Tyrese Haliburton's game-winning shot completes Pacers' NBA Finals Game 1 comeback
Tyrese Haliburton's game-winning shot completes Pacers' NBA Finals Game 1 comeback
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Pacers and Thunder NBA Finals is better than it's 'small-market' billing
USA TODAY Sports' Jeff Zillgitt breaks down the star-studded NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Sports Pulse
Indiana Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton did it again.
The Pacers trailed the Oklahoma City Thunder by as much as 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but Indiana completed an epic comeback to steal the game on the road in Oklahoma City, thanks to a go-ahead shot from Haliburton.
"We are a resilient group. We don't give up until the clock hits zero," Haliburton said after the game. "We do a great job of just staying in the moment... We just walk teams down."
The Pacers were within one point of the Thunder with 11 seconds remaining in the game, 110-109. The Pacers' Aaron Nesmith rebounded a missed shot from Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and pushed the ball up the court to Haliburton, who nailed a 21-foot jumper to take a 111-110 lead with .3 seconds remaining. It marked the Pacers' first lead of the game and Indiana held onto to take Game 1.
Haliburton continues to come up clutch for the Pacers in the biggest moments of the game. This season, Haliburton is 13-of-15 (86.7%) on shots inside the final two minutes to tie or take the lead, including overtime. Haliburton is tied with Reggie Miller for the second-most game-tying or go-ahead field goals in the final five seconds of a game since the 1997 playoffs, trailing only LeBron James (8), according to ESPN.
The Pacers have overcome five 15-point deficits this postseason alone:
June 5: at Thunder (15-point deficit)
at Thunder (15-point deficit) May 21: at Knicks (17-point deficit)
at Knicks (17-point deficit) May 13: at Cavaliers (19-point deficit)
at Cavaliers (19-point deficit) May 6: at Cavaliers (20-point deficit)
at Cavaliers (20-point deficit) April 29: vs. Bucks (20-point deficit)
Contributing: Lorenzo Reyes
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