OKLAHOMA CITY – For a long stretch of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, it looked like the Pacers were the team that would leave the arena regretting a blown chance.
The Pacers were committing turnovers on what seemed like every other possession – 20 turnovers in the first half alone.
An arena full of mostly Thunder fans – save for the full-time non-basketball operations Pacers employees who were flown out for the game – had nearly 48 minutes of game action to celebrate.
“This arena is madness … from a road perspective, the decibels were insane,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
When the game ended, nearly 18,000 Thunder fans left the arena disappointed.
The Thunder have regrets. They squandered an opportunity.
They failed to take full advantage of those Pacers turnovers and put the Pacers away. They failed to hold onto a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter and a nine-point lead late in the fourth quarter.
They failed to take advantage of Gilgeous-Alexander’s 38-point game. They failed to win Game 1 Thursday, June 5.
The resilient Pacers defeated the Thunder 111-110, taking a 1-0 series lead on Tyrese Haliburton’s 21-foot jump shot with 0.3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
“We got to learn from it, we got to improve like we would if we had won the game and get ourselves ready for Game 2. That’s really what it comes down to,’ Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
While the Thunder were disappointed, there was not any panic. Oklahoma City lost Game 1 to Denver in the Western Conference semifinals and won the series in seven games.
“The playoffs take you to the limit,” Daigneault said. “They put your back against the wall, in games, in series. If you make it this far, you have to endure to do that. It gives you rich experiences that you can draw on. …
“There’s a lot more games left in the series. We understand that. We got to get ourselves to zero, as we always do. That’s a habit that hopefully we’ve formed. These guys have made a habit of being able to get ourselves centered and play our best game in the next game.”
The Thunder have not lost consecutive games in the playoffs and lost two consecutive games just twice during the regular season.
They won 68 regular-season games and 12 playoff games. They know what is required.
They will look at the film. Of Indiana’s 25 turnovers, the Thunder had just 11 points off those turnovers. They shot just 39.8% from the field. Daigneault tinkered with the starting lineup, inserting Cason Wallace in place of Isaiah Hartenstein. Chet Holmgren had just six points and was not a factor.
“The series isn’t first to one, it’s first to four,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We have four more games to get, they have three. That’s just where we are. We got to understand that, and we got to get to four before they get to three, if we want to win the NBA championship.
“It’s that simple. It’s not rocket science. We lost Game 1. We have to be better.”