Perhaps it was only appropriate that an NBA postseason no one would have predicted could not end without yet another plot twist.
Despite star point guard Tyrese Haliburton playing with a calf injury, the Indiana Pacers staved off elimination Thursday to win Game 6 of the NBA Finals, 108-91, and push the best-of-seven series against Oklahoma City to its limit.
For the first time since 2016, the Finals are going to a seventh and final game.
Game 7 is Sunday, in Oklahoma City. It became necess after Indiana’s 3-point shooting quickly dug Indiana out of an early 10-2 hole in the first quarter, then its signature uptempo pace, pressuring defense and tireless reserves blew open the game and turned this series back into a coin flip.
Andrew Nembhard, best known for his defense all series on Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, came alive offensively to score 17 points, and Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin each scored 16 to lead the Pacers.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored a team-high 21 points, while Jalen Williams was held to 16 one game after scoring a playoff career-high 40.
Leading by just one point early in the second quarter, the Pacers outscored Oklahoma City by 21 points over the half’s final eight minutes to lead, 64-42, in yet another example of Indiana refusing to fold under difficult circumstances — just as it had to win improbable games against Milwaukee, Cleveland and New York earlier in the postseason.
That dramatic, second-quarter turn was sparked by Pacers reserve Aaron Nesmith, then given an exclamation point by Siakam, who dunked over Thunder star Williams 40 seconds before halftime and then, following a scoreless Oklahoma City possession, sank a turnaround jump shot as time expired in the quarter.