Haliburton: Pacers' Game 1 'not the recipe to win' Finals
Despite his stunning game-winner to steal Game 1 of the NBA Finals on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Tyrese Haliburton cautioned his Indiana Pacers against using that performance as a benchmark if they want to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
"This game, if you look at all the numbers, it's not the recipe to win," Haliburton said after Thursday's 111-110 win. "We can't turn the ball over that much. We've got to do a better job at beating gaps, got to do a better job at rebounding, got to do a better job all over the floor.
"But come May and June, it doesn't matter how you get 'em - just get 'em. So, we'll take it, we'll enjoy this one ... but understand we've got another game coming up in this tough building and we've got to be prepared for that."
Indiana never led in Thursday's contest until Haliburton's mid-range pull-up over Cason Wallace trickled through the Thunder's basket with 0.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter. It capped a 15-point comeback for the Pacers in the last 10 minutes of regulation - including a nine-point turnaround inside the final three minutes alone - continuing the Pacers' trend of improbable comebacks throughout their postseason run.
However, Rick Carlisle's squad committed 19 turnovers in the first half alone and finished with 25 in the win, tying its season high in any game (regular season or playoffs, this season). It was also the most by any team in the Finals since 1998 when the Utah Jazz racked up 26 turnovers in a 96-54 blowout loss to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. That played into the hands of Oklahoma City, which caused opponents to turn it over a league-high 17 times per game during the regular season.
"There was never a disbelief as a group, honestly," Haliburton said postgame. "You have a half like that where you're just throwing the ball to the other team ... and we like controlled chaos but that was just chaos. Ugly.
"I think we as a group today, we got something like 20 turnovers in the first half. We only gave up ... I think it was nine points. That's not that bad if you think of it that way, try to look at it glass half full. I think as a group, we never think the game is over, ever. ... That never creeps in."