The Oklahoma City Thunder said all the right things heading into Game 6 of the NBA Finals. They understood the stakes — just one win away from a championship — and vowed not to look past a desperate Indiana Pacers team. They knew Tyrese Haliburton’s status was uncertain due to a strained right calf, but prepared as if he’d suit up and bring his best.
"One thing we know is you don’t underestimate great players," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said Wednesday. "So in the case that he plays, we're expecting his best punch. Indiana is a great team. We don’t underestimate great teams. Whether he plays or not, we're expecting Indiana's best punch, especially at home."
The Finals had mirrored Oklahoma City's second-round battle with Denver — a pattern of alternating wins and losses, culminating in a 3–2 series lead. That series ultimately went seven games, and forward Jalen Williams admitted they weren't ready for Game 6 back then.
"We didn’t come out ready to play, frankly," Williams said. "Sustaining our energy through that series — we're going to try to do a little bit better with this one."
But whatever lessons OKC claimed to have learned didn’t show up on Thursday night.
With their season on the brink, the Pacers came out with urgency and overwhelmed the Thunder from the opening tip. Indiana built a 31-point lead en route to a 108–91 blowout, forcing a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday.
The Pacers set the tone early with a 24–7 first-quarter run, then crushed OKC with a 36–9 stretch spanning the second and third quarters. At one point, Indiana strung together 11 straight stops on defense, prompting Daigneault to burn two timeouts in less than a minute.
Whether OKC subconsciously eased off the gas or not, Indiana never wavered from its game plan.
"I think we've got to stop turning the ball over as much — that's the main thing," Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard said Wednesday.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle echoed his players’ focus on the little things, noting that Oklahoma City’s dominance on the offensive glass had been a persistent issue throughout the series.
“Their offensive rebounding has really been bothersome and challenging for us,” Carlisle said.
But in Game 6, Indiana flipped the script. Through the first three quarters — the stretch when the game was still competitive — the Pacers committed just two live-ball turnovers compared to the Thunder’s 12. They also limited OKC to only three offensive rebounds while securing 10 of their own.
“It’s about the margins,” Tyrese Haliburton said in his walk-off interview with ABC’s Lisa Salters. “It’s about taking care of the ball and rebounding. Those are the most important things.”
And the Pacers didn’t just win the margins — they dominated them. By the end of the third quarter, they had thoroughly outclassed the Thunder in nearly every category. Indiana shot 14-of-35 (40%) from three while OKC went just 3-of-20 (15%). The Pacers held a commanding 31–6 edge in bench points and led 21–6 in assists.
While the stats were lopsided across the board, the heart of this series has always been the possession battle and the ability to turn defense into transition offense. Oklahoma City may be elite by most statistical standards, but when forced into a half-court grind against a locked-in defense — and unable to return the favor — its vulnerabilities are exposed.
After the blowout, the Thunder were left lamenting the same issues Indiana had cited after their own Game 5 defeat.
“I thought that’s what ignited them,” Daigneault said postgame, calling his team’s performance “uncharacteristic” and “disappointing.”