Knicks vs. Pacers: Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 instant-classic rewind in images
Knicks vs. Pacers: Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 instant-classic rewind in images
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals ended on a dramatic note Wednesday night, with the Indiana Pacers erasing a 14-point deficit held by the New York Knicks to create a two-point frenzy as the clock ticked to zero.
In the end of regulation, Tyrese Haliburton came up clutch—albeit with a sliver of a toe on the 3-point line—to tie the game.
Overtime was a back-and-forth between the two offenses, which created even more last-second NBA theater. But the Pacers continued to capitalize—even finding a little Lady Luck here and there— to complete the comeback.
Final score: Pacers 138, Knicks 135.
Here's a rewind of the instant classic in images…
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
Knicks vs. Pacers: Game 1
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Fox News
16 minutes ago
- Fox News
NBA Finals Game 2 takeaways: Thunder bounce back to even series 1-1
The NBA Finals are here, with West No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder and the East No. 4 seed Indiana Pacers squaring off with the hope of lifting their first-ever Larry O'Brien trophy at the end of the highly-anticipated series. This is the Pacers' first Finals appearance since 2000, when they eventually fell to the Lakers in six games. The Thunder last made the Finals in 2012 and lost to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in five games. Here's what has stood out from Sunday's Game 2 and what to expect from Game 3 on Wednesday: Game 2: Thunder 123, Pacers 107 What stood out for the Thunder: The Thunder learned their lesson from Game 1 and played all 48 minutes of Game 2 after blowing a 15-point fourth-quarter lead in the Finals opener. The Thunder outscored the Pacers 33-21 in the second quarter to lead by as much as 23 points, entered the fourth quarter with a 19-point lead and kept a sizable advantage through the final buzzer. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had another 30-plus point performance in the championship round, finishing with 34 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals. But this time around, he had much more help, with the Thunder's reserves outscoring the Pacers' bench, 48-34. The Thunder's top-rated defense suffocated the Pacers' offense. Four Thunder players scored at least 18 points, while no one on the Pacers scored more than 17 points. What stood out for the Pacers: The Pacers were outrebounded, 43-35, and outscored in points in the paint, 42-34. Tyrese Haliburton had just 17 points, including only scoring three points in the first half on 1-for-5 shooting from the field. The Pacers simply looked out of sorts against a Thunder team that was stunned in Game 1 and made sure to come out with their foot on the gas on both ends of the court in Game 2. Every run the Pacers went on was thwarted by the Thunder, who made sure not to allow the come-from-behind team to take a 2-0 series lead on their home court. What to expect in Game 3: For the Pacers, here's to betting Haliburton and Co. come out way more aggressive in Game 3. There's no way the Pacers' star player can finish with just two more field goals (seven) than turnovers (five) and the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, Pascal Siakam, can have 15 points on 3-for-11 shooting and this team can expect to have a chance to win. The Pacers need to pound the boards and figure out ways to find their lanes against the Thunder's swarming defense. As for the Thunder, they need to try to replicate this wall-to-wall effort in Game 3, knowing that no lead is ever safe against the Pacers, especially on their home floor. The Thunder did a great job getting multiple players involved, including reserve Alex Caruso, who shined on both ends of the court with great defense as well as being the team's second-leading scorer with 20 points, making four 3-pointers. Game 1: Pacers 111, Thunder 110 What stood out for the Thunder: Oklahoma City learned a very important lesson in Game 1 of the Finals. No. Lead. Is. Safe. Against. The. Pacers. Ever. The Pacers, who have had multiple historic comebacks this postseason, pulled off the improbable again, storming back from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to take their first lead of the game with 0.3 seconds left after Tyrese Haliburton made a 21-foot pullup jumper to stun the Thunder and their sold-out crowd at Paycom Center. This was the ultimate wake-up call for the Thunder, who held control for over 47 minutes, behind a 38-point performance from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored twice as many points as any other player on the court. But Haliburton, who has made a name for himself this postseason with three buzzer-beaters and go-ahead buckets heading into the Finals, made the Thunder his latest victim. What stood out for the Pacers: While Haliburton's late-game heroics have already become playoff lore, it would be nice if he and his team weren't in that position. The Pacers had a whopping 25 turnovers while the Thunder only had seven. They also had 16 fewer field goal attempts than the Thunder. For much of the game, the Pacers struggled to generate much offense against the swarming Thunder defense, with no player on Indiana even scoring 20 points. Even though the Thunder only led by as much as 15 points, it seemed as though their lead was twice as large for much of the game -- until the fourth quarter when the comeback kings did what they do best. What to expect in Game 2: For the Thunder, they've obviously realized that they need to play all 48 minutes against this Pacers team, which has made it very clear that they never quit. They can't allow the Pacers to go on heaters late in the game, such as when they went on a 12-2 fourth-quarter run to cut their 15-point deficit to just four points. If the Pacers are within striking distance, the opposing team is in trouble. As for the Pacers, while Haliburton is once again the hero of the playoffs, he only scored 14 points. He needs to be much more aggressive offensively for the Pacers to avoid needing to rely on a buzzer-beater. Meanwhile, the Pacers did a great job dominating the boards, where they had a 56-39 advantage. If they can get fewer turnovers and Haliburton gets going early, they could be in a different position in Game 2. Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.
New York Times
41 minutes ago
- New York Times
Pacers need Tyrese Haliburton to be more selfish with his scoring
OKLAHOMA CITY — There were no fourth-quarter heroics for the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals — or for their star, Tyrese Haliburton. After hitting the game-winning shot in Thursday's Game 1, Haliburton was held in check by the Oklahoma City Thunder's stifling defense. Haliburton made just one field goal in the first half, scoring three points. At the end of the third quarter, he had just five points, three rebounds, four assists and three turnovers, and OKC had a 19-point lead. Advertisement Though Haliburton finished with 17 points, most of those came when the game was out of hand during Indiana's 123-107 loss. 'My main thing is to stay in front of him and make everything tough,' Thunder defensive stalwart Lu Dort said. 'He's a great player. He is going to make some tough shots and great reads, so I just have to stay in front of him.' Haliburton has had at least one low-scoring game in each round of this year's playoffs. In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks, Haliburton finished with eight points. In the second round against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, he had just four points. And in the opening game of the first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks, Haliburton contributed just 10 points. 'There's a lot more to the game than just scoring,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. 'So everybody's got to do more. It starts with the best players, starts with Tyrese and Pascal (Siakam) and Myles (Turner) … and then it goes from there. And so people shouldn't just look at (Haliburton's) points and assists and judge how he played, or judge how any of our guys played, just on that. 'That's just not how our team is built. I mean, we're an ecosystem that has to function together, and we got to score enough points to win the game, but who gets them and how they get them? Not important.' Haliburton isn't a scoring point guard but one who shares the ball, setting up his teammates to make plays. Still, games in which he has long stretches without scoring negatively impact Indiana's chances of winning. 'Kind of speaking on the way they play, tonight they had five or six guys in 12 to 17-point range,' Thunder super sub Alex Caruso said. 'All of them took about 10 to 12 shots. They're a very unselfish team. They're a very consistent team with whoever the ball finds, that person is aggressive to score. They got good players. Advertisement 'It comes down to making it as hard as we can for them and trying to force tough shots and finish possessions.' The Thunder defense, the best in the NBA all season, has limited Haliburton so far in this series. He had 14 points in Game 1, though the last two were memorable. 'This is who they are defensively,' Haliburton said. 'A lot of the guys who can guard the ball fly around. They're really physical, (they) force the officials to let us play a little bit more. So, just gotta do a better job playing through there. I think I've had two really poor first halves. Just got to figure out how to be better earlier in games.' Siakam noted that Haliburton wasn't the only Pacer who stalled in Game 2. 'They've been super aggressive on Tyrese for sure, but on everyone,' Siakam said. 'They're ball-pressuring. We got to be stronger with the ball. We got to find ways to still be aggressive and attacking. But I think it's not just Ty. I think it's everyone.' If Indiana is going to win this series, Haliburton needs to be more assertive about scoring early in games. In Game 1, the Pacers hung in there until he found his rhythm late. But Indiana can't continue to come from behind against a team as good as Oklahoma City. Haliburton needs to be a little more selfish with the ball and attack more. One way Haliburton's teammates think they can get their star going is by getting into the paint more often. The Thunder outscored the Pacers 26 to 12 in the paint in the first half and 46 to 34 for the game. 'We've been one of the better teams going to the paint all year, and we had to establish that early,' Turner said. 'And that's not Pacers basketball. When you live or die by that 3 or midrange shots, it doesn't always fare well.' Haliburton is ready to make adjustments. 'I think through the course of a series, even in the games that you lose, you're trying to learn from them, see where you can get better,' Haliburton said. 'We had some success there (with) me playing off the pitch a little bit more, flying around, rather than throwing that high ball screen, which I feel like I am really successful at. That gives them a chance to really load up, pack the paint. They're giving me different looks, so I gotta do a better job just figuring out where I could be better. Advertisement 'Already through these first two games, I'm learning where my spots are, where I can be better. We'll take the good and the bad, watch film, see what we can improve on in the next game.' The next game, Game 3 on Wednesday, will be the first NBA Finals game in Indianapolis since Game 5 of the 2000 NBA Finals. Down 3-1, the Pacers destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers by 33 in a game they had to win to extend the series. In this series, the Pacers will return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a win under their belt after taking Game 1 in Oklahoma City. 'It's still a race, first to four,' Haliburton said. 'We are going to our home court tied 1-1, and we love playing at home. Love playing in front of our fans. Our fans are amazing. So just see where we can get better, and yeah, take it a day at a time.' Turner, for one, is anticipating the Thunder will get a loud crowd like the Pacers received in Oklahoma City. 'I just know Gainbridge is going to be rocking,' Turner said. 'I love our environment. You give credit where credit is due. This is a great environment. Oklahoma City did a great job showing up with their fans and whatnot. I expect it to be a lot louder in Indianapolis. 'I know how long this city has been waiting for this Finals experience. They are going to show up.' (Photo of Tyrese Haliburton being defended by Lu Dort: William Purnell / Getty Images)
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
It's clear the NBA Finals moment isn't too big for Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
The moment is clearly not too big for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. These are his first NBA Finals. It's hard to remember that sometimes. The Oklahoma City Thunder star — and NBA MVP — just had a pair of debut finals games like nobody in league history, with a combined 72 points in his first two appearances in the title series. That's a record. The previous mark for someone in his first two finals games: 71 by Philadelphia's Allen Iverson in 2001. 'I'm being myself,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'I don't think I tried to reinvent the wheel or step up to the plate with a different mindset. Just try to attack the game the right way. I think I've done a pretty good job of that so far.' His next attack chance isn't until Wednesday night, when the series — the Thunder and Indiana Pacers are now tied at a game apiece — shifts to Indianapolis for Game 3. He had 38 points in the Game 1 loss to the Pacers, 34 points in Sunday's Game 2 win. Gilgeous-Alexander has more points in the first two games than any other two players in the series — not just Thunder players, any two players — do combined. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault isn't taking the greatness of the MVP for granted. He's just come to expect it by now. 'Yeah, unsurprising at this point,' Daigneault said. 'It's just kind of what he does. He just continues to progress and improve and rise to every occasion that he puts himself in and that we put ourselves in. I thought his floor game (in Game 2) was really, really in a great rhythm. I thought everyone played better individually, and I thought we played better collectively. I think that was a by-product.' He had eight assists in Game 2, making him the 17th player in NBA history to have that many points and that many assists in a finals game; it has now happened a total of 34 times in the title series. But it wasn't just having assists. It was the type of assists that were key. Of Gilgeous-Alexander's eight on Sunday, six of them set up 3-pointers. Those eight assists were turned into 22 points in all. 'He's MVP for a reason,' Pacers center Myles Turner said. 'He's going to get off, and I think that we accepted that. It's a matter of slowing him down and limiting the role players.' Only seven players in finals history — Jerry West (94 in 1969), LeBron James (83 in 2015 and 80 in 2018), Shaquille O'Neal (83 in 2000, 76 in 2002 and 72 in 2001), John Havlicek (80 in 1969), Michael Jordan (78 in 1992 and 73 in 1993), Cliff Hagan (73 in 1961) and now Gilgeous-Alexander — have scored 72 or more points in the first two games of a title series. 'Shai, you can mark down 34 points before they even get on the plane for the next game,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. 'The guy's going to score. We've got to find ways to make it as tough as possible on him.' In Game 1, the Pacers bottled up Gilgeous-Alexander's supporting cast. In Game 2, they didn't. It's not really simple enough to say that's why the Thunder lost Game 1 and won Game 2, but it is certainly part of the equation. Or maybe it's just as simple as saying the MVP is playing like an MVP. He's the scoring champion as well, leads the playoffs in total points, just became the 12th player in league history to cross the 3,000-point mark for a season (counting regular season and postseason), and just got his first finals win. 'I would trade the points for two Ws, for sure,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'But this is where our feet are. This is where we are. You can't go back in the past, you can only make the future better. That's what I'm focused on.'
