OKLAHOMA CITY — Head coach Mark Daigneault and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s epic fourth-quarter collapse against the Indiana Pacers cost them Game 1 of the NBA Finals. After surrendering a 15-point lead in the final frame, the Thunder unintentionally set the stage for Tyrese Haliburton. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams missed shots on back-to-back possessions, clinging to a one-point lead. Then, Haliburton drained a game-winning shot.
Outside of Haliburton draining the biggest shot of his career, topping the Pacers’ elite three-point shooting in the fourth quarter, Daigneault’s approach in his first NBA Finals jarred with the realism of its setting. For the first time this postseason, he strayed from double-big, electing to start Cason Wallace over starting center Isaiah Hartenstein. However, that’s not where things went awry for Oklahoma City.
LATE-GAME HALIBURTON DOES IT AGAIN… Thunder fans STUNNED at the Paycom Center. Wow. Pacers take a 111-110 lead with 0.3 seconds left on the clock pic.twitter.com/Zygjp0w5uA
— Josue Pavón (@Joe_Sway) June 6, 2025
Daigneault made some questionable decisions in Game 1, but his starting lineup wasn’t one of them. The starters planted the seed that eventually flowered into a 15-point advantage in the fourth quarter. Its elite defense held the Pacers to 20 first-quarter points. Stacked 18 turnovers before taking a 12-point lead into halftime. The Thunder’s advantage slid to 11 at the start of the fourth quarter, where Daigneault never featured his double-big lineup.
He also didn’t bat an eye when Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle made wholesome changes, inserting Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, T.J. McConnell, Obi Toppin, and Myles Turner at the 9:42 mark. Nembhard’s three-point play trimmed the Pacers’ deficit to a dozen before Toppin and Turner connected on back-to-back threes. This triggered Daigneault to bring Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren back in for Hartenstein and Aaron Wiggins.
But this lineup couldn’t deter the Pacers’ offense from connecting on 6-of-10 from deep, while the Thunder went 6-for-17, including 0-for-5 from three in the fourth quarter.
Mark Daigneault’s fourth-quarter decisions in Thunder’s loss
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault’s course correction, or lack thereof, in the fourth quarter of Game 1’s 101-100 loss to the Pacers was a catalyst for his team blowing a 15-point lead; however, the rest of the blame falls on the players. Add the Thunder to the list of teams, such as the Bucks, Cavs, and Knicks, where poor fourth-quarter execution cost them a postseason win against the Pacers.
A game-ending 12-3 Pacers run, fueled by back-to-back threes from Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard, closed out a one-point win in Game 1. It’ll be interesting to see how Daigneault approaches Game 2, considering the vast changes he made in the Finals opener kept the Pacers at bay for 47 of 48 minutes.
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