The Pacers are headed into a historic NBA Finals series where either of the teams will secure their first NBA championship in franchise history. However, they faced a major scare while they headed to Oklahoma City for their Game 1 against the Thunder.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings in several areas of Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa on the evening of June 3, when the Pacers were scheduled to fly to Oklahoma for their Game 1 in the Finals. While they were in the air, they were forced to circle Oklahoma several times before diverting to Tulsa on emergency.
Before Game 1, Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin both spoke to the media about the incident. Hilariously, they both slept through what could have been a horrifying experience for them.
“As far as yesterday, we took off, and I slept the whole plane ride, which I don’t normally do. And we landed, and I was ready to get up when they said we landed in Tulsa. We sat there for another hour, finally we took off again, and we were in the air for an hour and a half. We didn’t land here until what time we landed at, 7? Which would normally be like 8 back home, so it was a five-hour travel day. We might as well have travelled to Portland or something, but yeah, it was a long travel day. But what can you do? None of us can control the weather, there’s worse problems in life, we’ll be fine”, said Haliburton.
“I was asleep—I was asleep for most of the time, but you know as soon as we knew that we had to take a turn, you just take that into consideration that you know we’re about to make it safely,” said Mathurin.
Several tornado warnings were issued in the Oklahoma City metro area, and a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for a large portion of the state. Weather forecasters warned the people of hail the size of a penny to a quarter and wind speeds as high as 60 miles per hour.
What’s Next For The Pacers?
The Pacers face the Thunder in Game 1 on the evening of June 5. This is the first time they have reached the NBA finals since 2000, which was the closest they ever came to winning a championship.
Tyrese Haliburton has averaged 18.8 points, 9.8 assists and 5.7 rebounds in 16 games played so far in the 2025 playoffs. He is the frontrunner from the Pacers to win the Finals MVP award if they end up winning the title, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the overall favorite to win. Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 29.8 points, 6.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds in the 2025 playoffs.
Will the Pacers be able to hand the Thunder an upset in Game 1? Or will the MVP Gilgeous-Alexander lead the Thunder to secure Game 1 of this series? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
