Obi Toppin scored 20 points, Andrew Nembhard scored 17 points and Pascal Siakam posted 16 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Pacers to a 108-91 win over the Thunder in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, tying the series 3-3 and forcing a Game 7 at 8 p.m. Sunday in Oklahoma City.
This is just the Pacers’ second trip to the NBA Finals, so this marks the first time they’ve earned three wins in an NBA Finals and the first time they’ve played in a Game 7 in the event.
All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton had 14 points and five assists despite playing through a strained right calf. Veteran point guard T.J. McConnell had 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Forward Aaron Nesmith added 10 points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 21 points. The Thunder scored the fewest points of any Pacers opponent in these playoffs.
Here are three observations.
Pacers defense leads domination of possession battle
The Pacers didn’t have to spend a lot of time combing through the box score to know what went wrong in their Game 5 loss to the Thunder. They committed too many turnovers and they didn’t create nearly enough.
The Pacers committed 23 turnovers in Game 5 with 15 of those being steals — live-ball giveaways that led to transition opportunities. The Thunder committed just 11 and won the points-off-turnovers battle 32-9. The problem was especially acute in the fourth quarter when the Thunder outscored the Pacers 13-2 off turnovers thanks to eight Indiana giveaways.
In Game 6, the Pacers turned those figures around completely as part of their best defensive effort in the playoffs.
In the first half alone the Pacers caused 12 Thunder turnovers while committing just two and scored 16 points off turnovers while the Thunder scored just two. They outscored the Thunder 14-3 on fast-break points and that led to a 64-42 Pacers lead at the break from which the Thunder never recovered. The Pacers shot a modest 44.2% from the floor in the half, but they had 52 field goal attempts to the Thunder’s 38.
The Pacers didn’t cause as many turnovers in the second half, but they didn’t allow a lot of buckets either. They held the Thunder under 20 points in each of the middle two quarters. The Thunder managed just 1 of 11 3-pointers in the first half and were 4 of 17 from the floor, 2 of 9 from 3-point range in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was mostly garbage time, but the Thunder finished the game 28 of 68 from the floor (41.2%), 6 of 26 from 3 and with 0.86 points per possession.
The Pacers finished with 89 field goal attempts to the Thunder’s 68 hit 14 3-pointers to the Thunder’s six and caused 20 turnovers to the Pacers’ nine.
Tyrese Haliburton steps up despite strained right calf
Tyrese Haliburton acknowledged in the locker room before the game that he was playing through a strained right calf despite notable risk and it was clear out of the gate that he wasn’t 100%. The Thunder switched big men on to him off of ball screens but he didn’t quite have the juice to blow past them and there were a few loose balls that he didn’t quite have the explosion to get to.
Still, he found enough of a rhythm and determined what he was and was not comfortable with and built a better-than-solid performance around what he was comfortable with.
The two-time All-Star and two-time third-team All-NBA pick posted 12 first-half points on 4 of 9 shooting, knocking down three 3-pointers on five attempts after he scored four points on 0 of 6 shooting after injuring the calf in Game 5. He also had four assists and two steals in the first half including a steal that turned into a no-look pass to Pascal Siakam for a late-half dunk. The Pacers were +25 in his 16 minutes and 17 seconds on the floor. He only played 6:35 in the second half thanks to the nature of the blowout and finished with 14 points on 5 of 12 shooting including 3 of 7 from 3-point range. He posted five assists and two steals against just one turnover and finished +25.
Andrew Nembhard responds
Andrew Nembhard’s close to Game 5 was brutal as he committed four turnovers including three in the fourth quarter and three that turned into Thunder scores. He acknowledged after that he picked up his dribble at in opportune times, and that was deeply problematic against the Thunder’s swarming defense.
So on Thursday, he was sharper with the basketball but also locked in from beyond the arc and he took his defense on Thunder MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a higher level than he has all series.
Nembhard helped the Pacers break out of an 0 of 7 start to the game with back-to-back 3-pointers and a driving layup to put eight points on the board in the first quarter. By halftime he had 10 points and 4 of 5 shooting, but his defense was more impressive. He recorded three steals and didn’t commit a single foul on Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the NBA in 3-pointers made this season. Gilgeous-Alexander had 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting at halftime, but he also had five turnovers and few of his points came against Nembhard. That helped the Pacers build a 64-42 halftime advantage.
Nembhard finished with 17 points on 5 of 7 shooting including 3 of 5 from 3-point range and finished with four assists against one turnover and three steals. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 21 points, just two assists and eight turnovers.