OKLAHOMA CITY – The Indiana Pacers, after a slow start for the second consecutive game, along with Tyrese Haliburton, failed to mount another comeback on Sunday night, falling in the second game of the NBA Finals to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 123-107. Haliburton finished with 17 points and 6 assists, but was limited to 3 points and 3 assists on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, as Indiana fell behind 59-41. This tied the Pacers’ lowest point total in the first half of the playoffs, as the team shot just 35% from the field in the opening period.
Although Haliburton acknowledged the merit of Oklahoma City’s suffocating defense, which caused him five turnovers, his most in any game this season (regular season or postseason), he also admitted that he needed to find ways to be more impactful from the start.
This is their defensive identity. They have a lot of different players who can defend the ball, move around the court. I have to figure out how to improve from the start of the games. Congratulations to them, they are a great defensive team. But I will watch the video, I will see where I can improve.
Tyrese Haliburton
Before Haliburton’s game-winning shot at the end of the first game, he also struggled to get into rhythm during the first half, scoring 6 points and 3 assists on 2-of-4 shooting.
A key for Oklahoma City has been to limit Haliburton’s ability to penetrate the paint. According to data, Haliburton touched the paint in 9 of his 100 possessions (9.0%) in Game 2, after touching the paint in 7 of his 108 possessions in Game 1 (6.5%), his two lowest percentages in 18 playoff games this season.
Our offense is built from the inside out. We have to do a better job of getting to the rim. They close down and then make plays there, but I think we could get a lot better there. But they’re flying around. They have great defenders at the point of attack. They have great rim protectors. They’re a great defense.
Tyrese Haliburton
Despite his moments of brilliance and game-winning shots, Haliburton has had moments during this playoff run where opponents have found ways to limit him offensively. During Games 3 and 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round, he scored a combined total of 15 points. He scored 8 points in a Game 5 loss in the conference finals against the New York Knicks.
But Haliburton has also found a way to respond to the increased attention from defenses.
Haliburton finally managed to break free and find a rhythm in the final quarter, but not soon enough for the Pacers to make a comeback. He scored 12 points in the final quarter on 5-of-6 shooting (2-of-3 from three) and dished out two assists, a production he hopes can carry over to Game 3 on Wednesday night.With Tyrese, there are a lot of formulas for him to get into a rhythm. There are things we go over in our game plan that we didn’t execute well enough today. We’ll get him into the paint. We’ve been one of the best teams scoring in the paint all year and we need to establish that early. We only had four or six points in the paint in the first half, and that’s not Pacers basketball.
Myles Turner
The Pacers are now heading to Indianapolis for the first NBA Finals game in the city since 2000, with the series tied.Throughout a series, even in the games you lose, you try to learn from them, see where you can improve. We had some success there, playing a little bit more off the ball, moving around the court instead of being in that high post, which I feel like I have a lot of success in, but that gives them the opportunity to load up, to get into the paint.
Tyrese Haliburton
There are many different ways in which you can choose to digest what’s in front of you. We focus on taking it one day at a time. You have the tie. You feel good about it. But we definitely wanted to play better tonight.
Tyrese Haliburton
