The Indiana Pacers had a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter and looked in control and on their way to a 3-1 series lead in the NBA Finals.
But then the offense went cold and stagnant, and the OKC Thunder closed like the best team in the NBA they are, finishing the game on a 12-1 run to snatch the game away with a 111-104 win and return home with a split in Indianapolis and homecourt advantage back in their hands.
Charles Barkley didn’t pull any punches in his postgame analysis on NBA TV.
“No. 1, they gave it away,” he said. “I thought you saw the difference between All-Stars guys and really good players and superstars. Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) brought this thing home. Like, ‘Yo big fella, bring this home.’ And I have no idea what the Pacers were doing on the offensive end. Me and Grant (Hill) were going crazy like, ‘Yo man, get it to (Pascal) Siakam, he’s your best 1-on-1 player. They didn’t even run a play for him… It was so frustrating. Grant, we can say all we want to about Oklahoma City — the Pacers blew this game.”
Siakam, who led the Pacers in scoring with 20 points, took just one shot in the fourth quarter (a missed 3-pointer with 10 minutes left).
“This is going to hurt. This game is going to hurt the Pacers because they had this game under control, they were playing well. OKC was like, “OK, we might be in trouble,’ then all of a sudden, they let them get close…”
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