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- [00:00]
Ryan Seacrest
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Shakia Taylor
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That ought to be respected, 90s prices on boxes Mac and cheese and 90s.
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S. Baraheny
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Shakia Taylor
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- [02:01]
Dave DeFour
Foreign Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for June 20, 2025. I am Dave Defour here with S. Baraheny. Coming up, we're getting a game seven. The Pacers blew out the Thunder in game six in Indy. We've got Shakia Taylor on the ground in Indy to talk about it. Good morning everybody. Especially Indiana Pacers forcing a Game 7. Game 7. The basketball world.
- [02:39]
S. Baraheny
The basketball world. Honestly, you know, oh my God, this.
- [02:42]
Dave DeFour
Is the finals that just keeps on giving. Not the greatest game if you're a Thunder fan especially. And I mean it was a blowout look, it was a 30 point game heading into the fourth quarter, and that was then. We got into garbage time. Everything went the Pacers way, as you couldn't have drawn it up better. And I think we start with Tyrese Halliburton, who was questionable to even play. We got reporting during the day that he would have missed multiple weeks maybe if this was the regular season. He looked amazing.
- [03:16]
S. Baraheny
Looks pretty good for that.
- [03:17]
Dave DeFour
Yeah, I wish that my calf tear had worked the same way. Like, I mean, what kind of treatment were they doing to this guy? I will.
- [03:24]
S. Baraheny
You know what I will say. And a friend of mine actually texted me this, which I thought was intriguing. Halliburton doesn't necessarily need to like explode off that calf often, you know.
- [03:35]
Dave DeFour
Okay, that's easy to say until you have a sore calf. I mean, it's fair. I mean, it's hard to do a lot of stuff, but I mean, he looks great from the jump. Apparently he looked good in warmups. You know, we had heard. And so, I mean, he looked amazing in the game, was able to impact the game early. He was super aggressive to start. I mean, the Pacers th. This was actually their. Their game plan, I felt s was to be aggressive, try to put the Thunder into this math problem by shooting a ton of three threes. They hit enough early that it. That it really worked out. I actually think the first quarter they probably should have had a bigger lead than they did. They were only up three going into that second quarter, but man, everything was going right for them.
- [04:14]
S. Baraheny
Well, honestly, they. They were only up three because they started the game 0 for 8. And me and you texted back and forth and we're like, Indy's kind of getting good shots. Like, these are good looks. They're going to fall. And eventually they started to drop. You talk about the. The pressure that Indy was applying defensively. I think that's what dictated this game. 21 turnovers for OKC. That is the second time in 104 games for them that they have turned the ball over 20 or more times. That's just nuts in the sense that Indy ball pressure nem hard. TJ McConnell, even Halliburton, Pascal Siakam was incredible tonight on J Dub. Those guys were forcing tons of turnovers. Indy got out and running and the math battle, like Indiana ended up shooting 18 more shots. They made seven more threes. The turnovers were obviously part of the equation there. They dominated the math battle. It wasn't even close.
- [05:15]
Dave DeFour
Yeah, and a few of those threes from. From the Thunder, again, we're in garbage time. I mean, this game was. Yeah, the, the competitive portion was not close at all. You mentioned Pascal Siakam. This guy continues to just do everything for the pacers.
- [05:29]
S. Baraheny
My goodness.
- [05:30]
Dave DeFour
16 had five offensive rebounds. 13.
- [05:33]
S. Baraheny
Can we talk about the possessed thing for a second here? That was incredible to start the game. The pregame warmups, right? You look at them and Pascal has the undertaker eyes rolling in the back of his head type of thing. You're like, oh, man, he is ready, locked and loaded for this game six. They needed him. They needed exactly the type of player that he. I mean, look, I mean, he punched.
- [05:56]
Dave DeFour
This win through, in my opinion, with the, his finishing sequence of the first half. You know, he. He has that huge dunk off the Halliburton steel, which was also an incredible play by Halliburton in the open court to keep the ball inbounds, keep himself in bounds and throw the pass and still think to do the look away after he makes the pass, which I just appreciate quite a bit. You know, Pascal has this huge dunk there and then he hits the buzzer beater fade away heading into to the halftime. That I think that ended the game, right? Yeah, his dunk and then that shot into the game. But his defense the entire series has been excellent. His offense obviously has been extremely consistent. And I loved that when the, when the Pacers couldn't find offense, they got him the ball early in a post up. They were looking to cross match, especially when Casen Wallace was out there. They were looking to go at him both with, with Siakam and Turner. This was, this is a little bit of a change for them, but obviously like they were just clicking on all cylinders from the jump.
- [06:58]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, they were clicking on all cylinders. And the, the credit you bring up to Pascal Siakam, I thought early in that first quarter, Jalen Williams was getting downhill very easily. The drives were there, as they have been in game four and game five. And guess what happened? Siakam switched on to Jalen Williams and that driving angle was no longer there. The, the getting downhill consistently was no longer there. We talked about paint touches and how important those are throughout these series. I mean, TJ McConnell was getting Will, Andrew Nemhard was getting to the paint at will. Pascal through the probing way that he gets into the post, got paint touches, and Indiana was able to churn their offense that way, generate tons of threes, win that math battle. And a lot of it does have to do with Pascal Siakam locking up on the defensive end. I've mentioned this stat a Million times on social media. But it's worth noting the Pacers in the regular season were 11 points better on defense when Pascal Siakam was on the floor. That ranked in the 99th percentile in the entire NBA. The impact from a team last season that conceded 150 points four times in the regular season to what they are now, which is a top 10 defense pushing a 68 win team to the brink, that is, in my opinion, what Pascal Siakam has impacted.
- [08:18]
Dave DeFour
Yeah, I mean, listen, we'll do. We'll save this for the summer, but the most underrated conversation. I think Pascal Siakam is probably pretty high up there. Although after this series, I think people are starting to realize it. The Pacers bench again. Amazing. The McConnell 20 points out of Obi Toppin, and you get 12 out of T.J. mcConnell with nine rebounds, six assists, four steals. Yeah, T.J. mcConnell there. I think there's a world where T.J. mcConnell gets, like, a Finals MVP vote. He might.
- [08:49]
S. Baraheny
He really might do it, Dave. It's incredible. Oh, man.
- [08:53]
Dave DeFour
I. I will say, way Tyrese Halberton called him the. The Great White Hope. That's what the Pacers call him.
- [09:00]
S. Baraheny
So you're gonna go ahead and call.
- [09:01]
Dave DeFour
I'm gonna go ahead and do it. I mean, listen, it's funny to see it, because if you think about his role coming off the bench, it's kind of what he kind of. Is that right? Come on, make something happen. Go out there and do it. And he does it every single time. You know, he got another one of his backcourt steals in this game, and it turns into a Halberton 3. I mean, it's just.
- [09:19]
S. Baraheny
Yeah.
- [09:20]
Dave DeFour
You just cannot be lazy for a second.
- [09:23]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna give you credit here, because we potted for two days in a row, and we talked about, hey, does T.J. mcConnell have it in him to step up when Halliburton is not ready? And you said, you know, they kind of need him in spurts.
- [09:38]
Dave DeFour
Right.
- [09:38]
S. Baraheny
And he gave them those spurts. He only played 24 minutes, but he was plus 10 in those minutes. And he was a firecracker through eight minutes of that game where he stepped in and just took over.
- [09:50]
Dave DeFour
Right.
- [09:50]
S. Baraheny
I believe after like, nine minutes, he was. He was in there for nine minutes. He had eight points, two rebounds, three assists, three steals. That's the type of stuff that TJ McConnell does. And I'm left here like Jesse Pinkman and Breaking Bad saying, how does he keep getting away with this? Because I just don't understand. It would drive me mad if I was a Thunder fan. Seeing him constantly get paint touches, constantly get into the basket, like near the rim and get those little mid range jump shots that he's been able to get off. It's incredible to watch.
- [10:22]
Dave DeFour
It genuinely is like, yeah, I wonder, like, you know, you play against a lefty right, and it throws you off. I wonder if there's a little bit of the herky jerkiness to his game and it throws these guys off and he is smaller and he does kind of have to find different ways. I mean, Chris Paul did some unique things too that I think made him pretty hard to guard just from being small. But it's got to feel bad when you're getting bullied by the smallest guy on the court. I mean, it. And he did that.
- [10:49]
S. Baraheny
You just compared T.J. mcConnell to Chris Paul. I'm just saying, I'm just putting.
- [10:53]
Dave DeFour
I mean, listen, small guards, you know, there's not that many of them for a reason, right? Like, there's got to be some craft and some kind of trick, you know, to be successful. And, and for him, a lot of it is that energy, you know, it's coming out, going full blast, you know, running full sprints every single time, looking for steals in the backcourt. But when he doesn't get him, he always gets back. You know, he's never getting his man is never blowing past him in transition. Actually, matter of fact, I thought he did a really good job when he was guarding Shea Gilders Alexander in this game of just, yeah, putting a body on him all the time, forcing him into tougher looks, you know, even staying attached like on the backside and making Shay kind of keep him in jail, which bothered a lot of Shay's shots. I mean, I guess this is the goodest time at any to talk about what went wrong for the Thunder. Yeah, the biggest one you mentioned it, it's all the turnovers. It's not like them. They're used to winning the, the points off turnover battle. And you know, for them to just outright lose the possession battle is also pretty rare. I mean, obviously this is stuff that they can clean up, you know, in the next game. This is not some sort of structural flaw that, that the Pacers have found, but it is, I think, a little bit distressing to see them blow this game where it felt like they had so much momentum and they had a chance to close this out.
- [12:13]
S. Baraheny
OKC's offense felt a little predictable in this game, whereas on Indiana side, they're coming from basically everywhere. And you don't know. There's so much unpredictability to what they do. Rick Carlisle has talked about like random basketball, and they are heightened random basketball. Whereas OKC is like, okay, we know they're trying to get a high post isolation for sga. We know they're trying to get Jalen Williams downhill with a guard screening for him. It's basically at this point in the series, you're seven games and you know exactly what OKC wants to do. And I think Indiana did an incredible job of like doubling down on what OKC needs from their offensive players. You look at the turnover battle, Jalen Williams had three turnovers. I'm looking at SGA though, eight turnovers in this game. And look, he's the mvp, but he is not void of criticism. He. This was a bad game from him in terms of turning the ball over. Indiana did a great job of, of trapping him whenever he caught it in that post area. And he just wasn't able to make any plays out of it.
- [13:18]
Dave DeFour
Like they were jumping those passing lanes.
- [13:20]
S. Baraheny
Incredible. And Nemhard was awesome in that too, in terms of like just closing the gap on that. The other question there is like, cool, is it on them to do that or is it the shot making from the rest of the group? Because they didn't get anything from anybody else. I mean, well, you're not Homer.
- [13:35]
Dave DeFour
Who else? Right? I would say this part of this is, you know, early on in this game, Shea and. And J Dub, you see them attacking the basket. They're. They're driving to the basket. They're. They're making good things happen. Especially Jalen Williams early on in the game. It looks just like game four for him. Hot knife through butter. He was able to get there, especially rejecting screen. So going away from the screen and driving. The Pacers were having a hard time catching up. The, the difference is in the two offenses, OKC generated no looks from three that were any good. No corner threes generated through most of the game. Not a lot of quality, any in the garbage time happened because, you know, who cares about that? But they just, they don't generate any of these easy looks for these role players. They're winding up with some grenades. I mean, we all know at this point what a Lou Dort moon ball looks like. And we see a few of those, you know, late shot clock especially. And if Chad's not going to stretch the floor and not going to be aggressive, you know, like, again, I mean, he takes three threes, he's two of nine from the field. I mean, this is a rough game for him. So if he, if they're not going to get that sort of production out of their third best player, they're going to have a tough time regardless. Because now all of a sudden the defense only has to worry about two guys. I mean, I was actually surprised the Pacers didn't zone up early.
- [14:53]
S. Baraheny
Yeah.
- [14:54]
Dave DeFour
And force the, the rest of the Thunder actually start making shots. I mean, I think that maybe for Game 7, that's something that the Pacers now have in their back pocket because they pull out that zone. You know, I don't know about that.
- [15:06]
S. Baraheny
To be honest with you, because at home, OKC has been a very different team.
- [15:11]
Dave DeFour
Yeah.
- [15:12]
S. Baraheny
At home, in the finals, they've made 39 threes on the road. In the finals, they've made 21 threes. That is a huge difference. And they obviously had that one game where they only knocked down three threes. But like, that is a huge difference in terms of the role players knocking down their shots. The Carusos, the Aaron Wiggins of the world, the case and Wallace's of the world. Those guys being timely with their three point shooting was, was such a massive swing in game five that I, I think kind of went under. It wasn't noticed as much as the J Dub game or the SJ game.
- [15:43]
Dave DeFour
Right.
- [15:44]
S. Baraheny
Okc's role players probably will play better in game seven.
- [15:47]
Dave DeFour
Yeah, that's.
- [15:48]
S. Baraheny
That's the assumption you have to make.
- [15:49]
Dave DeFour
Yes. This is their worst game, maybe the playoffs. Yeah. I mean, Alex Caruso minus 33 in his minutes over two from the field. So not the aggressive Alex Caruso even that we've seen in the series, who's really been a key player for them. You know, part of this, this has been that the OKC bench and that the Pacers bench like this started him.
- [16:12]
S. Baraheny
In the second half. Right.
- [16:13]
Dave DeFour
Yeah. So, I mean, I stuff. There's stuff to watch. I mean, again, I, I think we have to like consider how off we were about the Pacers going into game six. If you had told me that Tyrese Halliburton was going to look this good in game six, I would not have written them off the way that I did. But after watching him in game five, especially in that second half where listless is what I would call him like, and obviously he was hurt, but just ineffective completely. I'm astounded by the way he looked in game six.
- [16:49]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, well, especially with the reporting that we had before the game of he might miss like, if this was the regular season. He's missing multiple weeks and he's going to give it a go. And you know, he said he would, he would hate himself if he wasn't able to play in this game. Like all of that made you think this was probably going to be a bad Halliburton game. But he, he made clutch shots, he was moving the ball in transition. He actually looked pretty good when he.
- [17:12]
Dave DeFour
Was running with ball defensive plays. I mean, he did everything. He, he had an incredible game. I mean, just incredible game. So I think we have to follow Zena's lead and apologize because we, we.
- [17:26]
S. Baraheny
Both said OKC and 6. We are officially wrong. This is, this is an all time series. This is an playoff run. And by the way, as basketball fans, we deserve a Game 7 in the NBA Finals because this postseason has been incredible. The playoffs, the timely moments, the clutch shots from the Pacers and Halliburton doing his thing, all of that is amounting to this right here, which is a win and you win a championship type of game, that's exactly what we need from the sport. Do you want some game 7 final stats? Do you want any of that?
- [18:00]
Dave DeFour
I actually would love to hear some. Number one is the first game seven since.
- [18:04]
S. Baraheny
Yes.
- [18:04]
Dave DeFour
2016 when the Cavs came back from three one against the 73 win Warriors. Yep. Yep. Been a long time.
- [18:11]
S. Baraheny
So this will be the 20th game seven in the NBA Finals. Home teams are 15 and four in the game sevens of finals. The only four teams that, you know, lost or won on the Road 90. The 1969 Lakers to the Celtics, the 74 Bucks to the Celtics, the 78 Sonics to the Bullets. And then obviously in 27 2016, the warriors to the Cavs.
- [18:39]
Dave DeFour
Once in my lifetime as a home team lost to game seven. Oh, man.
- [18:47]
S. Baraheny
So, I mean, do you.
- [18:48]
Dave DeFour
I think I gotta make us. We gotta. We have to pick. Yeah, we do have to pick.
- [18:52]
S. Baraheny
Yeah.
- [18:52]
Dave DeFour
So how do you feel, man? Prisoner of the moment. That's how I feel, honestly. And I've felt like this, this entire series. Number one. It's a closer series than we would have expected a couple months ago.
- [19:05]
S. Baraheny
Yeah.
- [19:05]
Dave DeFour
And with every swing in this series, I feel like the team that has the momentum can win it. That. I mean, it's. It's been a lot of fun to. To watch. Yeah. You know, again, I, I'm going. My brain says Oklahoma City doesn't lose two in a row. They don't really lose at home. The. All the other historical numbers back this up. You know, they should win, man. Doesn't it Kind of feel like they are destined. They feel like Pacers are this game of destiny. I just. Pacers. I think the Pacers might do it.
- [19:41]
S. Baraheny
At this point. You have to throw out any. Actually, I feel like calling them the team of destiny somehow discredits how incredible they've been. You know, they have been such a great basketball team and there's a reason that they're making all of these comebacks and winning these games. They spit in the face of the win probability gods. You know, they are just like there's. We don't care if you say we have a 0.03% chance of winning this game. Halliburton game winner, we're getting a Halliburton game winner. So, you know, my brain does tell me okc68 win team, best defense I've ever seen in my lifetime, they should win this game. But then my brain is also telling me the Pacers are the team of destiny and we just saw them defy.
- [20:26]
Dave DeFour
Odds multiple times winning the ones that they're not supposed to.
- [20:30]
S. Baraheny
Yeah.
- [20:31]
Dave DeFour
So why not supposed to win the game seven. I. Yeah, I'm going with the Pacers.
- [20:35]
S. Baraheny
Wow.
- [20:36]
Dave DeFour
Wow. I'm going.
- [20:37]
S. Baraheny
I like the pick. I think my thing is this is exactly the same script as the Thunder Nuggets series.
- [20:45]
Dave DeFour
Exactly.
- [20:45]
S. Baraheny
Almost to the type of games that we've gotten in each game. So I think it'll be the same in game seven. I think OKC will have that growing up moment, especially in that crowd in Oklahoma. We've both heard how loud that is. I think that'll be the difference maker. I'm a stick with okc.
- [21:03]
Dave DeFour
All right, well guys, stick around. After the break we have Shakia Taylor. For more on the Pacers improbable game six win.
- [21:16]
Ryan Seacrest
This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apply for Apple Card today and start earning up to 3% daily cash back on everyday purchases. And that daily cash can even grow automatically when you open a high yield savings account through Apple Card. What are you waiting for? Visit Apple Co CardCalculator today to see how much daily cash you can earn. Subject to credit approval. Savings available to Apple Card owners, subject to eligibility. Savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA member FDIC terms and more at Apple Card. At my house, I've got three growing boys. I've got a teenager, a preteen six year old that all just need good food. They need good, high quality, the best food to just fuel your body because they literally never stop. They never stop moving. And so I need high quality protein without all that junk. And I found this with Butcherbox. Butcherbox delivers better meat and seafood straight to your door, including 100% grass fed beef, free range organic chicken, pork raised, crate free and wild caught seafood. All Butcherbox proteins are sourced from partners who meet strict animal welfare and sustainability standards. That means no antibiotics or added hormones ever. Whether you're feeding a growing family like me or trying to eat clean without the stress, Butcherbox offers curated or fully customizable plans that fit your schedule and your preferences. Here in my house we're eating a lot of chicken and a lot of times the chicken that we will get at like the supermarket is just not very good. There's not a lot of flavor to it. But with Butcherbox it is really hit the spot every single time. It's something that I know that all of my kids will eat and I know that I'm putting good food in their bodies, which is really, really important. Important to me. And as a certified B Corp, Butcherbox is committed to high standards from how the animals are raised to how their team supports workers and reduces environmental impact. Plus, every box ships free always and includes member only perks like recipe inspirations, tips and exclusive deals to help you make the most of every meal. Right now, Butcherbox is offering listeners $20 off their first box of protein for a year. Go to butcherbox.com athleticnba to get this limited time offer and free shipping always. That's ButcherBox.com AthleticNBA don't forget to use our link so they know that we sent you.
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- [24:35]
Dave DeFour
Joining us from Indianapolis and heading back to Oklahoma City, the Athletics Shakia Taylor, who's been covering the Indiana Pacers for us for the last couple months. Shakia, I feel like you're either you're either cursed or you're a good luck charm for the Indiana Pacers because they just will not lose with you around. The big story coming into this game, like we didn't even know if Tyrese Halliburton was going to be able to play with that strained calf. You watched him practice a couple days ago. You watched him and shoot around. Did you. Did you think he was going to look this good in this game?
- [25:13]
Shakia Taylor
I don't know that I thought he was going to look this good, but I knew he was going to play. I had no doubt in my mind that Tyrese Halliburton was going to step on that court. I think if he doesn't, the morale of his team looks completely different. And I'm pretty positive he knew that. This is a guy who said, right, as long as I can walk, I'm gonna play. He is the teammate of a guy who said, I would die for this. Aaron Neesmith. So I think just based on that sort of team culture, there was no question for me that he was going to play.
- [25:54]
Dave DeFour
I mean, he played a bunch injured last year. Right. I mean, we probably even hammered him a little bit because he looked. Look diminished at times when he had that hamstring and that led to a back thing. I mean, the guy has been a gamer.
- [26:07]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, he has been. I can't help but that kind of Persona, that energy that this Pacers team brings. You know who I can't help but think of? T.J. mcConnell. Because the way that he just brings that energy on the court and, you know, I imagine it's. It's very, very much so like that in the locker room, too. Have to ask you about TJ Being a leader for that team and just what you've seen while covering this pacers team from TJ McConnell.
- [26:35]
Shakia Taylor
What I think about when we talk about TJ is the energy changes in Gamebridge. Every time he steps on the court. He gets on the court, he slaps it with two hands. That's his routine. And the crowd goes nuts. You would think that TJ McConnell was a starter. The way the energy in Gamebridge just sort of like increases to, I don't know, the moon. Almost like they were on their feet. They chant his name. Like, when have you seen a guy come off the bench to tj? TJ like, he is a spark plug.
- [27:15]
S. Baraheny
Yeah, he's.
- [27:17]
Shakia Taylor
He's a spark plug. He's a. He's a real motor for the team. You know, I think, like, his presence gets people going. They also believe in tj. Right. TJ has been on this team for a while. He's been with Miles Turner for a good bit of time. And I don't know, like, I feel like if. If I were on a team, I'd want a guy like TJ To.
- [27:41]
Dave DeFour
To.
- [27:42]
Shakia Taylor
To ride for me too, because TJ is going to dive all over the court. He. He. He's going to get on the biggest player on the other team. He doesn't care. He's pesky. And I say that constantly, but I mean it in the best way possible.
- [27:56]
Dave DeFour
Yeah, yeah.
- [27:57]
Shakia Taylor
We.
- [27:57]
Dave DeFour
We've kind of went through all the superlatives for. For TJ the other day, but Tyrese Halliburton hit us with his nickname. Apparently they call him the Great White Hope. And it. Listen, it's funny because it also fits his role, right? Like, when he comes off the bench, I mean, there's a lot of energy behind that. There's a lot of hope probably that he's gonna go out there and do something. I know, like, coming into the series, I had no expectations that he was going to be able to contribute in the way that he has. The guy just continues to turn up the. The guy who stood out to me and who's stood out to me this entire series. Pascal Siakam. But before the game, you know, he's s. Has got this great video of him channeling the Undertaker, you know, as they're trying to come back in this series.
- [28:44]
S. Baraheny
Shaquille, why did nobody ask him post game about the eyes?
- [28:48]
Dave DeFour
Did.
- [28:49]
S. Baraheny
I haven't seen a quote yet.
- [28:51]
Shakia Taylor
So the thing with the eyes is he does it all the time. I think it was only new to people who just, you know what I mean? Just started tuning in, but he does it all the time. I was actually sitting next to one of the Pacers team photographers for the first part of the game, and he pointed it out. He's like, people are going nuts about this, but he does this all the time. It's. What it is is they caught him at a moment where he was rolling his eyes back.
- [29:21]
S. Baraheny
I don't know, man. It was like five seconds. Like, that was embarrassing. Eye roll.
- [29:26]
Shakia Taylor
He apparently does it, you know, during, like, you know, the pre game situation on the court. And they just caught him. They just caught him on camera.
- [29:37]
S. Baraheny
Wow.
- [29:38]
Shakia Taylor
I saw a few tweets, you know, where they were saying it was a. He did a sacrifice.
- [29:47]
Dave DeFour
Right? Like, that's kind of what he at least baptized the. The thunder with that dunk and turn around, right? Like the turnaround buzzer beater. So definitely there was something spiritual happening on the court. I mean, they. They keep saying everywhere else it's just basketball, right? Like, but apparently in Indiana, there's some other stuff.
- [30:05]
Shakia Taylor
Spiritual experience.
- [30:08]
Dave DeFour
Okay, so let's talk about belief then, because I Want to know, Shakia? Like, did you believe that they were going to win game six? That, like, if Tyrese was going to play, did you feel like they were going to win? Because we did.
- [30:19]
Shakia Taylor
Not really.
- [30:21]
Dave DeFour
No. Yeah, we thought he was bad in game five. Second half of game five, he looked so rough.
- [30:29]
Shakia Taylor
What I've come to expect from the Pacers is you can expect anything other than the unexpected. Right? Like, this is a team that they never quit. They never quit, no matter what. You know, they lost back to back games for the first time since March. I had no question they were going to at least come out and try, Right. I didn't know how hard they were going to try. I didn't know they were going to try. You know, putting them in the ground 30 points pretty early. But, like, they came out and they. They showed. Why you cannot count them out. Like, I've called them the Cardiac kids. I've talked about how, like, you know, the performers, their, like, cheer squad is called the Pacemates. Maybe the Pacers are the Pacemates. Right?
- [31:20]
Dave DeFour
Like, because I need a pacemaker when I'm watching the games most of the time. Right?
- [31:24]
Shakia Taylor
Yeah, yeah. Like, this is. They. They just don't quit. I jokingly. And I'm going to age myself here. I refer to them as Bebe's kids. I don't know if you all remember that at all, but there was like a. You know, we don't die. We multiply.
- [31:39]
Dave DeFour
Oh, right.
- [31:40]
S. Baraheny
Yeah. Okay. Okay.
- [31:40]
Shakia Taylor
I got you.
- [31:41]
Dave DeFour
Yeah.
- [31:41]
Shakia Taylor
So that is. That's the Pacers in a nutshell. They. They are going to come back. They're going to fight hard. They. I mean, they just won't go away. They. They won't go away. You cannot turn your back on them. It's like this. I've been with this team since March. Whenever I call myself, getting a head start on my story, the Pacers do something where I have to delete 500 words. So I've gotten in the habit of just. Just not. Yeah, Just not. You got to just write along for the ride.
- [32:13]
S. Baraheny
All right, well, look, we. We had to eat our words today because we both said, okay, C and 6. How do you feel about Game 7? And also a side note here, you've seen an OKC crowd and how loud it gets. You've obviously seen an Indiana crowd and how loud it gets. Which one is louder?
- [32:32]
Shakia Taylor
Definitely okc.
- [32:33]
S. Baraheny
Wow. Okay.
- [32:34]
Shakia Taylor
Definitely okc. Okay, now that's. That's no disrespect to the gamebridge crowd, because the gamebridge crowd, they have Been bringing it. They have. They. They were on their feet all night tonight. Yeah, right. They were. They were chanting. They were. They were doing their thing. They knew what their role was in motivating their guys to win. Right. And Indiana is a very prideful state about basketball. And I think the fans, just as much as the players were like, you're not going to celebrate on our court. Right?
- [33:04]
S. Baraheny
Yeah.
- [33:05]
Shakia Taylor
But okc, they got a little. They got a little something extra. And I don't know if it's those little things that they have in their hands during the games where they're smacking them on their hands. I think that. And I think there's just a different kind of energy. I think the shape of the arena even contributes to the way the sound sort of carries. Like, gamebridge is big and airy. Right. And Paycom. Yeah, I get the Paycom. Paycore. Paycom has like a more of a. Where the sound just kind of envelops you. It just kind of surrounds you. I talked about how in okc, I could feel. Feel the sound, like, kind of vibrating in my body. And you have to learn to tune it out. At Cambridge, it's a little more airy. So, like, it's loud, but it doesn't rock you. It doesn't. It doesn't make me feel like I can't focus and I can still hear the whistle.
- [34:02]
Dave DeFour
Yeah. Okay. See, I felt it thumping in my chest. Okay, before we go.
- [34:06]
Shakia Taylor
Yeah.
- [34:07]
Dave DeFour
Game seven, I need a pick from you. Chiakiya, Are you going to be covering a parade in Indianapolis next week or is OKC going to. Going to do this thing?
- [34:18]
Shakia Taylor
Well, I can tell you I will be wearing my moisture wicking apparel on Sunday night. So there we go. Okay. All right.
- [34:28]
S. Baraheny
All right. Okay. So you. Exactly.
- [34:32]
Dave DeFour
All right. Get some goggles. Okay. Like your glass. You've got the glasses that are. That are big. That'll cover up some, but you need the goggles. You don't want.
- [34:40]
Shakia Taylor
I feel like you're kind of making me look kind of nerdy. Would you.
- [34:42]
Dave DeFour
With you doing, you are making the.
- [34:45]
Shakia Taylor
Glasses way too easy.
- [34:47]
Dave DeFour
Very nice glasses, I'm sure. You know, like, you should see mine. They look like someone gave them to me for free. Anyway, thank you, Shakia, for hanging out. That's going to do it for the show. Thank you to Shakia Taylor. Guys, go and read her over at the Athletics. She's been doing a great job covering the Pacers, the story that you just wrote about Miles Turner and I mean, this guy has been there forever. It was a really great story about what he means to Indianapolis. I enjoyed that quite a bit. For EsperaHenney, I'm Dave DeFore and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.
- [35:42]
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