OKLAHOMA CITY – Tyrese Haliburton continued his playoff heroics with a cold-blooded game-winner at the buzzer, lifting the Indiana Pacers to a stunning 111-110 comeback win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals on Thursday night at Paycom Center.
Down by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter and trailing for the entire game, the Pacers took their first and only lead with 0.3 seconds left when Haliburton pulled up from 21 feet over Cason Wallace and hit nothing but net. It marked his fourth clutch shot in the closing seconds during this postseason alone.
“Ultimate confidence in himself,” said Pacers center Myles Turner. “He doesn’t shy away from that moment he lives for it.”
The Thunder had the ball in the hands of MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with a one-point lead and under 15 seconds to go, but Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard played suffocating defense, forcing a tough fadeaway miss. That gave the Pacers one last chance and head coach Rick Carlisle put the ball in Haliburton’s hands without calling a timeout.
With 11 seconds on the clock, Haliburton calmly dribbled into the frontcourt, surveyed the floor, and pulled up just inside the arc. The shot bounced on the rim before dropping, silencing the Oklahoma City crowd.
“I had a pretty good idea,” Haliburton said postgame, when asked if he knew the shot was going in. “Come May and June, it doesn’t matter how you get ’em just get ’em.”
Despite 25 turnovers 20 of them in a sloppy first half the Pacers survived, while the Thunder were left ruing a missed opportunity. Gilgeous-Alexander poured in 38 points, but Oklahoma City managed just 11 points off Indiana’s turnovers and couldn’t close the door.
Game 1 marks a painful missed chance for the Thunder, who led from start to almost finish. But Gilgeous-Alexander was quick to shift focus: “The series isn’t first to one, it’s first to four. We’ll respond.”
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series tips off Sunday in Oklahoma City, with momentum now swinging toward a fearless Pacers squad riding the confidence and clutch gene of Tyrese Haliburton.
**Additional report from Reuters**
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