The Indiana Pacers made yet another miraculous comeback to steal Game 1 on the Oklahoma City Thunder’s home court.
Once again, Tyrese Haliburton got to play spoiler for yet another playoff team, as he helped the Indiana Pacers complete a heroic comeback.
Despite playing a great game, the Oklahoma City Thunder find themselves down 1-0 in the NBA Finals.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s 38-point performance proved Gary Payton’s analysis of the MVP correct. But Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t going to find much solace in that with the way the game ended.
The Pacers stuck around and never let the Thunder get too comfortable. And like many other games in this playoff run, they woke up in the fourth quarter and pulled off an incredible late-game win.
For a team that has been blowing away the competition in the playoffs, this unlikely loss to the Indiana Pacers will sting. But both teams’ respective runs in these playoffs show that the Pacers might have the Thunder’s number.
Tonight’s win over the Oklahoma City Thunder marked the Indiana Pacers’ fifth win in these playoffs when they were down by 15 or more points.
They are currently 5-3 in the playoffs in games where they are down 15. This includes their comeback wins in Game 1 against the Knicks and Game 2 against the Cavaliers.
What makes this even more concerning for the Thunder is that they are the team with the most blowout wins in these playoffs.
In fact, the Pacers have beaten their opponents by a margin of 15 or more points seven times in the playoffs. That’s more than half of their wins in these playoffs coming from massive blowouts.
These two statistics, in conjunction, show that no matter how good the Thunder are at building a lead, the Pacers will always find a way to stay in the game.
This series is still far from over. While few could have predicted the Pacers winning Game 1, the Thunder are more than capable of making up this deficit.
Heading into Game 2 on Sunday, the Thunder will be trying to figure out the best way to approach the Pacers’ relentless offense.
Losing Game 1, especially at home, is far from ideal for the Thunder. Especially when you consider that the Pacers have won their previous Game 1s while playing away from home, and gone on to win those respective series.
But Oklahoma City has one of the best teams in recent memory. To write them off after an upset loss would be foolish. Expect the Thunder to come back with a vengeance in Game 2.
