NBA Stating 5, June 20
words in sports: Game 7.
(8 ET, ABC).
June 20, 2025
Facing elimination for the first time this Playoffs, Indy was at its best
A historic night from the Pacers’ historic bench – in the biggest of moments
Thunder & Pacers will add their names to NBA lore on Sunday
“This is the loudest I’ve ever heard Gainbridge”
From role player to Finals hero – Paxson’s shot from his perspective
The two best words in sports…
the 2025 NBA Finals comes down to one final showdown – Game 7 on Sunday in OKC (8 ET, ABC). Will the Pacers cap off a storybook run, or will the Thunder stamp a historic season at home?
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the Pacers’ 2025 postseason run.
that no lead is safe in any game when the team representing Indiana is on the court.
back from 15+ points down to win games in each series, they have never had to rally to win a series.
Thursday’s Game 6 down 3-2 – facing elimination for the first time this postseason.
this type of comeback in them?
as the Pacers put together their best game of the Finals to force a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday in Oklahoma City.
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Obi Toppin led six Pacers in double figures with 20 points off the bench as Indiana used a full-team effort to race past the Thunder in front of a raucous Gainbridge Fieldhouse, hosting its final game of the season. | Recap
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like Thursday night, the team looking to close must overcome the desperation that a team exerts when their season is on the line.
and grit of a team fighting to play another day, they did so without playing recklessly. No single player tried to do too much. Instead, they collectively willed themselves to a Game 7.
the Pacers forced the 20th Game 7 in NBA Finals history – and the first since 2016 – as they look to make history on the road.
behind Indy’s season-saving victory:
McConnell gets a steal in the backcourt and finds Toppin for his second 3 in a span of 40 seconds, putting the Pacers up six with 4:56 left in the 1st quarter.
After shooting 1-of-11 from deep in Games 4 & 5 combined, Tyrese splashed three 3s in the 1st half, including this stepback for his first bucket from the left half of the court in this entire series.
Haliburton got the steal on defense, tip-toed the sideline before finding a streaking Pascal Siakam with a lookaway dime. Siakam caught it in stride and rose up for a poster dunk to put Indy up 20 with 40 seconds left in the 1st half.
After igniting the home crowd with his hammer dunk just 40 seconds earlier, Siakam showed some finesse with a fadeaway jumper that dropped through the net at the 1st half buzzer to put Indy up 22.
. After hitting a 3 with 33 seconds left in the 3rd, Toppin went for another with 4 seconds left. His shot missed, but Andrew Nembhard batted the rebound to Ben Sheppard, who launched a 27-footer at the buzzer to put Indy up 30 heading to the 4th.
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the Pacers had eight players with 175+ points this postseason – the most ever in a single Playoff run.
– and their star point guard battling through injury – who stepped up for Indy?
Everyone.
missed their first eight field goals of the game. But after falling into a 10-2 hole, they settled in, outscoring OKC 26-15 to take a 3-point lead into the 2nd quarter.
swinging Game 3 with a 2nd-quarter surge, Indy’s ultimate sparkplug electrified the arena again.
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six different Pacers — Siakam (13), Haliburton (12), Nembhard (10), Aaron Nesmith (9), Toppin (8) and McConnell (8) — had 8+ points, a feat unseen in the 1st half of a Finals game in 40 years.
That included historic outings from McConnell (12 pts, 9 reb, 6 ast, 4 stl) and Toppin (20 pts, 4 3s, 6 reb), who came off the bench and brought Gainbridge to life – again.
McConnell and Toppin’s special nights are a byproduct of the Pacers’ special style: unselfish, uptempo and almost impossible to predict.
– and with it, so does the spotlight.
we have preached how important depth is to our success,” said Haliburton postgame. “That’s the thing about the NBA and the Playoffs – you never know when your number is going to be called.”
prepared for that moment.”
in NBA history will be decided in the 20th Game 7 in Finals history.
will enter their names into NBA lore on Sunday in Oklahoma City (8 ET, ABC) with one game to determine which team will hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
has seen Indiana lead 2-1 and OKC lead 3-2, but six games has not been enough to separate them.
my whole life,” said Haliburton. “What happened in the past doesn’t matter. What happened today doesn’t matter. It’s all about one game and approaching that the right way.”
marks the first Game 7 in the NBA Finals since 2016, when Cleveland pulled off the only 3-1 comeback in Finals history to win its first title.
(68-14) gives them the right to host Game 7 of the Finals, which has brought a significant advantage historically.
either the Thunder will complete one of greatest single seasons in NBA history or the Pacers will add a 3-2 comeback to their first championship journey.
you ever dreamed of,” said Shai on Sunday’s stakes. “If you win it, you get everything. If you lose it, you get nothing. It’s that simple.”
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for the first time in 25 years, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle reminded the home crowd of a truth they already knew:
with the Pacers facing elimination, Carlisle addressed the Indy faithful once more:
Indiana’s final home game of the season, Gainbridge Fieldhouse made sure it wasn’t their final game of the year — roaring from start to finish and willing the Pacers toward a Game 7.
inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse also arrived ready to rumble, injecting juice from start to finish – turning Game 6 into a game Indy will never forget.
- Witness Ben Sheppard beat the 3rd-quarter buzzer to put the Pacers up 30 – sending Indy into a frenzy
- tonight,” said Carlisle postgame. “This is the loudest I’ve ever heard Gainbridge.”
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a role player became a Finals legend.
the Bulls – seeking their third straight title and holding a 3-2 series lead – found themselves down one with 14.3 seconds left, looking to avoid a Game 7 in Phoenix.
had scored just nine points in the 4th quarter, all coming from Michael Jordan. So after a timeout, with the ball in their hands, it was no surprise that Coach Phil Jackson drew up a play for MJ.
wasn’t Jordan’s.
– who with just five points on the night – found himself on the receiving end of a five-pass sequence, stepping into a game-deciding 3 with 3.9 ticks left.
Paxson drew nothing but net, giving the Bulls a 99-98 win to seal the first three-peat in NBA history since the Celtics in the late 1960s.
Paxson reflected on the play that etched his name into basketball lore — and what it means to him:
about that play – and it speaks to how we had grown as a team for those three years – is that each guy in a 10 second span touched the basketball on our team…
was inbounded to B.J. (Armstrong) and B.J. gave it back to Michael, who came up and made a pass to Pippen. And Charles Barkley tried to make a steal … so as Pippen caught it and Barkley overcommitted, he makes a direct line toward the basket…
that comes to him. He makes a pass to (Horace) Grant. Danny Ainge, who is guarding me, sinks down to cover the ball there and Horace instinctively throws it back out…
I’m behind the 3-point line open. So in a 10 second span all five players touched the basketball, and they all made the right decision … and it resulted in that shot…
“I always felt like the luckiest guy in the world because I was never an athletic player. My skill fit that group. And I’ve always felt so fortunate to be able to step up at a time when my team needed me..
“That’s the thing I’ll always remember.”
