Tyrese Haliburton isn’t the first player to steal a win from the OKC Thunder on their home court, and the 24-year-old reminded fans what happened the last time.
Thunder fans will wonder how their team lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the Indiana Pacers. At half-time, some felt the game, if not the entire series, was a wrap.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked every bit unstoppable as Gary Payton said he was. With a 38-point outing, SGA did everything to hand the Thunder a win.
But Tyrese Haliburton continued to make history with his clutch heroics. After yet another brilliant comeback, we learned that the Pacers are capable of beating the Thunder.
Well, Jalen Williams will not appreciate that sentiment. And he wanted everyone to remember exactly what happened the last time a team stole Game 1 from them.
Jalen Williams cut quite the frustrated figure during his press conference. Speaking after the crushing Game 1 loss, Jalen Williams reminded everyone that the series isn’t over.
He emphasized that the first team to win four games will win the series, and pointed to the Denver Nuggets series, where they lost Game 1 but still won four out of their seven games, as proof that they are capable of making a comeback.
“Well, it sucks. But, we have been here before. Obviously, in the Denver series, around the same thing to be totally honest. We’ll get back to 0-0 and look at what we can do to get better.”
“It’s first to four. Regardless of whether it’s the finals or round one. You still have to win four games. So, we’ll take that and be ready for Game 2.”
Jalen Williams isn’t ready to throw in the towel. And given how the Denver Nuggets series turned out, they have no reason to be worried just yet.
After a crushing Game 1 loss to the Denver Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder came back in convincing fashion to win Game 2.
That series wound up going to seven games. The Thunder would like to avoid the same fate in the NBA Finals. But OKC and the Pacers could go seven games, as Gary Payton has predicted. Expect the Thunder to come out with a fire we didn’t see from them in Game 1.
In fact, the Thunder are 3-0 in Game 2s in the playoffs so far. But the Pacers are also 3-0 in Game 2s, and they are 6-0 in the first two games of each of their series.
As they would say in the fight game, ‘Someone’s 0 has got to go’, and it will be an interesting battle between two of the best teams in the NBA.
