. The Pacers turned the ball over 20 times in the first half alone.
Siakam led the Pacers with 19 points and added 10 rebounds. Obi Toppin had 17 points off the bench, Turner scored 15 and Nembhard had 14. Haliburton finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 to lead the Thunder, shooting 14 of 30 from the field.
Jalen Williams contributed 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting while Chet Holmgren was just 2 of 9 for six points.
Indiana hit 47.6 percent from the floor to Oklahoma City’s 39.8 percent.
Early in the fourth quarter, Indiana was barely hanging on.
The Pacers, down by 13, missed three consecutive shots on one possession.
After the last of those, the Pacers’ T.J. McConnell was inbounding underneath Indiana’s basket and hurriedly heaved the ball to midcourt.
Instead of a teammate being there to receive the inbounds, Williams raced to the ball, catching it on the run and delivering a thunderous dunk to extend Oklahoma City’s lead to a game-high 15 points. The score was 94-79 with 9:42 remaining.
But Indiana wasn’t about to go away.
The Pacers ripped off a 15-4 run to stay within striking distance, and then they surged ahead late.
Oklahoma City hit just one field goal in the final four minutes, giving the Pacers the opening to come back.
–Field Level Media