by Game 1 of the NBA Finals featured the two top teams from their respective conferences in the chase for the 2025 NBA Championship the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. For Oklahoma City, they came in having one of the best regular season and postseason runs in NBA history.
The Thunder have stormed on their opponents and set the tone throughout the 2024-25 NBA season showing what winning basketball truly looks like as a team. The Thunder are led by their 2025 NBA MVP point guard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been on a tear, leading OKC to the #1 seed in the West and knocking off the Minnesota Timberwolves 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals.
The Indiana Pacers come in as the league’s true underdogs being the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference making The Finals. Indiana is led by All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton and several key starters and role players who have shown up when the lights have been the brightest, sending this team-oriented squad to the NBA Finals.
They come in after defeating the New York Knicks 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals led by Eastern Conference Finals MVP forward Pascal Siakam. Both these teams appear in The Finals looking for their first-ever franchise championship. The narrative of the underdog Indiana Pacers facing the red-hot Oklahoma City Thunder makes for a great setup for the 2025 NBA Finals. Game 1 tipped off in Oklahoma City at the Paycom Center at 8:30 pm EST.
First Quarter:
The Thunder started the game out on a 7-0 run as forward Jalen Williams walked right into a three-pointer in transition. After a slow shooting start, Pacer’s center Myles Turner was able to draw a foul and hit a free throw to put Indiana on the board. The 2025 NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was able to answer, hitting a 25-foot three-pointer for the Thunder. Off the following miss by the Thunder, Indiana’s guard Andrew Nembhard was able to knock down a wide-open three-pointer as the Pacers tied the game back up at 10, leading to the first OKC timeout.
Out of the timeout, both teams missed their pursuing shot attempts as both struggled to raise their early shooting numbers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander started to take matters into his own hands as he hit a pair of floating jump shots putting OKC up 12-10. The Thunder’s defense started to apply pressure forcing turnovers on the Pacers as they were able to get a handful of stops. After a couple of possessions, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton was able to hit a deep 25-foot three-pointer, getting the Pacers back within one possession.
The playoff-experienced Alex Caruso answered Haliburton with his own dagger from distance as the Thunder maintained the lead 19-13. As the game got more physical, both teams scored from the free throw line where the Thunder were eventually able to extend their lead to ten over Indiana. Following a Pacer’s timeout, Indiana’s backup veteran point guard TJ McConnell was able to make a basket followed by a three-pointer by Pacer’s forward Obi Toppin bringing it back within eight. Thunder’s All-Star guard Gilgeous-Alexander continued to be more aggressive, forcing the issue and hitting a pair of free throws to put OKC up 29-20 at the end of the quarter.
Second Quarter:
Indiana registered the first points of the quarter off a three-pointer from Obi Toppin, trimming the deficit to six points. Both teams began showing their elite depth off the bench as Thunder’s Aaron Wiggins got a jumper to drop followed by a Alex Caruso jumper. Caruso gave the Thunder huge veteran minutes off the bench being a spark plug making winning plays on both ends of the floor for OKC. The Pacers would start to raise their shooting percentage in the quarter, but they struggled to get stops allowing the Thunder to stay in front. Oklahoma City continued their stifling defense, forcing Indiana turnovers, leading to setting an NBA Finals half record with 19 forced turnovers, the most in the past 25 years. The large amount of turnovers made it difficult for the Pacers to create or maintain any form of momentum despite shooting the ball better on their looks in the second. Thunder’s Luguentz Dort nailed a three-pointer to extend their lead to the largest of the night at 13. Off a late turnover by Indiana, Oklahoma City found themselves up 57-45 at the end of the half.
Third Quarter:
Opening the second half, the Pacers got a pair of free throws to drop from forward Pascal Siakam as they looked to gain early third-quarter momentum. SGA and the Thunder wouldn’t allow any momentum swings as he hit a jump shot to put the Thunder up 61-48 early in the third. Both teams continued to battle, but the Thunder held strong to their double-digit lead majority of the quarter. A pair of free throws from Indiana’s forward Bennedict Mathurin cut the lead to single digits with just under 90 seconds left in the third. On proceeding possessions, both teams traded three-point blows keeping it a single-digit game. Pascal Siakam hit a three-pointer with 17.0 seconds followed by an heroic three-pointer from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the buzzer keeping the deficit nine entering the fourth quarter 85-76.
Fourth Quarter:
Both teams entered the final quarter looking to set the tone with physicality and intensity resulting in opening possessions being fouls and trips to the charity stripe. Oklahoma City continued to increase their defensive intensity highlighted by a steal and breakaway uncontested dunk for forward Jalen Williams as the Thunder stormed out to a 94-79 lead. Out of the Pacer’s timeout, Indiana completely flipped the switch on both ends of the floor by playing more aggressive defense and hitting timely three-point baskets.
Indiana’s Myles Turner highlighted their comeback effort by hitting a step back three-pointer off the glass with 7:47 to go in the fourth making it an eight-point game again. Indiana continued their huge 15-point comeback effort as Obi Toppin hit his fifth three-pointer of the game trimming the lead to 98-91 with 6:50 left. Two possessions later, Turner hit another clutch jumper cutting the deficit to 100-96 for Indiana. Oklahoma City would answer with trips to the free throw line on proceeding possession as they looked to put Game 1 away at the line.
Indiana would not go away shooting the lights out from deep as backcourt mates Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard would both hit a pair of threes, making it a three-point game 108-105. With 1:07 left, SGA drove in and got blocked by Siakam as he was going up for the layup. On the following Pacer’s possession, Siakam came up with an offensive rebound of a Nembhard missed three and scored with 48.1 seconds making the score 110-109.
On the Thunder’s final possession with 11.0 seconds left, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed a game-sealing jumper. This led to Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton dribbling up the floor and hitting a game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining. Indiana Pacer completed the 15-point comeback and won 111-110 over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Key Performers:
Indiana Pacers: Obi Toppin led with 17 points off the bench hitting five huge three-pointers going 5-8 on the night from distance.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led all players in scoring with 38 points including going 14-30 on field goals ending with a +3 for the Thunder.
Indiana Pacers: Pascal Siakam led the team in scoring with a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Veteran guard Alexa Caruso led the bench with 11 points and made critical effort plays on both ends of the floor.
Indiana Pacers: Aaron Nesmith led the team in rebounding with a stunning 12 boards leading to another double-double with 10 points for the Pacers.
Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds including the game-winning jump shot with 0.3 seconds remaining in the game.
Key Stats:
- Tied Score: 1
- Lead Changes: 1
- Biggest Lead: 15 (Oklahoma City)
- Rebounding: 56 – 39 (Indiana)
- Points in the Paint: 46 – 34 (Oklahoma City)
- Fastbreak: 11 – 10 (Oklahoma City)
- FG%: 47.6% – 36.7% (Indiana)
- 3P%: 46.2% – 31.7% (Indiana)
Next Up:
After Indiana’s late win, stealing home-court advantage, Oklahoma City will look to return to Paycom Center for Game 2 on Sunday, June 8th at 8:00 PM EST looking to even the series back up at 1-1.
