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Philippines, 31 Jul 2025 |
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Indiana, Haliburton Do It Again, Pacers Shock OKC on the Road, 111-110 By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Fri, 06 Jun 2025  The stunned fans at Paycom Center could not believe it. Their Oklahoma City Thunder were outplaying the visiting Indiana Pacers for all but the last few seconds of the game. And yet their team lost, 111-110, giving the Pacers a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals best-of-seven series. League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was way out in front of his rival from the other team, 38 points to 14. But it was the last two of Tyrese Haliburton's points that won the game for Indiana with barely 0.3 seconds left. It was Haliburton's clutch two points, taken from inside the arc off the outstretched arms of Luguentz Dort, that punctuated the Pacers' comeback from 15 points down in the final quarter. OKC is the league's best in almost everything, but it never reckoned it would be up against a resurrection of Indiana's Reggie Miller at clutch time. Earlier in the game, particularly in the first half, Oklahoma was giving Indiana a sample of its offense and defense that had been declared as the league's best in the regular season. The Thunder were doing this by unleashing SGA, the most prolific shooting guard in the pro league since the era of Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen. They were also clamping down with their trademark hustling and towering physical defense through Alex Caruso and Dort, as well as seven-footers Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, which resulted in steals and blocks. But the Pacers showed themselves as the personification of a true 48-minute team by coming back time and again. Oklahoma never gave them a taste of the lead virtually from the get-go until the dying moments of the game. Though it appeared that Oklahoma had the game under control, the fact was Indiana always kept the Thunder's leads within reach throughout the contest. Indiana's never-say-die spirit was very evident in its balanced scoring, which had six players in double figures, keeping the OKC lead manageable and within reach. Contributory to this was coach Rick Carlisle's advice for the Pacers to play a little slower, as their faster pace had resulted in turnovers and misses, especially in the first half. Carlisle asked his players to take better care of the ball and play a deliberate game. These adjustments resulted in the Pacers outscoring the Thunder in the third quarter, 31-28, after ceding the first two quarters by 12 points, 57-45. And though OKC still maintained the driver's seat in the final quarter, with the biggest lead at 15 (94-79 at the 5-minute mark), Indiana never showed any sign of panicking or relenting. The Pacers in fact continued attacking and chipping away at the OKC lead. The reversal of fortunes began when Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard hit back-to-back triples to cut the OKC lead to just three, 108-105, at the 1:59 mark after Gilgeous-Alexander had earlier rebuilt the Thunder lead to nine. Gilgeous-Alexander upped the lead again to 110-105, but Nembhard's two free throws put it back to three, 110-107. Pascal Siakam blocked Gilgeous-Alexander's shot and then scored on a putback on the other end, making it 110-109. In OKC's final possession, Nembhard bothered Gilgeous-Alexander's shot, with the rebound going to Nesmith. Eventually, the ball was rotated to Haliburton, who maneuvered from the OKC defense and buried a jumpshot inside the three-point arc with just 0.3 ticks left for the win. Indiana again outscored OKC in the payoff period, 35-25. Siakam topped for Indiana with 19 points plus 10 rebounds. Obi Toppin had 17 points while center Myles Turner tossed in 15 points. Haliburton scored 14 points but also had 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Nembhard also had 14 points and 6 assists, while Nesmith, though only contributing 10 points, had a team-high 12 boards. Gilgeous-Alexander led OKC with 38 points, while his partner Jalen Williams had 19 points. Dort finished with 15. Caruso, who had been running his "Caru-show" earlier, added 11 points. Hartenstein had 9 points and 9 rebounds before being subbed by Holmgren, who ended up with just 6 points and 6 boards. The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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