Tyrese Haliburton added another clutch moment to his growing postseason resume on Thursday night — and followed it with a pointed message for those who doubted the Indiana Pacers all season long.
Haliburton hit the game-winning shot with 0.3 seconds left to lift the Pacers to a 111-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and a block on 6-for-13 shooting. It marked Indiana’s first lead of the game and capped off a 15-point fourth-quarter comeback to steal home-court advantage.
After the game, Haliburton joined ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter, where he acknowledged a lack of belief from the national media and lightly called it out.
“Yeah, you’re a real one for that,” Haliburton said after Van Pelt admitted he had been late in recognizing Indiana’s potential. “I heard that. A lot of your counterparts wouldn’t admit that now.”
Scott Van Pelt: “The other night on the show, I put my hand up and I said, ‘Look, I was late to the party on [the Pacers].”
Tyrese Haliburton: “Yeah, you’re a real one for that. I heard that. A lot of your counterparts wouldn’t admit that now.”
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— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 6, 2025
Van Pelt noted that the Pacers were under .500 around Christmas. Haliburton nodded in agreement.
“We were rough!” he said. “We were late to the party too!”
Tyrese Haliburton’s historic clutch streak fuels Pacers’ rise from midseason struggles to NBA Finals spotlight
Indiana ended the 2024 calendar year with a 16–18 record before finishing the regular season at 50–32. The turnaround positioned them as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, and they went on to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New York Knicks to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000.
Haliburton’s shot in Game 1 continues a trend of late-game excellence. A recent viral highlight reel compiled by an X (formerly Twitter) user showcases his clutch credentials this season. The 2:32-minute montage includes all of Haliburton’s game-tying or go-ahead shots in the final two minutes of regulation or overtime. He is 13-for-15 in those moments this season, including 6-for-7 in the playoffs.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Haliburton has tied Reggie Miller for second-most go-ahead or game-tying field goals in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime since the 1997 playoffs. Only LeBron James has more, with eight. Haliburton is also the only player in NBA history with four go-ahead shots in the final five seconds during a single postseason.
Indiana overcame a sloppy first half that featured 19 turnovers — the most by any team before halftime in the league’s digital play-by-play era. Despite finishing with 25 turnovers to Oklahoma City’s seven, the Pacers outscored the Thunder 32-16 in the final 9:32.
Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Obi Toppin added 17 points off the bench. Six Pacers scored in double figures in a balanced offensive effort.
Game 2 of the NBA Finals is set for Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC, again at Paycom Center. Indiana will aim to take a 2-0 lead before the series shifts to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Games 3 and 4.
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