The Indiana Pacers dominated the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 to force a Game 7 for the first time in the NBA Finals since the Cavaliers faced off with the Warriors in 2016. They won Game 6 108-91 and are now headed to Oklahoma for the deciding game.
Tyrese Haliburton played in the game despite sustaining a calf injury that would’ve sidelined him for weeks in the regular season. Following the game, Haliburton spoke to Scott Van Pelt of ESPN about what the next steps are for the Pacers.
“I think take the good with the good, the bad with the bad. Right now, for the next two days, everybody’s going to be talking about how good we looked, how well we played, how much pressure is on OKC that’s going to be the narrative. And we got to do a good job of staying away from that stuff, I think that can be poison.”
“And if we do a good job of just kind of staying within ourselves in the locker room, I think that’s very important for us in these next couple of days. We did some really good things tonight that we can you know build off of, but you’ve got to understand it’s Game 7, there’s no such thing as a pretty Game 7, you know? They’re usually ugly, blood baths, figure it out, and that’s what it’s about. We got to go in and just figure it out.”
“These guys are going to play hard; they make shots at a higher clip at home, and their crowd is amazing. So I’m excited, man. This is why we do what we do; this is the peak, the pinnacle of our sport. And to do that with these guys in this locker room, I’m so excited about it.”
Despite most of the spotlight being on Haliburton, this victory is a result of the team effort the Pacers put in to do almost everything nearly perfectly in Game 6. Six players scored in double digits for the Pacers, and Obi Toppin led all scorers for them with 20 points. Haliburton finished the game with 14 points and 5 assists while sitting out most of the fourth quarter.
They managed to lock down the league MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and hold him to only 21 points with a career-worst eight turnovers.
Tyrese Haliburton’s Comments To The Media After Game 6 Win
Following the discussion with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, Haliburton spoke to the Pacers’ beat media in the press conference, where he also addressed whether or not the media narratives are catching his attention, especially on social media.
“Yeah, I’ve tried my best. I’ve tried my best. You know, I don’t have the apps or anything. I’ll be honest, sometimes I got to log on to Twitter to see what’s going on with like WWE or certain other stuff. Honestly.”
“But no, I try to stay off as much as i can and just not pay attention to the outside noise as much as much as, you know, I can. You know as much as we can as a group. So, you know, all that matters is, you know, the opinions of the guys in the locker room and what our focus will be over these next 48 hours. Yeah, I deleted the apps.”
Haliburton sat for most of the fourth quarter to rest for Game 7, as the game was essentially decided by that point. If the Pacers manage to win this game away from home in Oklahoma, it would be one of the most iconic Playoff runs for any player in modern NBA history.
