In the immortal words of Zaza Pachulia, "we're going to Game 7, baby!" The Indiana Pacers dominated Game 6 of the 2025 NBA Finals on Thursday, leading by as many as 31 points en route to a 108-91 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The NBA Finals are now tied, 3-3, and this is the first time that the Finals have gone to a Game 7 since 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors.
The Pacers missed their first eight shots of the game, but quickly turned things around with a huge first-half run to take the lead. In the second quarter, they outscored the Thunder 36-17 to take a 22-point lead into halftime. The Thunder were never able to make things competitive after the break. Ben Sheppard hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to push the Pacers' lead up to 30 heading into the fourth, and the final frame was essentially garbage time.
Tyrese Haliburton, who was questionable heading into the game due to a calf strain, only had to play 22 minutes because of how comfortable the game was for the Pacers. He finished with 14 points and five assists. The Pacers' back-up point guard, TJ McConnell, was the star of the show. He put up 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals in another stellar outing in the Finals. As a team, the Pacers made 15 3-pointers and turned the ball over just 10 times.
Game 7 is set for Sunday night in Oklahoma City at 8 p.m. ET.
Finally, another Finals Game 7
The NBA Finals have unfortunately been rather anti-climactic over the last decade. This is the first time that the championship series is going the distance since the Cleveland Cavaliers staged their historic 3-1 comeback to defeat the Golden State Warriors in 2016. Since then, there's been a number of mismatches and forgettable matchups.
A few weeks ago, the general consensus was that the trend would continue. The Thunder were huge favorites, and when they jumped out to an early double-digit lead in Game 1 and went ahead by 15 in the fourth quarter, that line of thinking seemed wise. Then, suddenly, the Pacers stormed back to win the opener in the final second on a Tyrese Haliburton jumper.
Ever since that Pacers comeback, this series has been awesome. If you just glanced at the final scores, you may not realize it, but the series has been extremely competitive and entertaining. Hopefully Game 7 will be as well. Here's a look at the eight NBA Finals Game 7s of the last 50 years:
- 1978: Washington Bullets def. Seattle SuperSonics, 4-3
- 1984: Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers, 4-3
- 1988: Los Angeles Lakers def. Detroit Pistons, 4-3
- 1994: Houston Rockets def. New York Knicks, 4-3
- 2005: San Antonio Spurs def. Detroit Pistons, 4-3
- 2010: Los Angeles Lakers def. Boston Celtics, 4-3
- 2013: Miami Heat def. San Antonio Spurs, 4-3
- 2016: Cleveland Cavaliers def. Golden State Warriors, 4-3
While Sunday's Game 7 will be a historic moment, the players involved are trying to stay in the moment.
"Not trying to look at it from like a big-picture thing," Tyrese Haliburton said. "We've got one game. One game. It's nothing that's happened before matters, and nothing that's going to happen after matters. It's all about that one game. Just trying to approach it the right way for the next couple days."
It was T.J. time
Pacers guard T.J. McConnell has been amazing all postseason long, but especially in this series. That remained true on Thursday, as he put together arguably the best playoff performance of his career considering the stage and the stakes: 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals.
After the Pacers missed their first eight shots of the game, McConnell helped change the energy in the first quarter with his usual tricks off the bench. All of a sudden, the Pacers were not only back in the game, but in front. They never trailed again. His effort was particularly important on a night when Haliburton was playing through a calf strain and was not his usual self.
"It's no surprise what T.J. does out there," Obi Toppin said. "Any time he comes into the game, the crowd loves him, and he feeds off of that. He had a great start to the game, and it got us going. Brought juice into the game, energy into the game, and it has been like that the whole game. So, I feel like he was a big part of this win today."
For the series, McConnell is averaging 11.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.3 steals on 53.7% shooting from the field. He's tied for sixth in scoring among all players, tied for second in assists and tied for first in steals. That's all despite being 14th in minutes played at 19 per night. He's not going to win Finals MVP if the Pacers win Game 7, but he has been their most impactful player at times.
"When I'm out there, I just really try to do what I do," McConnell said. "And if I play a little bit of extra minutes, just continue to do that and get my teammates involved and do my job."
Pacers flip the script in the turnover department
Heading into the series, one of the biggest questions was whether the Thunder were going to be able to force the Pacers into turnovers.
The Thunder had been the best defensive team in the league all regular season and postseason, and thrived off forcing turnovers that they turned into easy points in transition. Their 17.7% opponent turnover rate ranked first among all playoff teams through the first three rounds by a wide margin. The Pacers, on the other hand, had mastered the ability to play fast while taking care of the ball. Their 98.44 pace and 12.7% turnover rate both ranked third in the playoffs through the first three rounds.
The Thunder forced 25 turnovers in Game 1, though they lost anyway, and they have generally given the Pacers an extremely hard time. Through the first six games, the Pacers were averaging 18.6 turnovers. That all changed in Game 6. The Pacers turned it over only 10 times, while the Thunder coughed it up 21 times -- their most in a game this postseason. It's no surprise that coincided with the Pacers' biggest win of the series.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said his team was "stronger with the ball," and Pascal Siakam concurred. "Obviously, we know how disruptive they are," Siakam said. "Yeah, it's tough because they are so good defensively, but we've got to -- we've just got to be strong with the ball, two hands, and yeah, just take care of it."
The Pacers turned the Thunder's 21 turnovers into 19 points on the other end, which was nearly exactly the final margin of the game.
"Yeah, they just turned us over a bunch," Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had a playoff-high eight turnovers, said. "They didn't pressure full court like they have been, which led to more turnovers. I didn't expect that. But whatever it is, they did it right. If we want to win on Sunday, we got to take care of the ball."
