OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Game 6 of the NBA Finals had been over for only about 10 or 15 minutes, and the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder were turning the page. What happened over the previous couple of hours in Indianapolis had already been deemed irrelevant.
The only thing on their minds: Game 7.
"A privilege," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
"A great privilege," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
A back-and-forth title matchup — Indiana led 1-0 and 2-1, Oklahoma City led 3-2 — will end on Sunday night with an ultimate game, the first winner-take-all contest in the NBA Finals since 2016. It'll be Pacers at Thunder, one team getting the Larry O'Brien Trophy when it is over, the other left to head into the offseason wondering how they let the chance slip away.
"We have one game for everything, for everything we’ve worked for, and so do they," Thunder guard and reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. "The better team Sunday will win."
History favors the home team in these moments: 15 of the previous 19 Game 7s in the NBA Finals were won by the club playing on its own court.
The Thunder played a Game 7 at home earlier in these playoffs and won by 32, blowing out Denver to reach the Western Conference finals. Indiana's most recent Game 7 was at Madison Square Garden in last season's Eastern Conference semifinals; the Pacers blew out New York by 21 in that game.
All-time, home teams are 112-38 in Game 7s (excluding the 2-2 record "home" teams had in the bubble in the 2020 playoffs, when everything was played in Lake Buena Vista, Florida). But in recent years, home sweet home has been replaced by road sweet road; visiting teams have won nine of the last 14 Game 7s played since 2021.
"It’s exciting, man. It’s so, so, exciting," Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton said. "As a basketball fan, there’s nothing like a Game 7. There’s nothing like a Game 7 in the NBA Finals. Dreamed of being in this situation my whole life. So, to be here is really exciting. Really exciting for our group. What happened in the past doesn’t matter. What happened today doesn’t matter. It’s all about one game and approaching that the right way."
The fact that Haliburton is playing at all right now is a story in itself. He looked good as new in Game 6 even with a strained right calf, something that he's needed around-the-clock treatment on this week. The Pacers haven't had to coax him into it; Haliburton's own family is offering up constant reminders that he needs to be working on his leg.
"My family has been on me," Haliburton said. "If they call me, they are like, 'Are you doing treatment right now?' ... My family has been holding me accountable."
There's a lot of accountability going on among the Thunder right now as well. A different kind, of course.
A 36-9 run by Indiana turned a one-point lead early in the second quarter into a full-fledged blowout early in the third. And with that, a Thunder team that finished with the best record in the NBA this season now has zero room for error.
Win on Sunday, and all ends well for Oklahoma City. Lose on Sunday, and they'll go down in history as one of the best regular-season teams that failed to win a title.
"If they had won by one, they would have probably walked out of this game with confidence," Thunder guard Jalen Williams said of the Pacers before leaving Indy's arena for the final time this season. "That’s what makes them a good team. That’s what makes us a good team. ... They’re going to go into Game 7 confident, and so are we."
The Thunder flew home after the game on Thursday night. The Pacers were flying to Oklahoma City on Friday afternoon. They'll spend some time looking at film, then go through the final practices — which won't be much more than glorified walk-throughs — of the season on Saturday.
And then, Game 7. For everything.
"I think we played to exhaustion," Pacers guard T.J. McConnell said after Game 6. "But we have to do it again on Sunday."
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