Pacers Pulverize Thunder in Game 6, Setting Up Game 7 Showdown Sunday

Photo credit: Andy Lyons, Getty Images.

On February 11, 1990 at the Tokyo Dome, 37-0 Mike Tyson put his WBA, WBC, and IBF titles on the line against a 29-4-1 boxer six years his senior by the name of Buster Douglas. Douglas was a 42-1 underdog. 

Going into this year’s NBA Finals, the Oklahoma City were (are) a 68-14 team. The Indiana Pacers were (are) a 50-32 team. 500-1 was (is) the Pacers’ shot to win this title. 

Twenty-five years to the date after losing Game 6 of the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers and having an NBA title elude them, the Pacers won in dominant fashion in 2025’s Game 6 on Thursday night to send this Finals to a seventh game with an opportunity to capture what they have yet to as an NBA franchise. There also lies an opportunity to buck those 500-1 odds. 

From Gainbridge Fieldhouse on this night, the Pacers brought intensity and energy to the table in a 108-91 win against the Thunder in a game that was not as close as the final score would indicate. 

Tyrese Haliburton’s status heading in, with a calf strain, was uncertain. How much could he go and how well could he produce playing with a “multi-week” injury? Good enough to go for 14 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals on 5-of-12 shooting in 23 minutes. Haliburton also made three of his seven 3-point attempts. He set the table and delivered a far better performance than his 4 points and zero made field-goals in Game 5. He looked spry, not limited.

To start Game 6 though, it was the Thunder who got out to a quick start, taking a 10-2 lead. But Pascal Siakam converted an and-one to make the score 10-7, and eight consecutive points from Andrew Nembhard (two triples included) put the Pacers ahead 15-12. Obi Toppin then connected on two triples to make the score 21-15, and a three from Tyrese Haliburton with 4:15 remaining 

In the quarter gave the Pacers a 24-17 lead and led to a Thunder timeout. The Thunder ended the first quarter 8-4 and the Pacers led 28-25 after one - 8 points apiece from Nembhard and Toppin and 7 points each from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. The Pacers made five 3-pointers in the first quarter. 

With 9:28 remaining in the second, Williams scored on a layup to cut the Pacer lead to one at 32-31. The Pacers called time, but out of the timeout Haliburton connected on a three and Tony Bradley scored a put back of a TJ McConnell miss. The Thunder called timeout trailing 41-33. McConnell, as he had in Game 5 with his 18-point third quarter, got going early on this night, with 8 points in eight minutes. Crafty in getting into the lane, jump shot working.

Aaron Nesmith with 5:21 remaining in the half connected from three, and hit again from deep to make the lead 13 at 48-35, leading to a Thunder timeout. A one-handed shot inside by Nesmith gave the Pacers a 50-35 lead. A Haliburton triple, Siakam lay in and a floater from Haliburton gave the Pacers a 60-42 lead before the play of the night, perhaps only topped in the series by Haliburton’s Game 1 winner.

With Williams handling the ball at the top of the arc, he looked left right for Lu Dort. Williams’ pass was deflected and stolen by Haliburton, who, chased by Dort and Williams, delivered a flashy no-look pass to a trailing Siakam. Siakam caught and elevated for a jam. Williams challenged but was met with force. A thunderous finish. Bedlam in Indianapolis. Siakam ended the half with a buzzer-beating elbow jump shot over Alex Caruso. The Pacers led 64-42 at half as they outscored the Thunder 36-17 in the second quarter. Siakam had 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. You would never know that Haliburton was playing with a two-week recovery time calf strain - 12 points and 4 assists for him in the half. The Pacers, who shot 44.2% in the half to the Thunder’s 43.6%, turned Oklahoma City over 12 times, and they themselves committed just two. Indiana was all over the place. Since the 8:51 mark of the second quarter, they had gone on a 30-9 scoring run. 

It was Haliburton who scored the first points of the second half, three minutes and 54 seconds in, with a layup, not just any layup but a pretty one. Haliburton pump faked, passed to Nesmith who was in the right corner, and cut to the basket, receiving the pass and finishing a textbook give-and-go play. The Thunder were now six minutes without scoring as they trailed 66-42. Haliburton found Myles Turner for a dunk, and following a Gilgeous-Alexander miss Haliburton found Ben Sheppard for a score. 70-42. Out of a Thunder timeout, Gilgeous-Alexander threw an alley-oop to Hartenstein to momentarily curtail the crushing. 

The Thunder briefly made things interesting, going on an 8-0 run with an Isaiah Joe triple making the score 73-53. A 3-point play from Gilgeous-Alexander on a midrange make got the deficit to 18 at 75-57. But a Nembhard 3-pointer and free-throws off a foul put the Pacers up by 23 at 80-57, and a Siakam 3-ball with 1:15 on the clock gave the Pacers a 84-57 lead, the home team on a 9-0 run. Toppin connected from deep with 32.5 seconds to go in the quarter to blow it open again, 87-60, and Sheppard at the buzzer just got off an attempt from straight away that splashed. 90-60 home side through three quarters. For the Thunder, the 60 points through 36 minutes was their fewest total through three quarters for the entire season. Nembhard had 17 points through three and Toppin had 15 (the forward finished with 20 points and 6 rebounds on 6-of-12 including four out of seven 3-point makes). Siakam finished 6-of-14 for 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, a game-high. Leading the Thunder was Gilgeous-Alexander with 21 points on 7-of-15 and 7-of-8 from the line. Both teams’ benches saw action in the fourth. 

As the Thunder dribbled the ball out, the home crowd broke out in a “LET’S GO PACERS” chant. Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams, who had combined for 71 points in Game 5, scored 37 combined (16 for Williams on 6-of-13 and 0-of-4 from distance) in Game 6. Chet Holmgren was 2-of-9 for 4 points with 6 rebounds. The Thunder were outrebounded 46-41, and made just 8-of-30 from downtown to the Pacers’ 15-of-42. Free-throws were in favor of the Thunder - 21-of-26 to 17-of-25. Just 10 turnovers for the Pacers while 21 for the Thunder. 

A prevailing thought all season and all playoffs has been the Pacers’ Cinderella-type run. The underdog. Douglas to the Bucks’, Cavaliers’, Knicks’, and Thunder’s Tyson. 

Sunday will be a challenge. A great team on their home floor. But something is certain now. The Pacers themselves are a great team. They have proven now that they belong. A great team that plays together. A team that in one singular postseason run has shattered the notion that you need big name players to win, that this is a superstar-driven league. The Pacers are a collective. They aren’t scared. They are here.

The Thunder should be favored in Game 7 at home. Top level offense and defense is what they have. The Pacers have proven they can have that too. Sunday’s Game 7 is the first in the Finals in nine years and the twentieth overall in Finals’ history. Home court advantage is a real thing. The Thunder are also 18-2 this season following a loss. 

Who will be left standing, undisputed, with WBC, WBA, IBF belts around their waist? Two cities that will get their first NBA title. One team will emerge with the gold. The other team just might be on all fours reaching for their mouthpiece.

It goes down Sunday.