Sports Commentator 1 (3:47)

I mean, player of the game is the guy I was talking about the entire time. This Obi Toppin.

Sports Commentator 2 (3:52)

Obi Toppin. Come on, man.

Sports Commentator 1 (3:54)

Obi Toppin was hooping. Like. I don't know. I was. I remember sitting up there with you. They take him out of the game, like five minutes left in the game, and I'm like, they gotta put Obi Toppin back in.

Sports Commentator 2 (4:04)

Yeah.

Sports Commentator 1 (4:04)

You're like, who do they put him in for? I'm like, I don't know. Maybe they end up taking Miles Turner out. But Obi topping in. And then I don't know if he. One more after that.

Sports Commentator 2 (4:13)

I don't think he made another basketball. But his spirit was important to the team. I'm with you. He was integral to this Pacers team, being able to get it done. He had a rough start to this game as well. A couple of nasty turnovers. And he dropped the ball on a pass from Halliburton. He was just part of the 19 turnovers in that first half, but made five threes. Canceled out the three pointers for Lou Dort as well. The Pacers shot the ball incredibly well, the way they have been for this entire postseason. They finished 18 of 39 from three. That's 46% limited. Shake Elios Alexander shooting, getting to the free throw line. He didn't take all that many. I think he finished with eight free throw attempts for his. What? He finished with 38 points. But this was the game plan for the Pacers. Let Shea, get his. I thought Jalen Williams kind of turned it on in the second half as well after struggling. And when it comes down to it, the Pacers played their game in the second half. They never quit. They never think they're out of the game. Incredible coaching by Rick Carlisle.

Sports Commentator 1 (5:10)

He.

Sports Commentator 2 (5:10)

He empowers every single Pacer to take any shot that they think is open. That's going to be a good shot. That gives them a lot of confidence. And you can see they never think they're out of a game.

Sports Commentator 1 (5:20)

Exactly. I mean, they came out in the first half, they looked rattled, right? Like you said, 19 turnovers in the first half, way too many turnovers. But at this point, you're like, you're expecting that. You kind of see what they want to do when they come out in the second half. Didn't turn the ball over much. Like you said, Shay early on was trying to get those fouls. You saw that first basket he made. He literally is like diving into him and then falls down, throws it up, no call. But I mean, the Pacers were able to handle the thunderstorm a bit, even though the thunder didn't play, like, amazing. Every time they went on a run, I'm like, oh, they got to be up by 20 by now. And you look at the score and they're only up by 10, up by 8, up by 12.

Sports Commentator 2 (5:59)

This is closer than it should be. This is closer than it should be. But the way the Pacers were turning the ball over specifically in the first half, you thought, when it comes down to it, OKC is going to be able to hang on to the lead here. When I think it was, T.J. mcConnell had that baseline out of bounds play. He tried to throw a lob over the top and just a pass to nobody run out for Jalen Williams. Big dunk. This crowd is going insane. That, to me was the first time I thought, maybe this one is going to be over. There was other times in the fourth quarter, too, where, you know, Miles Turner. I think the Pacers were down four. He had a pretty good look with four minutes left. Missed the three pointer. Next time, down six point lead for the Thunder. Halliburton has a step back jumper. He misses as well. These were the shots that it seemed like they were making all the time against the Knicks. Those look like missed opportunities, but there were enough opportunities. You even get to Aaron Neesmith. The Pacers are down three. He catches the ball on the left wing, has a chance to attack, goes to the hoop, but Dort stones him at the rim. Great block by Dort. I thought that was maybe another time it could have been over for the Thunder. But the Pacers never think it's over. They're ready to fight the entire time after that Dort block. I think it was. Maybe Siakam had a block down at the rim as well. Went back the other way, and the Pacers just made enough shots. The 25 turnovers forced by the Thunder was crazy. But you look at the box score, and it's only 11 points conceded for the Pacers, and I think that was huge. Their transition defense was on point the entire night. A lot of it was some dead ball turnovers. Like Obi Toppin had a couple. They just threw out a bounce, right? Turnovers where the clock is stopping. At least you can get back on def. And then they did a really good job to get back and limit the Thunder. Fast break attack. I think the Pacers ended up winning the fast break battle and this one as well. Curious decision maybe from Mark Daignall to go small down the stretch. No Hartenstein, no Chet on the court for the last three or so minutes. That cut off the offensive rebounding for Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, Pascal Siakam got busy on the offensive glass for the Pacers. And it was just. They made enough plays, Enough plays, enough plays, plays. And then they have to have the utmost confidence that when Tyrese Haliburton has the ball in his hands in the last 10 seconds, at the very least he's going to get a good shot. And it feels like he's going to make every single one of them exactly.

Sports Commentator 1 (8:10)

Like the way that he is right now, how clutch he is. Like, maybe he should have been a clutch player of the year instead of the people that they beat last round. But it is literally insane. I just. I don't understand how they continuously keep doing this. Like I said, you just look at it every time. You're just like, they. They have to be down more than they are. But they were able to weather the storm over and over and over again. Like, in the end of the game, you get Toppin hits a three, Turner hits the step back off the glass. They cut it to four. But then, like, as soon as that happens, Toppin goes out of the game. I'm like, okay, the Thunder are gonna go on another run. They might be able to close it out. They're not as bad as some of these other teams in the Eastern Conference that we've been talking about before, but Indiana just stays with it again, doing all those things that you talked about. Stopping them, putting defense on them. Even that last possession with, with sga and then you can't guard any better. He probably should have hit it. It was a shot that he hit all the time. It's a tough shot, but just the ability to grab the rebound. Actually like they didn't start the game with Hartenstein, started with Chet and then like you said, they ended up going small ball. Don't understand. Oh yeah, and Casen Wallace is for Hardenstein. But coming down the stretch, it is curious why, why go small? Because they were killing on the boards even though the numbers might not show it. I thought they had 20 offensive rebounds.

Sports Commentator 2 (9:29)

They were getting busy on the first half for sure.

Sports Commentator 1 (9:31)

But yeah, they decided to go small on the stretch and just maybe cost them game one here.

Sports Commentator 2 (9:36)

Yeah, I mean maybe, I don't know. Like you look, you think back to it and you look at the box score. It doesn't feel like anybody from the Pacers played incredibly well like Pascal Siakam, their leading scorer. 19 points on 715 shooting. He did get one run out in this game, but he wasn't the same transition attack that he had against New York. Halliburton, like we said, finished with 14 points. Nemhard 14. Neesmith made a big three late. Three guys in the starting lineup with double digit rebounds. That's pretty big to win on the glass. Kind of helping the possession battle because it was so tilted for the Thunder. But just enough like you mentioned, Myles Turner banking in a three. He was decent in the second half. He didn't feel like he didn't take a shot for 45 minutes of real life but then hit a couple of big ones. Niecemith made shots when he needed to. Nemhard, I thought he was kind of struggling defensively against Shea. Gildrich Alexander until the last possession that was maybe the best. He defended him, was able to stick with him. Shea was getting to a step back pretty much whenever he wanted. And Halliburton for the way he played and didn't really look super aggressive. I thought at times he kind of seemed like surprised when he was open like we would, he would, you know, shake door or something like that. Like wait a second, I have a three pointer that I can actually take in the second half. He was much more willing to get into the mid range and then as you saw, he knocked down a mid Ranger to win it. He's just got to take the shots that are there. So I'm stunned. Man, I couldn't believe it. I just thought the Thunder were such a good defensive team that they wouldn't allow the Pacers to pile up the points like they did in the second half of this game in the fourth quarter, turning a 15 point deficit into a win. Furthermore, Shaigle just. Alexander pretty good at getting to the line. Like he only had two free throw attempts going into the fourth quarter. He took six down the stretch of this game. But in the last second when Nemhard was physical with him, stuck with him, hands off, great defense from him. That could have been an easy way to close out the game if you're the Thunder him at the line. But nope, they just made the plays.

Sports Commentator 1 (11:35)

Yeah, you know you're talking about Halliburton hesitating. His first three threes that he made were off of a pumpkin. Look around for a second. He's like, I mean, I guess I'll shoot it because I'm still open type of thing. I. I wonder what was going on. Like I said, I think maybe they were just a little bit rattled coming into the game, but it was an.

Sports Commentator 2 (11:52)

Overwhelming defensive performance in the first half from okc.

Sports Commentator 1 (11:55)

Yeah, like OKC had their fingers on every single thing, right? Like as it would say hands, but they literally had their fingertips on every single ball coming. It was crazy. Like I remember one specifically Halliburton pass it into Miles Turner and here comes sga. Like, looks like he got his pinky on and they're going the other way. That happened so often. So. Yeah.

Sports Commentator 2 (12:13)

Hey, what's up? What's up?

Sports Commentator 1 (12:15)

But yeah, good win for the Pacers. I can't believe they did it again. Like, I'm. I'm still in shock. I'm still shaking after what we just saw. Literally insane.

Sports Commentator 2 (12:25)

It was awesome to watch to see a game like this. Like, I don't know, this is your first finals game I've been to, I don't know, 20, something like that. And this is rocketing up to the upper echelon for sure. I mean, game seven, 2016, of course, an all time classic. Steph Curry catching fire in the fourth quarter. Game four, 2022. Incredible. This to me is maybe a little similar to Cavs versus Warriors in 2015. Went to overtime. It was like Kyrie Irving blocked Steph Curry at the rim. Yeah, exactly. It's up there. But man, to see a game winner in the NBA Finals. Technically, I suppose not a Tiso buzzer beater as there was three seconds left and they tried to throw a lob to Chet, but still, I'll take it. The Pacers did just enough to be able to steal this one. Very, very cool.

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Sports Commentator 2 (16:04)

You got anything else, man? I don't know what else you want to talk about. We're talking. I'm sure the guys tomorrow will talk more about game two. Yeah, you got adjustments and that kind of stuff, but.

Sports Commentator 1 (16:13)

Any random notes for you?

Sports Commentator 2 (16:15)

Any random notes? It's hard to focus on the random notes. We can't see Rick Carlile spitting from where we were sitting, you know, I know.

Sports Commentator 1 (16:21)

We got the report. Got a report from Skeez and Slack that Rick Carlisle was still spitting during this game. They got it on the. On the shot. But as far as what I saw in the arena, I saw a random guy dressed as Jesus.

Sports Commentator 2 (16:35)

You saw a random guy dressed as Jesus? Yeah. Okay.

Sports Commentator 1 (16:37)

I don't know if you saw that or not.

Sports Commentator 2 (16:38)

I didn't see it.

Sports Commentator 1 (16:39)

They came over. They had the whole crowd. Everybody's in their white, the T shirt, and then there's just one guy with the robe and the little thing over. He's got the long hair and he was dressed as Jesus. Just jumping in.

Sports Commentator 2 (16:49)

Beautiful stuff. Beautiful stuff. A very religious place, you know. Of course, we had the invocation before the game. Felt like playing in church leagues once again. It was loud in here until there was 0.3 seconds left and then the volume was turned down a little bit. I would have to say great participation from fans wearing the shirt. We had 803 fresh.

Sports Commentator 1 (17:10)

Yeah.

Sports Commentator 2 (17:10)

As the halftime act. Boots on the ground. On the ground. Yeah. You like that song?

Sports Commentator 1 (17:15)

It's okay. It was okay. They were killing it with the fans, though. I hear that. Popping the fans for sure.

Sports Commentator 2 (17:21)

Yeah. Yeah. Smacking their fans. That was good. I don't know what else. I mean, I was thinking down the stretch or going forward perhaps, that it's going to have to be Neesmith on Shaigil, just Alexander, just because it felt like he was able to get any shot he really wanted. For the most part, you know, step backs were working really hard. He didn't shoot a great percentage, but he was able to get some looks and the shots were definitely there. But then Nemhard stoned him when it came up the most. And, you know, I think Neesmith did a pretty solid job on Jalen Williams. I think he had a better second half, J Dub did, than first half, but enough defense. And I think if you're the Pacers look, certainly they stole this game. They shot incredibly well. Made 18 threes, shot 46%, I think from three. And when it came close, they won because they have a great clutch player in Tyrese Haliburton. That's kind of the recipe for them. Are they always going to shoot 46%? Maybe. They've been shooting well for the entire playoffs so far, but they have to be at least encouraged that they know that the three point shots are going to be there because that's something the Thunder like to do. They pack the paint, obviously. They're sending three guys at every driver, like you're saying, trying to strip it down low with their fingers and sometimes their whole hand. So the shots are there for the Pacers and they're good passers. Like, they definitely out assisted the Thunder in this one. You can just see the different ways they play. The Pacers want, like Tass has been saying all week, they want one guy to try and do everything. Shai Gil, just Alexander, he had 38 points tonight. Nobody else getting into 20. I don't think maybe J Dub got close, but I don't think anybody got close. Just awesome. I mean, this is exactly how it goes. If you're the Pacers, this is how you want to win games. 105 is kind of their magic number. They've been under 105. They haven't been able to pull out a win. So to stretch it out to 111, kind of on the strength of the three point shooting in the fourth quarter, they've got to at least think that they can continue to outshoot Oklahoma City. We'll see if that remains to be true. Definitely OKC will shoot better than 40 for a game, I'm sure going forward.

Sports Commentator 1 (19:23)

But that's what I was going to.

Sports Commentator 2 (19:24)

Ask every single person we talked to today was like, if the Thunder are going to steal a game, it's got it. Or if the Pacers are going to steal a game, it's got to be game one. That's all good. It's all good. There we go.

Sports Commentator 1 (19:37)

No, I was going to ask you.

Sports Commentator 2 (19:38)

Yeah, it's live.

Sports Commentator 1 (19:39)

What? It's all good. What's, what's, what's scarier for, for the series here is like the Thunder didn't shoot well, but they played very well. They just didn't shoot the ball.

Sports Commentator 2 (19:50)

They played well on defense. And I mean, the second half, okay, tale of two halves wise, first half, Thunder style, choppy, tons of turnovers. You know, they're scoring inside pretty well. A lot of twos for them. But the Pacers kept pace, keeping it within 10 to 12. I think it was a 12 point lead at halftime.

Sports Commentator 1 (20:06)

That's right.

Sports Commentator 2 (20:07)

The second half felt like a Pacers half. Much more up and down, much more freedom of movement. Obviously they didn't turn the ball over nearly as much. They got into their three point game. So I think they have to feel good that they can make the Thunder play their game and it's not the other way around because OKC was dictating in the first half. Second half though, the Pacers were dictating just as much going the other way.

Sports Commentator 1 (20:29)

Yeah, that's exactly why I asked that. Because like I said, they didn't shoot the ball well. They were great defensively, able to play their game in the first half. The Pacers turned around the second half, but they did shoot well for the most part. But they didn't play well either for the majority of the game. Right. So you have both of them didn't play their best. Pacers pull it out like going forward, do you feel like, oh yeah, the Thunder can fix this or fix that or just maybe shoot the ball literally 5% better and that'll be the answer. Or is the Pacers like, oh, no, we have the recipe now because we are confident in the way that we play.

Sports Commentator 2 (21:04)

That's a great question.

Sports Commentator 1 (21:05)

If we don't turn the ball over 20 times, then we're never down by 12 at halftime. Do you see what I mean?

Sports Commentator 2 (21:08)

OKC will play better offensively, I do think, going forward, at least in some of these games. I wonder if Mark Daignault will try to go back to the double big lineup. We thought that was kind of be a question going forward because Siakam just seems like a tough matchup.

Sports Commentator 1 (21:23)

Right?

Sports Commentator 2 (21:24)

The Siakam Turner. The speed of those two seems like a tough matchup for Hartenstein and Chet together. But I don't know. I thought Hartenstein had a pretty solid impact, especially in the first half. It was big time on the offensive glass. He was dunking inside, putting some pressure on the rim. Caruso did his part as well. He was everywhere, offensive rebounding, getting every loose ball. But I don't know, you know, it's kind of odd to see the team that's the favorite adjust before the series starts. Like that doesn't happen very often. So I wonder if maybe they decide to go back to the starting lineup that they've had and see if they can kind of bang with the Pacers a little bit inside because they crushed them in the first half on the offensive glass. Obviously you're not going to force 19 turnovers in a half again, if you're. If you're. You're okc. But you can maybe beat him up on the glass a little bit. And that helps for the possession battle. That helps for the shot attempt battle. I think OKC ended up taking, like, 20 more shots than the Pacers. You should win that game if you play well offensively. But this is the recipe for the Pacers. Keep it close, and we've got the utmost confidence that our guy's going to get it done. And he did it once again. Did not have a celebration, though, in his back pocket. We were talking about it on the show. There's not necessarily one totally associated.

Sports Commentator 1 (22:36)

It's not like the Thunder celebration. Like, what is he gonna do, just yell? He's just come stomping down like Westbrook.

Sports Commentator 2 (22:41)

Or. Okay, maybe he could stomp like Westbrook.

Sports Commentator 1 (22:44)

Yeah. I mean, KD really had, like, a good.

Sports Commentator 2 (22:47)

Nah, he didn't have a notable thing, for sure.

Sports Commentator 1 (22:49)

Yeah. I mean, he just hit a shrug like he's at the free throw line. I don't know. Like, there's nothing he could really do.

Sports Commentator 2 (22:53)

You're right. All right, so game stolen. Absolutely. For the Pacers. Do you. What'd you say? I think you maybe said Thunder and six.

Sports Commentator 1 (23:01)

I did say Thunder and six.

Sports Commentator 2 (23:02)

Thunder and six. You still feel like that's a possibility? Yeah, I do. Look, man, they can win on the road as well, just as.

Sports Commentator 1 (23:11)

No. Yeah. 100.

Sports Commentator 2 (23:11)

Just as well as the Pacers can.

Sports Commentator 1 (23:13)

I just think. I mean, I'm still confident in the Thunder taking it, like, just the way that they've played, but the Pacers are so surprising all the time. And, like, literally, they just did it again.

Sports Commentator 2 (23:21)

Like, they did it again.

Sports Commentator 1 (23:22)

We've said that 50 times in this podcast. Yeah, like, what are the Pacers really capable of? Like, honestly, like, are they going to just win the chip? You know? Like.

Sports Commentator 2 (23:33)

Well, I don't think they're ever going to have a bad shooting night. It feels like they're not going to have a bad shooting night. I mean, they got blown out in Game 5 against the Knicks in the conference finals, so they can. And who knows? Like, I was actually kind of hoping Shaq was going to wander over, because I was thinking, this isn't totally dissimilar to 2001 finals. Right? Allen Iverson stole a game on the road. It ended up being a win for the Lakers long term. I think they even won that series four one. That was their loss of the thing. Right. So definitely the favorite team can bounce back and do it. But the Pacers know they're gonna get shots. They've been shooting well for two months straight in the playoffs. They don't have any hesitation going ten guys deep. They were playing Thomas the target, Brian out there for no reason and it didn't matter. He made a three. He made a three quarter right, like making up for it. So I don't know, the series feels even more alive than it did before tonight.

Sports Commentator 1 (24:25)

Exactly. Everybody was really doubting the Pacer. So the buzz in here was they have to still win tonight.

Sports Commentator 2 (24:31)

They have to still get a tonight.

Sports Commentator 1 (24:32)

Tonight was a game seven must win. But it's game one.

Sports Commentator 2 (24:37)

Yeah, it's the odd must win game one. And the Pacers did it. It feels like they've won every must win game they have. It would have been awesome to eliminate the Knicks in game five for sure. But they knew they had game six waiting for him back home. Took care of business in that one. We shall see. Sunday game two. Game two should be awesome. I mean that turns into a must win for the Thunder.

Sports Commentator 1 (24:59)

It definitely does.

Sports Commentator 2 (25:00)

Yeah. So we'll see what they do to bounce back. I know the guys will be on tomorrow at 10am they will have the actual random notes being tapped into the game and seeing what's going down. I would love to hear a straight up Rick Carlisle spit take counter. Like how many did it happen? Because at least, at least twice. So we'll see. We'll see what else they come up with. That'll be 10am tomorrow. We are flying back to Atlanta just right around then. So we're going to miss the show. But I'll be back on Monday. Hopefully we get another classic on Sunday night.

Sports Commentator 1 (25:34)

Yeah, 100%. Can't wait for game two.

Sports Commentator 2 (25:36)

All right, this seemed to have worked. I don't know if anybody's complaining that the stream went out. It doesn't seem like it. You've got the button ready to click that we're going to be saying goodbye. So thanks for joining us, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

Sports Commentator 1 (25:50)

Have a great time. Turn up.

Sports Commentator 2 (25:52)

Love you guys.

Sports Commentator 1 (25:53)

Awesome.

Sports Commentator 2 (25:54)

Thanks for joining us. And remember, it ain't over till it's over. Embrace the night people.

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