Can the Thunder Ride Their Momentum While the Pacers Search for Haliburton’s Spark?
It’s Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and things are heating up—not just on the court, but in the headlines. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers are tied at one game apiece, but if you watched closely, you know this series has layers far beyond the box score. Chris Broussard broke it down on The Herd , and I have to say—he raised some valid points. The real question: can the Thunder break away from here, or will Indiana’s ecosystem find a way to adapt?
Let’s start with OKC. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been nothing short of electric. His 72 points across the first two games of the Finals aren’t just impressive—they’re historic. That’s more than Allen Iverson in the first two games of the 2001 Finals. Think about that for a second. SGA is making it look effortless, scoring at will, and forcing Indiana into uncomfortable spots defensively. The Thunder’s suffocating rotations and relentless perimeter pressure have clearly thrown Indiana off balance.
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And then there's Tyrese Haliburton. Man, this is where the conversation gets interesting. Haliburton is not your typical Finals superstar, and that’s exactly what makes him so polarizing right now. He’s not Kobe, not Harden, and definitely not someone you expect to drop 40 a night. He’s a playmaker—someone who elevates everyone around him. But in Game 2? He looked mortal. Just 17 points, five of those coming way too late in the game to matter. He also had six assists, but those were canceled out by five turnovers—his sloppiest performance of this postseason.
Still, it feels a little unfair to throw Haliburton under the bus. The Pacers are not built around individual heroics. This is a team that wins by committee. Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner, and others need to step up just as much. That’s what coach Rick Carlisle emphasized after the loss, reminding everyone that the Pacers are an ecosystem , not a star system. Haliburton doesn’t need to score 30 every night, and frankly, that’s not his role.
But we can’t ignore the numbers. The Pacers are 32-4 this season when Haliburton scores 20+ points, and 27-28 when he doesn’t. It’s a telling stat. The truth is, while he’s not a volume scorer, the team’s success does hinge on his offensive rhythm. If he gets bottled up—like he did in Game 2—it trickles down to everyone else.
Now, back to the Thunder. They’ve shown they can impose their will defensively, rotate relentlessly, and force Haliburton into bad decisions. Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams—they’re giving Haliburton no breathing room. Even his late-game threes are coming off broken plays, not from clean sets. Unless Indiana finds a way to counter that, OKC might very well pull away in this series.
So can the Thunder capitalize and take full control? Absolutely. But don’t count the Pacers out just yet. They’ve been underestimated all postseason. They weren’t supposed to beat the Cavs. They weren’t supposed to take down the Knicks. And they definitely weren’t supposed to steal Game 1.
Haliburton doesn’t need to change who he is—but the Pacers do need to adjust. Quickly. Because if they don’t, the Thunder might fly away with that Larry O'Brien Trophy.
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