INDIANAPOLIS — Despite the disappointment of what Tyrese Haliburton called a frustrating loss in which the Pacers let a fourth-quarter lead slip away against the Thunder in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday night, the Indiana star still expressed confidence in his team as the series heads to Oklahoma City tied at 2-2.
“As a team you have to be ready to respond,” Haliburton said after the 111-104 defeat. “You’ve just got to be able to respond when your back is against the wall, and that’s where we are right now.
“That’s a frustrating loss, but as a group, I still have a lot of confidence in ourselves. We’ve got to be ready to go and fight for 48 minutes. It’s going to be a challenge, but this group has been resilient all year. I wouldn’t want to go to war with any other group.”
The Pacers were outscored 31-17 in the fourth quarter of Game 4. After Indiana took a 103-99 lead with 3:20 remaining, the Thunder turned up the defensive pressure, holding the Pacers without a field goal the rest of the way, their only basket coming on a made free throw from Bennedict Mathurin, who also missed three free throws in the quarter.
It was a defensive clinic from the Thunder, who contested 15 of the Pacers’ 18 shots during the final frame.
“An inability to come up with rebounds, an inability to get key stops was a part of it, and then we just got too stagnant,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “The ball was not being advanced quickly enough. We weren’t creating problems, and we were up against the clock a lot. Things got very difficult.
“But you’ve got to give Oklahoma credit. They made it very difficult.”
Game 5 is Monday night in Oklahoma City. Haliburton said he is looking forward to the challenge.
“We’ve got to be ready to go Game 5, going into a hostile environment,” Haliburton said. “We have to be ready to play. For us to win, we’re going to have to win one down there. We’ve got a couple days to sit on this, watch film and see where we can get better. I’m excited about the challenge.”
Still, the Pacers know they missed a golden opportunity Friday night.
The Pacers had five players in double figures and three more who finished with 8 points, an almost egalitarian offense that gave them control for most of the game. Haliburton finished with 18 points and 7 assists while Pascal Siakam added 20 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals.
The Pacers led by as many as 10 points late in the third quarter, their first double-digit lead of the Finals, and entered the fourth quarter with a lead for the first time all series. They did not relinquish the lead until the 2:23 mark of the fourth quarter on a step-back jumper from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was held without an assist but scored 35 points on 12-of-24 shooting and made all 10 of his free throws.
“We just did our job of being pests, playing hard, trying to mix different guys and just make it as tough as possible on him,” Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard said. “He’s the MVP.”
Since before the start of the series, Carlisle has emphasized to his team that the NBA Finals would be a seven-game series played over 18 days, an effort to prepare the Pacers for the long haul in order to pull off a massive upset against the Thunder.
“It’s long. It’s arduous. But it’s the greatest opportunity going,” Carlisle said. “It’s really hard, and it’s supposed to be hard. This is where we’re going to have to dig in and circle the wagons and come back stronger on Monday. This is a big disappointment, but there’s three games left.
“This series is going to come down to the basics … This kind of a challenge is going to have extreme highs and extreme lows. This is a low right now, and we’re going to have to bounce back from it.”
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