Game 1 was a gut punch. A sneak attack. A shock to the system. How will OKC respond in Game 2?

Indianapolis Star

15 hours ago

OKLAHOMA CITY – Alex Caruso spun on a heel, untucked his jersey and headed up the tunnel.
Mark Daigneault was hot on his heels.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, too.
All told, it took about eight seconds for every Thunder player, coach and staffer to vacate the Paycom Center court Thursday night. Then again, why would any of them want to stick around and relish in what had just happened?
Pacers 111, Thunder 110.
That Indiana lead was the only Indiana lead of the night. It came, of course, on another Tyrese Haliburton game-winner. It erased, as you know, what had been a mostly glorious return to the NBA Finals for the Thunder.
'Well, it sucks,' Thunder guard Jalen Williams said.
Pacers' Game 1 win was unbelievable. Here are 18 stats that prove just how unbelievable it was
Succinct but brutally, painfully true for the hometown team.
This was a gut punch. A sneak attack. A shock to the system.
'But we have been here before,' Williams continued, 'obviously in the Denver series.'
True again. The Thunder lost the opener of the Western Conference semifinals in eerily similar fashion. Controlled the game for much of the night. Allowed the Nuggets to chip away at the lead. Lost on a last-second game-winner by Aaron Gordon.
Similar.
But different.
Very, very different. This, after all, is the NBA Finals. The stakes are much higher. Ditto for the pressure and the strain and the tension. Lose an opportunity in the NBA Finals, and it could cost you a crown.
Will it cost the Thunder?
Only time will tell, but the good news for the Thunder is it has handled tough losses well in these playoffs.
After that aforementioned heartbreaker courtesy of Gordon, the Thunder bounced back with a 43-point curb-stomping of the Nuggets. An overtime loss followed in Game 3, but the Thunder showed some closing chops in Game 4.
That 42-point loss in Game 3 against Minnesota?
Oklahoma City followed it with a clutch two-point win with SGA going for 40 points, Williams 34 and Chet Holmgren 21.
The Thunder has shown itself to have a lot of quick learners, but it has also has lots of quick forgetters. While you have to take the lessons from the losses, you also have to be able to let go of the disappointment and the failure.
But Thursday was a failure on a stage this Thunder bunch has never stood on.
For his part, Daigneault was preaching the same sermon as always.
'We've got to get ourselves to zero as we always do,' he said. 'That's a habit that hopefully we've formed. These guys have made a habit of being able to get ourselves centered and play our best game in the next game.
'We've got to improve like we would if we had won the game and get ourselves ready for Game 2.'
SGA was singing from the same hymnal, too.
'As much as we can, we've just got to treat it like every other game, every other situation we've been in,' he said. 'Yes, we haven't been in this situation, but that doesn't mean our character has to change.
'It's still basketball, the game of basketball we grew up playing. The rules don't change because we're in the Finals.'
Clearly, the Thunder superstar wasn't buying the idea this loss is different because it's the Finals.
'Me personally, how you lose doesn't really matter,' he said.
Maybe that's true. Perhaps the frustration of a blowout loss is the same as what we saw Thursday. But look in the eyes of the players, and there was shock. Pain. Anger. Disappointment.
Then again, being steamed about what happened isn't necessarily bad.
'It's all worth one, and that's the silver lining of it, but at the same time, it's a loss,' Caruso said, 'and if we don't recognize that, feel that, if that doesn't hurt right now or like you're not frustrated with it, then obviously there's something wrong with you.'
How the Thunder processes this game, uses this game, then responds to this game could decide this series. Learn from it, be motivated by it, and it could be the thing that propels OKC to a title.
But get stuck in the morass of an epic NBA Finals collapse, and Game 1 won't be the only opportunity lost.