Pacers vs. Thunder Game 7: A special kind of NBA Finals history is on the line — 'This is for the championship'

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4 hours ago

OKLAHOMA CITY — Rick Carlisle kept telling his players '18 days, 18 days,' not only as a way to mentally prepare his players for the lengthiness of the NBA Finals, but perhaps as a way to also take them away from the underdog mindset.
Because while almost nobody believed the Indiana Pacers could take this series this far, there doesn't seem to be this 'nothing to lose' feeling. It seems like both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Pacers recognize they'll be partners in history Sunday night, regardless of Game 7's outcome.
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In the modern NBA (four playoff rounds, at least three seven-game series), there have only been a handful of Game 7s in the Finals. Usually, a team succumbs to exhaustion or injury, or one team flat-out figures out it's opponent and the series finishes according to that script. But when the two teams dance for seven games, the franchises and players somehow meld into one, becoming synonymous with each other in the collective minds of NBA observers and fans.
Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing.
Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson.
Magic and Larry Bird.
LeBron James and Tim Duncan.
Tim Duncan and Chauncey Billups.
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James and Stephen Curry.
Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.
It's almost a silent club, an understanding between players — knowing they belong to history is a special thing.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Tyrese Haliburton in a Finals Game 7 will be special. (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images)
(NBAE via Getty Images)
The games are rarely pretty and almost always close. The 1984 finale between the Lakers and Celtics finished at 111-102 in the Boston Garden, the widest spread among the seven most recent Game 7s — and every single game save for that one was a nail-biter headed into the fourth quarter.
Most of the participants in today's game have a hard time remembering the 2016 Game 7 between Golden State and Cleveland, even though it happened just nine years ago.
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'The day I don't necessarily remember. I remember where I was,' Tyrese Haliburton said. 'I remember what the game was, the energy of the game, being with my friends and watching it all together. There's a mixture of Cavs fans, a mixture of Warriors fans.'
Haliburton was 16, still in high school. Jalen Williams didn't even remember off-hand that it was Cleveland and Golden State, believing he was at an AAU tournament that weekend.
'The biggest thing from the Finals is I remember a lot of the stuff surrounding it,' Williams said. 'I don't remember the games. When you're 15, I feel like you miss a lot of what's going on. You're more worried about your favorite player. Kobe wasn't playing, so I didn't really care.
'But I just remember the buzz and everybody choosing a side.'
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There is a buzz around this series, even if there's been valid complaints about the lack of aura in the presentation. The intensity, the exhaustion and in critical moments, there's been excellence by combatants on both sides. Neither team has a player who's been in a Game 7 of the Finals, so it's virtually impossible for anyone to appreciate the rarity of this even if they understand the gravity.
'Yeah, it sucks, I probably can't appreciate it until I get the outcome I want,' Williams said. "It's cool, though. Somewhere down the line, win or lose, it will be cool to have your name etched in history regardless what's going on. That's cool. But right now, it's very difficult to look into that.'
The Pacers beat the Knicks last year in a decisive seventh game on the road to advance to the conference finals. The Thunder went through a Game 7 against Denver a month ago — which actually feels like three months ago considering how much has transpired since.
But the wild emotional swings, the momentum shifts during the game? That will be ratcheted up tenfold Sunday night.
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'I feel like tomorrow they will feel a little different, too, just because obviously this is the last game of the season, this is for the championship,' Williams said. 'What Game 7 taught me from Denver is the swings, three feels like you're down 10, you know what I mean?
'One feels like you're down five. That's just like the swing of a game, and what is going on feels much larger. It's about honing in your emotion and understanding the state of the game is big for Game 7.'
The Thunder aren't very emotional at all, so sometimes you wonder if they truly understand what's in front of them. They couldn't muster the requisite emotion and concentration in Game 6, and the Pacers have grown in confidence as the series has progressed.
But the Thunder feel as if they've been preparing for this all season — having a decisive game on their home floor.
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'We have to understand the work is done and we have to trust the work,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. 'The muscle is built. We have to flex that muscle. That's what tomorrow will come down to for us.'
Someone unlikely will emerge. That's what Game 7s have revealed — the extremes.
From John Starks going clank, clank, clank into the Houston night or Draymond Green having the game of his life still not be enough to counter LeBron James and Kyrie Irving completing a three-game bender, the extremes of this will make someone wither or rise in the Oklahoma night.
The exhaustion sometimes takes over, more emotional than physical. Carlisle talked about how hard all of this is, and likely, how mere mortals can't comprehend it.
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'(Hall of Fame coach) Chuck Daly once said, if people had any idea how difficult it was to win one game in the NBA, in the regular season, one game, they would have — you know, they would be shocked,' Carlisle said. 'There's so many things coming at you, and you're swimming upstream.'
Daly was on the business end of a cruel 1-2 punch in 1988 against Magic Johnson and his Lakers. Perhaps a blown call and Isiah Thomas' sprained ankle prevented the Pistons from winning in six, giving way to a heartbreak in Game 7, where fans stormed the LA Forum before the game was over and the Pistons trailing by three.
And because of that, history changed. The Lakers went back-to-back, the first time anyone in the NBA accomplished the feat in 20 years. It gave way to a Pistons revenge tour the next year, sweeping the Lakers as Detroit won two in a row — but so many still feel it could've been three because of the call.
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That's even exhausting to think about, how one moment can shift history — whatever butterfly effect may develop because of this one game.
Same can be said for the 2013 Finals with Miami and San Antonio. Miami repeated, barely, and it created the Spurs machine that stomped the Heat the next year.
And everyone knows what was birthed from the 2016 Finals: Kevin Durant to Golden State.
'I think that especially for people around my age, that is the peak Game 7,' Haliburton said, referencing the 2016 Finals. 'I'm excited to add to the storied history of Game 7s and add to the history of our game.'
For some people, Sunday could be the peak Game 7 for the foreseeable future.
That's what's on the line.