00:00As the Pacers, J.Y., with their backs against the wall, avoided a three-game losing streak
00:07and dominated the Thunder in their building.
00:10It was truly impressive to see what and how Indiana played backs against the wall.
00:16I was worried about a little bit of nervousness, obviously.
00:19Shout out to Rick Carlisle, honestly, calling a timeout down 8-2.
00:23May have been the smartest play of the game.
00:24Just getting him settled down after a slow start.
00:27But it was just, honestly, a three-point barrage out of Indiana.
00:31And then once they started hitting threes, they started opening up.
00:35And it was uncharacteristically really bad basketball out of Oklahoma City.
00:41I thought SGA was off.
00:43I thought, you know, they did a really good job of flooding the area.
00:47Anytime SGA drove, they kind of came with a second guy.
00:50SGA was spinning, and they were kind of picking his pocket.
00:53I also think, is Tyrese Halliburton really hurt?
00:58I mean, did we get sucked into an open-up?
01:03An open-up?
01:04Like, you know, because, I mean, that guy walked out of that press conference.
01:08He got shot after game five.
01:09And then he looked like he was shot up.
01:11Like, yo-oom!
01:11There he goes.
01:13First one's on the board.
01:14First one's on the board.
01:14First one's on the board.
01:15But I thought Halliburton looked absolutely great.
01:18And it's interesting to see how he looked, Tom, as we go into a game seven.
01:23Yeah, it reminds me of, you know, Pat Mahomes dealing with the ankle injuries over the past few postseasons.
01:28Like, oh, he's going to play.
01:29Like, then he goes out there.
01:30He's like, he was fine.
01:31Right.
01:31Like, I definitely don't think Halliburton looked 100%, but he definitely did not look bad.
01:36I mean, that guy was spinning like the Jackson 5 when he did an assist.
01:39I mean, you don't do that with a bad cap.
01:41I do that with a bad cap.
01:42I'm down for, like, a month.
01:44So, I think the, at least the early portion of the game, coaches, you alluded to, was definitely defined by the runs.
01:49Where starting off 0 of 8, 1 of 9, 4 of Pacers, that is.
01:53And then clawing their way back.
01:56And it didn't all come in, like, one fell swoop.
01:58It's like, listen, we're going to hit some threes.
02:00We're going to play some defense.
02:02We're going to get out in transition.
02:03We're going to whittle this away.
02:05And, you know, then before you know it, they had to lead.
02:07Then, all of a sudden, they're up, and I'm like, hang on.
02:09You know, what's going on with the Pacers?
02:10They're, you know, seven six-point underdogs or whatever's at home.
02:14And the runs are what defined that game.
02:16And, obviously, things took a turn as we got to start the fourth quarter when most, if not all, the starters were pulled.
02:23What we see in the first half of the first quarter for game seven, I think, will tell us what type of game we're going to be getting.
02:32I expect a lot of trepidation and a lot of, I don't want to say nervousness, but a lot of hesitancy for players to be aggressive or go for that extra drive.
02:46And I assume we'll be like, ah, he's passing.
02:49He's like, yeah, he made that extra pass.
02:50But, like, hey, he probably should have taken that shot.
02:53That's why I expect a little bit of hesitancy coming out to start games.
02:56Yeah, I think that that's fair.
02:57I think a slow start could certainly be the case.
02:59I think we've seen, though, from the Indiana Pacers, typically, if they do start slow, it doesn't mean that the second half won't feature 65 points.
03:06I think the coach's questions around Halliburton, I think when we tell the story of this NBA Finals, we will not lead with Halliburton was injured and it completely ruined the whole series.
03:17And I think that that is absolutely correct.
03:19I do not think that I leave this game going, oh, he's fine.
03:23He only played 23 minutes.
03:24They were very, very cautious still with Tyrese.
03:28A lot of, obviously, what he did.
03:30For the most part, JY is still 35 feet away from the basket, it felt like, all in all, because it's not as easy for him to get downhill and things of that nature.
03:40But that basketball game was about the Indiana Pacers in their building being A++++ level ready in a way that shouldn't have been surprising.
03:52The only hesitation that I entered into the game with was around Tyrese's health because, you know, call me crazy, I still think he is the engine and driving force of this basketball team.
04:02And if he was 100% ready, I would have been getting into argument and fight after fight with the analysis that I was hearing heading into this game.
04:12Now, maybe others wouldn't have been as strong in their conviction on OKC, but this is, one, a Pacers team who's not lost multiple games in a row in a very long time before the two-game losing streak.
04:24So a third straight loss, that would be different.
04:26But more importantly, the road Oklahoma City Thunder have played their last game of this season, and they finished it in fitting fashion.
04:37Awful.
04:39Wildly underwhelming.
04:40They have the third worst point differential of all of the teams that have played in these playoffs.
04:45And you might say, well, that's because they played the most games.
04:47They played one more road game than the Knicks, and their point differential is 30 points worse.
04:53They've played one less road game than the Pacers, and it's about 60 points worse than Indiana.
