Pacers blow out Thunder to force first NBA Finals Game 7 in nine years

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INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in nine years, there will be a Game 7 in the NBA Finals, and with it, a chance for the Indiana Pacers to pull off one of the greatest championship series upsets of all time.

Pascal Siakam produced maybe the most timely double-double of his career, given the stakes, Tyrese Haliburton fought through a strained right calf, and the Pacers kept their playoff identity as the comeback kings intact in a dominant, 108-91 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6.

Usually, Indiana digs itself out of big holes on the scoreboard, but on Thursday, the “comeback” was from the 3-2 series hole they had dug by losing the previous two games. With a win in Game 7 on Sunday, the Pacers would not only claim their first NBA title, they would be just the third champion in history to enter the tournament as something lower than a No. 3 seed.

Indiana was fourth in the East when the playoffs started. The 1969 Celtics were a four seed, and the 1995 Rockets won it all as a six seed. The finals began with the Pacers as the heaviest underdog in the finals since 2004.

Game 7 is at 8 p.m. Eastern Sunday in Oklahoma City. This is the first time the NBA Finals reached a seventh game since the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors in 2016.

There was no single hero for the Pacers on Thursday because too many of them were good. Obi Toppin was the team’s leading scorer with 20 points and six rebounds off the bench. Andrew Nembhard scored 17 and also contributed four assists and three steals. Siakam was right behind him with 16 points and 13 rebounds. He would seem to be in the driver’s seat for series MVP should Indiana finish this off on Sunday.

Haliburton recovered from his clunker (and injury) in Game 5 with 14 points, five assists and two steals in 23 minutes. He shot 5 of 13. The Pacers bench owned its counterpart – in addition to Toppin’s great game, T.J. McConnell scored 12 points with nine rebounds and six assists.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 points for the Thunder. Jalen Williams added 16 points and Isaiah Hartenstein contributed 10 points. Chet Holmgren shot just 2 of 9 from the field and finished with four points. No Oklahoma City starter played in the fourth quarter of this blowout – as the team was down 30 through three quarters.

Haliburton was cleared to play after passing tests and consulting with team doctors Thursday afternoon. He was moving well in the first quarter but his shot remained a mystery – he missed his first three shots (after missing all six in Game 5) before a 3-pointer finally fell for him with 4:16 left in the period for a 24-17 advantage. It only got better from there (or worse, depending on your basketball persuasion).

Haliburton launched one from the “F” in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, written on the court well behind the 3-point line, and splashed it. He stole the ball from Williams and threaded a lookaway pass to Siakam in transition for a nasty, soul-sucking dunk over Williams and Lu Dort. For good measure, Siakam buried an 18-footer just before time ran out in the first half, and the Pacers took a 64-42 lead into the locker room. It was easily Indiana’s largest lead in any game this series so far, forged by the Pacers outscoring the Thunder in the quarter, 36-17.

this angle of Pascal Siakam’s poster dunk is incredible. pic.twitter.com/TfB8Lw7H5E

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) June 20, 2025

Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams accounted for all but 11 of Oklahoma City’s points in the first half. The Pacers outscored the Thunder by 25 – twenty-five! – in the first two quarters when Haliburton was on the court.

Oklahoma City made a lineup change to try to kickstart a comeback, swapping out big man Hartenstein (not the first time that’s happened this series) for wing defender Alex Caruso. And then the Thunder didn’t score for five minutes and three seconds – on a dunk by Hartenstein. That’s how swell things went for the Thunder. They shot 4 of 17 in the third quarter (this is not how you start a rally, folks), and Pacers backup Ben Sheppard’s 3-pointer at the buzzer made it 90-60 heading to the fourth.

The good news for the Thunder: home teams are 15-4 in Game 7s in the finals, and Sunday’s game is of course in Oklahoma. The Thunder were, after all, a 68-win team that won the West by 16 games and posted the best overall record. They earned the right to play at home in the most important game of the season.

The bad? Not only did the last home team in a Game 7 of the finals lose – but so did the Lakers, way back in 1969. To a No. 4 seed.

The Pacers will try to make history repeat itself.

This story will be updated.

(Photo of Tyrese Haliburton: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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