Latest / Bleacher Report / Pacers Force Game 7 vs. Thunder - GameTime Reaction _ 2025 NBA Finals

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Pacers Force Game 7 vs. Thunder - GameTime Reaction _ 2025 NBA Finals · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And here's what went down early on. Of course that
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: right calf strain. We didn't know how effective or how
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: much Tyrese Haliburton would be able to play. Early in
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: this game, it didn't look good for Indiana.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: They missed their first eight shots from the field.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Halliburton missed his first four shots to it's a ten
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: to two lead. But here comes Indiana. Then Shaye weaving
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: his way to the basket. On the other end, nev Hart,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: who was struggling b Wooden game five, bod he bounced
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: back tonight.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Yes, he did bounce back early on this game. At
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: eight points in that big time runner, we see TJ
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: with the steel there and Obi top and pays it
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: off for three.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: How about nev Hard and Topping combined to score sixteen
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: to the first twenty four points for Indiana.
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: Why I think denbar we got to give him a
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: lot of credit on both ends.
• 0:47
  Speaker 5: You look at the job he did. Guarden Sga also.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Five for seven, three of five, four for four.
• 0:53
  Speaker 5: One of performance from Nenmart on both ends.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Snee Smith had ten points here the jumper and the
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: foul for him, and they're starting to pull away here again,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: down by eight early, they respond with a twenty four
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: to seven run Isaiah.
• 1:10
  Speaker 6: And this crowd not only did it understand the moment,
• 1:15
  Speaker 6: but it also got him for fair for the moment.
• 1:18
  Speaker 5: And then that's a moment.
• 1:19
  Speaker 6: You know that that that played there, I thought it
• 1:22
  Speaker 6: really sealed the deal for the first half.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: In turn, Oh watch out, jjob, you just in half
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: get it and then you got rich And I mean,
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: come on, it don't get no vetter than that in
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: tacon Land.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So at that half, it was Oklahoma City down, big
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: down twenty two, a thirty to nine run by Indiana
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: and a half third quarter got nobody could score early on.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: But then lay here in the third look at the momentum,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: just when we thought, okay, Ce Smiddy might chip away
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Ben Shepherd.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Yeh betcha. It's a thirty point lead going into the fourth.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: Well, I mean, unbelievable. Like you said, no one can
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: score at the beginning. But then the Pacers found a
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: little bit of rind him.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: But I thought they were locked in defensively to start
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: the half.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Here's McConnell again.
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: He went range.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Game.
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, his mid razed game was cold.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Twelve points, nine rebound, six assists, four steals for McConnell,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Topping had twenty points. Halliburton didn't have to play the
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: fourth series eight over.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: You're darn right about that.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: For the twentieth time at NBA history, we will have
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a Game seven.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Keep this in mind, it will be played in Oklahoma City.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: The home team in Game sevens an NBA Final history
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: fifteen to four, and the thunder have not lost consecutive
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: games all postseasons. We're really getting the Finals Game seven. Yeah,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: we are. You can shed a tier. It's so exciting.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Game time Live at the Finals. Isaiah Thomas, Steve Smith,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Brendan Haywood, Jared Greenberg. Our guys will be bout in
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: okse for Game seven, which starts at eight eastern on
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Sunday night. So what does that mean You'll be on
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: what at like five o'clock five thirty local time. Yeah,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: that's right, you know I'll be watching Yeah, that movie
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Trading Places. It kind of felt like that's what tonight was,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: what OKC was in Game five, Indiana was tonight. It
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: is remarkable be would just the turnovers, how that flip flop,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: the assist flip flop, three point shooting flip flop.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Those were the three big categories.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: But you mentioned it in the pregame show the human
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Nature oka See, knowing that they had a Game seven
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: at home to fall back on. Knowing the tyrese Haliburton
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: was playing compromise, the second youngest group in the history
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: of the Finals to reach this stage.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: You think they fell into that trap.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: It looks like and I thought they had grown from
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: because in Denver you saw how they had that human
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Nature game in Game one where they were up the
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: last four minutes and kind of threw the game away,
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: and then the same thing kind of happened in game
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: one of the Finals, and I'm thinking, Okay, this team,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: they normally learned their lessons. They continued to grow all
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: year long, so I said, Okay, I thought they would
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: learn their lessons. But they came out Sga looked like
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: he was pressing a lot. He didn't look as comfortable
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: as he normally was. This team looked the steps slower,
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: to loose balls, and it just simply looked like the
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Pacers were the hungrier team. Okay, see played like they
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: had another game in their back pocket, and the Pacers
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: played like a team that was desperate knew that their
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: life was on the line.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: That was the difference in the game to me. Yeah,
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: And I think to add to that, Bee would Isaiah.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: I thought the Pacers were more physical. I think they
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: were getting into guys like the way okay See got
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: into them in the Indiana game. I mean they were physical,
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: they were bumping, they were touching, and I think okay
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: See kind of retreated and when you stand up and
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: retreat and they kept coming, it just seemed like they
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: took away their airspace and they didn't play comfortable at.
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: All, and they played with no force going downhill.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: Chet Holmgen really struggled with a physical contact in this game.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: He hadn't struggled this bad since Game one. This game
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: one in game six for Chet looked early similar, just
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: looked like he just couldn't find his footing or get
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: a rhythm.
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: You know. I said at the start of this game
• 5:06
  Speaker 6: that it would be about the wheel of the team.
• 5:12
  Speaker 6: Can they impose their will under opponent? And I thought
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: Indiana did that tonight. I thought physically, Indiana they were
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: the weaker team at the start of the game because
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: they had an injured player. I don't think OKC took
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: advantage of the injured team that they were playing against
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: by not coming out with the keel attitude, and I
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: thought Indiana's survival instincts in terms of wanting to get
• 5:41
  Speaker 6: to a game seven overwhelmed OKC tonight, where OKAC came
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: to just win a basketball game, Indiana came to survive.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Before we get back to the sound go ahead, Bred, I.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Was gonna say, I think you made a good point
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: about the Pacers being wounded and Okac not taking a Yes.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: That was one thing we talked about wanting to see,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: and they did have success at times when they put
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Tyre's Halliburton in the pick and roll. You saw Sga
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: get downhill.
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: But that's one of those things. If it works, smidt
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: Eman back in.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: The way, Hey, if a play worked back in the
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: day they waved that finger, We're gonna run it again,
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: run it again until they stop it. For me, Just
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: for me, if I'm the head coach, We're starting the
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: game off testing Halliburton's calf. We're going at and putting
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: in the pick and roll, maybe run some baseline screens,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: and if it works the way it did on a
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: couple of occasions, we're gonna keep running that. I want
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: to We talked about the will. I want to test
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: how healthy you are, and then I want to test
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: your will. Are you gonna go out here on a
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: hurt calf and defend SGA in these picking rolls because
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: we want you to switch on him time and time again.
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: I would have liked to see.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: I would have liked to see that if I was okay, see,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: That's how I would have started out the game.
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: That would have been my game plan. Yeah, I think so,
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: go ahead, Isaiah.
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: You know, we as players, when we talk about the game,
• 6:56
  Speaker 6: we talk about it in emotional terms, right, we talk
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: about energy, we talk about will, We're talking about wearing
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: the phone it down, you know, and that equates to
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: the numbers on the stat sheet. And I thought tonight
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: again with an injured Pacers team, the more you wear
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: against a player, and in the player like Halliburton, who
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: would have every excuse to quit, right, you want to
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: you want to just break the link. You want to
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: just try to get one player to submit and say okay,
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: I give and tonight okay, see didn't do that.
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: And it's two folds what you're talking about.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: Be with in Isaiah, he's also their best player, so
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: it's okay to go at his injury, but also he
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: gets in fouled trouble ber. It takes a little bit
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: away from them, And I thought, be what you hit
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: it best? Isaiah hit it best? And as a player,
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: I'm looking he is, and I'm attacking him from a standpoint.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: Even on a rebound he has to box out. I'm
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: trying to go one hundred miles per hour to make
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: him at the box out. I might get offensive file,
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: but I I think they let.
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: Him off the hook. And subsequently, next thing you know.
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: The pressure started to build up on OKC and the
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: confidence started to rise in the Pacers.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: One thing, okay, see also if you look at this game,
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: the Pacers started to double team share a lot in
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: those picking rolls, and he didn't always make the right play.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: If you're OKC, you might need to go back to
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: the game plan of what you did in game five
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: where you were running the pick and roll with j
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Dubb and Sga to get the switch post Sga up
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: at the free throw line and make life easier on him.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: They might need to go back to that. They saved
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: that for the fourth quarter, I think it was game four.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: They might need to start off Game seven with that
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: because whatever you have, there's no need to save it.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: There's no tomorrow. We talk about game seven. Start off
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: with your best hand.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: And the distance of the three of the pick and
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: roll was at the close to half court today was
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: back normal around a three point line.
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: And strategically right.
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: Most NBA players are used to playing against drop coverage
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: right where that bigs off from back. So they had
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: a snake drivel, they had an.
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: In and out. They work on all that.
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: How many players at the point guard physician are used
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: to being trapped. I'm picking rolls in this league right now.
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: It really happens.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: It happens.
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: So SGA was able to split the trap a couple
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: of games ago, but tonight, as you see they close
• 9:21
  Speaker 6: the space, he wasn't able to split. Consequently, he wasn't
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: able to get downhill the way he was getting downhill.
• 9:28
  Speaker 6: And then when he was on the post right, they
• 9:30
  Speaker 6: didn't come right away. They came on the drivel. They
• 9:34
  Speaker 6: came on the first drivel, they came on the second drivel,
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: so they had him confusing off balance. But what Rick
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: Carlisle did tonight again by traffling screen and roll rotating
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: to the shooters getting out flying out. Most NBA teams
• 9:50
  Speaker 6: don't practice against that. They practice against drop covers using
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: their snake drivel so they can get downhill.
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: And that's what Tricky Ricky's gonna do.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: Ye.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Rick Carlos is gonna look at that. He's gonna throw
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: the old school stuff on him. He's gonna listen, he's
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: gonna throw everything he set the kitchen sink at you,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: and he might throw that at you as well. And
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: when it comes down to Rick Carlisle, I can tell
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: you his game plans are flawless offensively, defensively, He's gonna
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: give you the tools to be successful. And tonight it
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: was obvious. They looked at the film and they said,
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: you know what we've seen, SGA can beat us going
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: to get thirty Let's see, can he beat us going
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: to get fifteen, sixteen, seventeen assists? And I can guarantee
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: you they're gonna run that same coverage in game seven. Okay,
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: see has to be able to solve that problem. And
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: I thought he the defensive plan. It looked like it
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: to me.
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: Isaiah and Brendan was I'm gonna trap and the guy
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: we're gonna leave open is Lou Dort.
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and they gave him the much time as he wanted.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: He couldn't knock down shot, and I thought he lost
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: a little confidence. And I think that might be the
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: game plan again, because lou Dort has to find a
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: way if you're not making threes, to take up the
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: spaces Isaiah and make the next play.
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: He hasn't done that.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: Let's fitty talking about lou Dort's game. His game isn't
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: to take up space. It's not if like the next
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: play is it lou Doorg's game. His game is you
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: create a wide open shot for me from the corner
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: to the top of the key, and I'll knock down
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: the shot. If he has to put that thing down
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: on the floor. I don't have the percentages right now,
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: but I know the eyeball test that it is not
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: that good and has a very low percentage chance of going.
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: And you're totally right, but some kind of way if
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: you ain't gonna make shots, I don't want you shoot
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: airballs from three and not in the finals.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: There some of those ugly shots too. He was one
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: for five.
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: And the thing that you two are talking about in
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: terms of confidence, right, and again these other terms and
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: the words that we use. How does that wear on
• 11:34
  Speaker 6: the player in the seven game series? Now, because again,
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: you only need one of the other players on the
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: opposing team to fall off. And right now, I look
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: at what Carlisle and the Facers did tonight. They kind
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: of shift the confidence of maybe two or three players
• 11:54
  Speaker 6: that has to bounce back, you know, game seven, because
• 11:57
  Speaker 6: if they don't bounce back game seven, Indiana can come in.
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: And win game seven.
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: So you're gonna need great performances from Jay from Dork
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: and that s GA. He's the most consistent, so he
• 12:08
  Speaker 6: gonna give you what you need.