The Indiana Pacers were less than 12 minutes away from taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals on Friday night, but that’s when everything fell apart. The Pacers played one of their worst quarters of the entire postseason while the Thunder surged in front, eventually stealing a 111-104 win to even the series at two games apiece.
Indiana seemed to have control of the game in the second half and led 87-80 after three quarters. However, a 31-17 fourth quarter has now ensured that the Pacers will have to win another game on the road in Oklahoma City if it wants to win its first NBA Championship.
After the game, NBA fans took to social media in disbelief that the Pacers let such a golden opportunity slip away.
I’m gonna be physically sick. Can’t believe we pissed away this chance to go into OKC with serious momentum. All time Pacers choke job, gonna be the one that got away pic.twitter.com/y8Hi5tQpHc
— Argumentative Antithetical Hoosier (@jenn_andd_tonic) June 14, 2025
Complete choke job by the Pacers. They played scared in the 4th quarter. They quit attacking offensively and went to all 1 on 1 stuff. Haven’t played that way the whole series. Absolutely a head scratcher.
— Mitchell Speedy (@MitchellSpeedy) June 14, 2025
Pacers 4th quarter collapse pic.twitter.com/Ni7zbNJsPV
— Stacks_TG (@StacksTheGoat4) June 14, 2025
For much of the third quarter, Oklahoma City seemed to be on the ropes. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked worn down, Chet Holmgren was banged up after rolling his ankle in the first half, and the Thunder offense was not clicking and flowing like it had been all season long.
The script flipped in the fourth quarter. Alex Caruso came in off the bench and made a number of massive plays on both ends of the floor to get OKC back in the game. Then, in crunch time, Gilgeous-Alexander got to his spots and hit big shot after big shot to keep the Thunder offense going.
On the other end of the floor, the Indiana offense completely lost its identity. The ball stopped moving, the possessions got stagnant and the Pacers stopped generating good shots. As a result, they scored just one point in the last 3:20 of game time while the Thunder ran away with the victory.
Now, the Pacers have to go back on the road and get a win either in Game 5 or Game 7, or potentially both, in order to get their hands on the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Indiana already got one win away from home in this series, but it took a game-winning shot in a game that it did not lead until the final second in Game 1.
Replicating such a feat will be very difficult, especially after taking the gut punch that is this loss. However, if any team can do it, this Pacers team has shown that it can get back up off the mat after just about anything.
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