Staff Reporter.
Tyrese Haliburton scored in the final second as the Indiana Pacers snatched victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in game one of the NBA Finals.
Haliburton hit a 20-foot pull-up jumper in the final second on Thursday as the Pacers completed a stunning comeback for a 111-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
It was the 25-year-old’s fourth big-time shot in the closing seconds during this year’s playoffs.
The Pacers hadn’t led in Thursday’s finals opener until Halliburton drained his latest clutch hoop with 0.3 seconds remaining.
“Ultimate confidence in himself,” Indiana’s Myles Turner said of Haliburton. “Some players will say they have it, but there are other players that show it … He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn’t shy away from that moment.”
In Game 5 of the first round of the playoffs, Haliburton cut through the lane to hit a driving layup with 1.3 seconds left in overtime, giving the Pacers a win and ending the series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
In Game 2 of the second round, he hit a step-back 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining to put Indiana up one and put the Cleveland Cavaliers into a 2-0 hole.
Then in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Haliburton hit another step-back shot that appeared to be the game-winner initially but was changed to a two that forced overtime against the New York Knicks. Indiana eventually won.
The Thursday shot merely continued the pattern.
Indiana trailed by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter, and though the Pacers cut the deficit to one in the closing seconds, the Thunder had the ball in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands with a chance to put the Pacers away.
However, Andrew Nembhard guarded the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) tenaciously, helping to force a missed fadeaway from Gilgeous-Alexander that opened the door for Haliburton’s heroics.
With 11 seconds left, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle trusted his team and didn’t take a timeout.
Haliburton worked his way down the court against Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace, driving just inside the 3-point arc before pulling up for a shot that briefly rattled around the rim before dropping through.
“I had a pretty good idea,” Haliburton said when asked whether he knew the shot was good.
Indiana won despite turning the ball over 25 times in Game 1.
“It’s not the recipe to win,” Haliburton said. “We can’t turn the ball over that much … (but) come May and June, it doesn’t matter how you get ’em, just get ’em.”