Pacers cruise past Thunder, send NBA Finals to Game 7

From Obi Toppin to TJ McConnell, plenty of heroes rise to the occasion as the Pacers send the NBA Finals to a winner-take-all Game 7 for the first time since 2016

Obi Toppin scored 20 points off the bench to lead a balanced offensive effort as the Indiana Pacers evened the NBA Finals with a 108-91 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 on Thursday, June 19 (Friday, June 20, Manila time), in Indianapolis.

The Finals will go to a winner-take-all seventh game for the first time since 2016.

Game 7 is Sunday in Oklahoma City.

There was little drama Thursday, as Indiana jumped ahead in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead.

Andrew Nembhard added 17 points, while Pascal Siakam had 16 points and 13 rebounds to move the Pacers within one win of their first NBA title. Tyrese Haliburton, playing through a calf injury, had 14 points and 5 assists, and T.J. McConnell contributed 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals.

Indiana forced 21 turnovers.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 21 points, but had a playoff career-worst 8 turnovers and just 2 assists. Jalen Williams, who scored 40 points in Game 5, finished with just 16 points.

Trailing by 30 entering the final quarter, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault pulled his starters, opting to save them for Game 7.

Oklahoma City shot just 8-for-30 (26.7%) from beyond the arc — 1-for-11 in the first half.

The Thunder put up their lowest point total of the regular season or postseason. Their previous low was 92 in a second-round Game 4 win over the Denver Nuggets.

The Pacers took control in the second quarter, turning the tables on the Thunder.

Oklahoma City won Games 4 and 5 the same way it had plenty of others this season — by turning up the pressure on defense and using that to fuel its offense.

Over the final eight-plus minutes before halftime, Indiana’s defense led the way on a 30-9 run to go into halftime with a 64-42 lead.

The Pacers scored 11 of their 36 second-quarter points off the Thunder’s 7 turnovers.

Haliburton, who had struggled early in games for much of the series even before straining his right calf early in Game 5, helped set the defensive tone for Indiana.

In the final minute of the half, Haliburton elevated near the sideline for a steal off Williams’ pass, then quickly fired to Siakam as he was falling out of bounds.

Siakam finished off the play with an emphatic dunk to stretch the lead to 20. Then he grabbed a rebound off a Chet Holmgren miss on the other end and buried an 18-footer just before the buzzer to send the Pacers into the locker room with a commanding lead.

Indiana, which committed 23 turnovers in Game 5, had just 2 first-half turnovers on Thursday.

The Pacers were slow to get started on offense, going nearly four minutes into the game without a field goal and missing their first eight shots while falling behind 10-2.

But it didn’t take long for Indiana to close the gap, scoring 8 consecutive points to tie the game less than a minute after hitting its first field goal.

Moments later, the Pacers took the lead for the first time and that proved to be for good.

After going without a field goal in Game 5, Haliburton missed his first four shots Thursday before taking a quick feed from Myles Turner off an offensive rebound and burying a three-pointer with just more than four minutes remaining in the first quarter to put Indiana up 24-17.

The Pacers continued to stretch their lead in the third, holding Oklahoma City to just 18 points.

Indiana’s James Johnson was ejected in the final minute after an altercation with Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Joe. – Rappler.com