Against all odds, the 2025 NBA Finals are headed to an all-decisive seventh game after the Indiana Pacers manhandled the Oklahoma City Thunder in a dominant 108-91 effort to win Game 6 at home on Thursday.
Toppin and McConnell Provide Spark
Reserve forward Obi Toppin led Indiana with 20 points off the bench on 6-of-12 shooting (4-of-7 from 3-point range). Toppin’s fellow reserve TJ McConnell had a crucial performance himself, tallying 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Andrew Nembhard paced Indiana’s starting lineup with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting, making 3-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc. Tyrese Haliburton played through the calf injury that has limited the last three games, scoring 14 points and tallying five assists while shooting 5-of-12 from the field and 3-of-7 from deep.
“We’re just super resilient,” Toppin said. “We’re hungry. We got a taste of what the Eastern Conference Finals was last year but we knew we could get back to back to that and to the NBA Finals this year. We all work extremely hard every single day to allow this success that we have and we’re not done.”
How It Happened
After initially falling behind 10-2 at the start of the game, Indiana outscored 62-32 for the remainder of the first half. As a result, Indiana led by 22 points at halftime before eventually stretching that lead to as large as 31 points early in the fourth quarter.
The highlight of the game came 40 seconds remaining in the first half. Pacers forward Pascal Siakam pulled off an all-time alley-oop slam dunk over Game 5 star Jalen Williams, courtesy of a nifty assist from Haliburton.
SIAKAM OH MY GOODNESS 🤯🤯
DUNKED ALL OVER HIM! pic.twitter.com/SQUmgAxFOT
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 20, 2025
“I think energy plays are important in the game of basketball,” Haliburton said. “Any time that you can create energy within the game, especially on your home floor. We’re always getting on Pascal for not dunking anymore. I’ve not spoken about that play yet, I don’t know if we willl until this is over, but if we’re fortunate enough to go on to win this thing, I think that that play will be remembered for a long time.”
Thunder Dud
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was held to his quietest performance in the NBA Finals thus far, though he still led all scorers for the game with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting. His partner-in-crime Williams added 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting, but only Isaiah Joe (11) and Isaiah Hartenstein (10) joined the Thunder’s stars in double figures.
Chet Holmgren was essentially a non-factor, scoring four points and grabbing six rebounds on 2-of-9 shooting. Alex Caruso, who had 20-point performances in Games 2 and 4, was held scoreless on Thursday after registering just two points in Game 5.
“The way I see it is, we sucked tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We have to learn the lessons, and we have one game for everything, for everything we’ve worked for, and so do they. The better team Sunday will win.
“(The weight of clinching was) in the back of our minds, for sure. We didn’t play like it at all, and that’s why the night went the way it did. We got exactly what we deserved, what we earned, and we get to own that.”
Where History Stands
Nineteen NBA Finals series have gone to a decisive game 7, with five of those coming within the last 20 years since the Pistons took the 2005 champion San Antonio Spurs down to the wire. It will also be the first Game 7 in the NBA Finals that hasn’t featured LeBron James since 2010.
Neither the Pacers nor the Thunder have won an NBA championship, though the Pacers did earn the ABA crown in 1974 before the eventual merger. Sunday’s Game 7 will be the first where both teams have the opportunity to win their first title since the Washington Bullets and Seattle SuperSonics went the full seven in 1978.
Sunday’s Game 7 of the #NBAFinals will be the first in which both teams enter with a chance to win their first NBA championship since 1978, when Wes Unseld and the Washington Bullets beat the Seattle SuperSonics 105-99 in the clincher.
— Will Despart (@WillDespart) June 20, 2025
Ironically, the Bullets also won that Game 6 in 1978 in remarkable fashion and they were the last team to win an NBA Finals Game 7 on the road until the Cavaliers stunned the Warriors at Oracle Arena in 2016.
“The events that lead up to one final game obviously matter,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But at this point, any talk about things in the past are really meaningless.
“At this time of year, you’ve got to be able to block out a lot of things and avoid the distractions that are coming at you all the time. Over the next couple of days, we’ll do what’s necessary to try to get ourselves ready for that environment and that team, and this will be a monumental challenge.”
