Even though they were leading by 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game One of the 2025 NBA Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Indiana Pacers 111-110 thanks to a buzzer-beating shot from Tyrese Haliburton, his fourth game-winning basket this postseason. Prior to last night, teams trailing by nine or more points in the final three minutes of an NBA Finals game were 0-182 in those situations since 1971.
“We just had to hang in,” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle after the game. “I think we won the third quarter by three, which was progress. They went up 15, and we just said, ‘Hey, let’s just keep chipping away at the rock.'”
As devastating as this loss might feel, that was not the sentiment coming out of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s locker room.
“This series isn’t first to one. It’s first to four,” said Thunder guard and 2025 NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander after the loss. “So we have four more games to get. They have three. That’s just where we are.”
Gilgeous-Alexander, who had a game-high 38 points, didn’t sound all that bothered by the buzzer-beating loss.
Tyrese Haliburton for the lead with .3 remaining.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/bsYPIHo4tH
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) June 6, 2025
“How you lose doesn’t really matter,” he said. “Obviously it sucks – last-second shot, the energy in the arena, and stuff like that. But we lost, at the end of the day. We lost Game One. We’ve lost Game One before. On the other side of that, we came out a better team. That’s our goal. That’s our mentality. To try to learn a lesson from the loss, like we always do, and move forward and be better.”
Third-year Thunder small forward Jalen Williams sounded even calmer than SGA did when talking about being down 0-1.
“Well, it sucks,” he said. “But we have been here before. Obviously, like the Denver series. Honestly, [it’s] around the same thing.”
Williams’ comparison to the Western Conference Semi-Finals against the Denver Nuggets is valid. OKC lost the first game in that series on a buzzer-beater by Aaron Gordon, yet still found a way to come back and win in seven games.
Mark Daigneault:
“The biggest experience we’ve had is understanding that every game is a new game. The most important game in the series is always the next one, regardless of the outcome. We would have liked to win tonight, but tonight was a starting point, not an end point.”
— Nick Gallo (@NickAGallo) June 6, 2025
“Had a couple defensive breakdowns that cost us. A couple offensive rebounds that cost us,” Williams continued. “Just like little stuff down the stretch. I think we had a really good offensive process. We got some good shots towards the end, but when shots aren’t falling, you can’t have defensive breakdowns like we did.”
Even though the Thunder made plenty of mistakes, the Pacers executed at the most important moments of the game, which is why they currently find themselves ahead 1-0.
“That’s a really good team,” said Oklahoma City head coach Mark Daigneault. “Credit them for not only tonight but their run. They’ve had so many games like that… They just play with a great spirit. They keep coming. They keep playing. They made plays. They made shots. So they deserve to win by a point.”
“Basketball ups and downs,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. “It is what it is. You can’t do anything about it now. Just gotta be better for next game.”
The Thunder and Pacers will once again be in Oklahoma City for Game Two of the 2025 NBA Finals. The tip-off for that one is scheduled for tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. EDT.
