The 2025 NBA Finals began on Thursday night, but many in the public had decided how this series would go down. Given how dominant the Oklahoma City Thunder were in the regular season and postseason, they entered the NBA Finals as heavy favorites, and some people were going as far as predicting a sweep.
Playing host to the Indiana Pacers in Game 1, it looked as though it would be a Thunder victory after they entered halftime with a 12-point lead. However, the Pacers showed resilience yet again, making a second-half comeback, and they put the ball in their most clutch player’s hands to end the game. As he’s done all postseason, Tyrese Haliburton delivered.
Haliburton went on to nail the eventual game-winning shot, leading the Pacers to a massive Game 1 win to spoil the Thunder’s home-court advantage. Despite a 38-point performance from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Pacers kept fighting and delivered when it mattered most.
Seeing this, ex-Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets guard Isaiah Thomas shared his reaction to Haliburton’s massive shot that secured them the win.
“This is good for the league!!! The game will change again with how these two teams play. Gotta really BUILD a team now and can’t just put players together and think it’s going to work,” Thomas shared to his X account.
While the NBA Finals doesn’t have the plethora of superstar players or large market teams like it has had in the past, Game 1 showed that it can still be just as entertaining, if not more. With Haliburton and Gilgeous-Alexander going head-to-head, it’s clear fans are watching the two most in-form guards in the NBA go up against each other, which adds to the storyline.
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