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Philippines, 08 Jul 2025 |
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Finals Go All the Way to Game 7 as Indiana Bludgeons Oklahoma in Game 6, 108-91 By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Fri, 20 Jun 2025  Before the start of game six at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Shai Gilgeous Alexander was egging his Oklahoma teammates: "One more game for all the marbles". It turned out that one more game would have to be back in Oklahoma City, the final game of the series as the Indiana Pacers got a good feel of their homecourt again in administering a 108-91 thrashing of the Thunder. In a series that each game seems to have a life of its own, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle flipped the storylines once more as his reserves largely delivered the knockout punches, so to speak, relegating the stars into the background. While most expected Tyrese Haliburton to engage Gilgeous Alexander and Jalen Williams in a mano a mano, the Pacers that emerged as big heroes were a pair of reserves, namely Obi Toppin and TJ McConnel who frustrated Oklahoma with booming triples and discombobulating inside sallies. But as usual, the principal casts, especially Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard, played extremely well on both ends contributing their share in powering Indiana to an ever increasing lead after taking over the initiative early in the game. A welcome sight also was Myles Turner asserting himself more forcefully at both ends of the painted area posing a stiff challenge to the Thunder's twin towers of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hertenstein. This made it clear to OKC Coach Mark Daigneault that his ploy of playing the two together would not work as well as in the last two games, both won by Oklahoma. With Nembhard anchoring the Pacers pressure defense that limited the point production of both Gilgeous Alexander and Williams, Indiana gradually started taking control and pulling away on the booming triples of Toppin and the incursions of McConnel and Siakam; exploiting mismatches inside the paint. From a narrow 28-25 first quarter lead, Indiana bolted to double digits advantage in the second period that went as high as 20 points by the end of first half, 62-42. The Pacers did not let up in the third quarter even holding OKC without a single basket for at least five minutes as their lead ballooned even more. A Ben Sheppard buzzer beating triple punctuated a 28-18 third quarter run which ended at 90-60 for Indiana. So thorough was the Pacers dominance that coach Carlisle sparingly used Haliburton and even had the luxury of fielding other reserves like Bryant Thomas who also hit a triple in between physical tussling with the Oklahoma big men. Indiana eased up in the final quarter, allowing Oklahoma to outscore the Pacers, 31-18 for the final count. Reflecting the heavy contribution of Indiana's reserves in the Pacers typical balanced scoring was Toppin topscoring for the team with 20 points and McConnel tossing 12 points with the two combining for 15 rebounds. Nembhard, aside from shackling Gilgeous Alexander, was good for 17 points. Siakam had 16 points plus a team high 13 boards. Despite his limited minutes, Haliburton still finished with 14 points plus 5 assists. Aaron Nesmith added 10 points. Gilgeous Alexander and Williams still led Oklahoma scoring with 21 points and 16 points respectively, well below their averages. Isaiah Joe supported them with 11 points while the twin towers of Holmgren and Hertenstein could only came up with 14 points and combined 10 rebounds. Caruso didn't score a point while Luegentz Dorf was only good for three points. Game seven is on Sunday (Monday Manila time) in Oklahoma City. 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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