Basketball, She Wrote
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Tyrese Haliburton silences Thunder, pulls Pacers up to 1-0 series lead
🕑 Added 2025-06-06 19:56:44 +0000 UTCBy: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper
Like a ray of sunlight streaming through a gap in the clouds, Tyrese Haliburton silenced the roaring Thunder, pulling off his latest miracle by pulling up to his preferred right for a game-winning two with 0.3 seconds left to play that saw the Pacers overcome a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter as they closed big even while playing small. In that regard, Oklahoma City didn't just blink once, making a pre-emptive decision to split their bigs, the presumptive favorite also blinked again, getting outscored 13-4 over the final 3:24 of action with neither big on the floor. As such, even in the absence of ball security, the Pacers still managed to secure lighting in a bottle, washing away the turnovers with a downpour of late-game shot-making.
Joining me to, perhaps, come up with more weather metaphors and analogies to explain a win that didn't initially appear to be on the (ahem) radar for the Pacers is once again Samson Folk.
Here are the relevant timestamps:
0:00 - Introductions
1:06 - Breaking from Xs and Os to rave about how the Pacers keep doing this!
3:17 - Ok, back to Xs and Os: Detailing Nembhard's game-winning stop & Haliburton's game-winning shot
14:07 - The impact of Obi Toppin being disrespected on both ends of the floor
22:14 - OKC finishing the game without any bigs on the floor
29:07 - Spacing Caruso in the dunker spot while being defended by Siakam
34:00 - Defensive tweaks against OKC's guard-to-guard screening actions (no screen, no scheme!)
38:45 - Next-ing against SGA + the reduction in his passing numbers
46:30 - The Pacers won a Finals game on the road while committing 20+ turnovers!
47:56 - Why improved spacing + taking quicker shots should lead to better ball security in Game 2
1:01:37 - Nembhard + Siakam doing a lot of heavy lifting
1:06:00 - The popsicle of the month + banter about Russian literature (for some reason)
1:13:07 - Looking forward to Game 2! Thank you and Goodbye!
Comments
Ronetta Gaines
Brainiac basketball breakdowns with dashes of Dostoyevsky and I Think You Should Leave … I’ve found my people!
Kevin Lauck II
Great episode and breakdown; I always feel smarter after listening to y’all. Hedo Turkoglu! That Finals run with him, Rashard Lewis, Skip-To-My-Lou, Jameer Nelson, Courtney Lee, and prime Dwight Howard was fun to watch. Hopefully, the Pacers have a better outcome than that team did!
