How the Pacers pulled off another dramatic comeback
It wasn't looking good for the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night in Oklahoma City.
The Eastern Conference champs had nine turnovers in the first quarter and then topped that by committing 10 in the second quarter. It was the most turnovers by a team before halftime in a postseason game in the league's play-by-play era, which began in 1997.
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Indiana's defense couldn't contain NBA MVP and Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was doing whatever he wanted offensively.
The Thunder were dominating the Pacers in the paint.
Indiana trailed OKC by 15 points with 9 minutes, 42 seconds remaining.
So what happened? How did the Pacers stun the Thunder with a 111-110 Game 1 win?
Here's a look at some of the key fourth-quarter moments:
• After a Jalen Williams dunk at 9:42, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle calls a timeout and subs in Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Obi Toppin and Myles Turner.
• Immediately after entering, Nembhard scores and is fouled by Alex Caruso. Nembhard makes the free throw. Thunder 94, Pacers 81.
• At 8:47, Toppin makes a 3-pointer to make it 96-85.
• Turner hits a 3-pointer with 7:47 left, cutting the lead to 96-88.
• Toppin and Turner make 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to pull Indiana within 98-94 with 6:16 left.
• Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams each make free throws to increase the lead to six points (102-96) with 5:25 remaining.
• Gilgeous-Alexander's two free throws with 2:52 left push the Thunder's lead to 108-99.
• Nesmith and Nembhard hit back-to-back 3s. The Pacers now trail 108-105 with 1:59 left.
• At 1:07, Pascal Siakam blocks Gilgeous-Alexander's layup attempt.
• Nembhard misses a stepback 3, but Siakam grabs the offensive rebound and scores with 48 seconds left. Thunder 110, Pacers 109.
• With 12.3 seconds remaining, Gilgeous-Alexander misses a short jumper just outside the paint, and Nesmith grabs the rebound.
• Haliburton hits the game-winning 2-pointer with 0.3 seconds left.
For the winners, Indiana outscored OKC 32-16 in the final 9:42. The Pacers only used six players in those minutes, with all of them scoring.
'When it comes to the moments, he wants the ball,' Turner said of Haliburton. 'He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn't shy away from the moment, and it's very important this time of the year to have a go-to guy.
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'He just keeps finding a way, and we keep putting the ball in the right positions. The rest is history.'
For the losers, the Thunder shot 4 of 16 in those closing minutes. Gilgeous-Alexander went 2 of 4 from the field (with a big miss at the end), but everyone else combined to shoot 2 of 12.
(Photo of Aaron Nesmith, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)
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