How Thunder-Pacers reached NBA Finals Game 7: The odyssey of two small-market, rebuild darlings

Usually a dagger is drawn in the waning minutes or seconds, but Ben Sheppard pulled his at the third-quarter buzzer.

The 28-foot 3-pointer gave the Indiana Pacers a deafening, 30-point lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in a euphoric Gainbridge Fieldhouse Thursday night.

The shot also all but guaranteed the 20th Game 7 in NBA Finals history.

Sheppard’s moment is just one of many in a now-seven-game championship series that’s been a few years in the making. So let’s take a look at how the unlikely summer showdown between the Thunder and Pacers came to be: two small-market, rebuild darlings duking it out for first-time NBA supremacy.

Rebuilds don’t have to take forever…

The Thunder struck in 2012 but couldn’t capture lightning in a bottle.

With three future league MVPs — a 23-year-old Kevin Durant, a 23-year-old Russell Westbrook and a 22-year-old James Harden — Oklahoma City swept the reigning NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, took down Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers in five games and then bested Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili, Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs in six games for the Western Conference crown during a lockout-shortened season.

But a controversial no-call in Game 2 of the NBA Finals marked the beginning of the end for that year’s Thunder. A would-have, could-have free-throw trip for Durant never happened, the Miami Heat tied the series 1-1, and LeBron James’ “Big 3” went on to claim the Larry O’Brien Trophy in five games.

Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets the following preseason, and the Thunder only teased another Finals appearance the next 12 years.

This year’s iteration of the Thunder — now the youngest Finals team since 1977 — didn’t take general manager Sam Presti all that long to build. He hit the reset button after the 2020 bubble, and his team was taking the league by storm again four seasons later.

Two of the Thunder’s best players right now are in their third NBA seasons: After back-to-back 20-something-win, future-oriented campaigns, Presti grabbed center Chet Holmgren with the No. 2 overall pick and scooped up wing Jalen Williams with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 draft.

The Williams pick came from Oklahoma City’s summer-altering 2019 trade with the Los Angeles Clippers. At the time, the Thunder gave up a 29-year-old Paul George and got a fledgling Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, veteran wing Danilo Gallinari and seven future draft picks and/or swaps.

Gilgeous-Alexander is now an MVP, and Williams is his All-Star sidekick. Meanwhile, the Clippers never won a title with their duo, George and Kawhi Leonard.

The Thunder, who have been led by system-grown, G League-turned-NBA head coach Mark Daigneault since 2020, ended up missing the playoffs three times between Presti’s franchise recalibration and the Thunder’s run to the Western Conference semifinals last year, Holmgren’s first season on the court in Oklahoma City.

This season, the Thunder won a head-turning 68 games — the most in franchise history, including four more than the Seattle SuperSonics won in 1995-96 — recording the best 2024-25 record in the NBA.

The Pacers, on the other hand, finished 18 games back of the Thunder on the other side of the league standings, but in a consistently vulnerable Eastern Conference that hasn’t had a repeat champion since James’ Cavaliers made four straight NBA Finals from 2015-18.

Indiana rallied from a 10-15 start this season. From the New Year on, the Pacers posted a 34-14 record, finishing the 2024-25 regular-season campaign with a mark of 50-32.

A second-half sprint secured Indiana the No. 4 seed in the East, opening the door to a magical playoff run. That door would have been locked, though, had Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard not committed to a rebuild of his own halfway through the 2021-22 season.

In February 2022, the Pacers first dealt Caris LeVert to the Cavaliers for picks that became defensive pests Andrew Nembhard and Ben Sheppard. The next day, Indiana traded star big man Domantas Sabonis — as well as Jeremy Lamb and Justin Holiday, plus a second-round pick — to the Sacramento Kings for three players, most notably playmaking extraordinaire Tyrese Haliburton.

That July, the Pacers dished Malcolm Brogdon for a handful of pieces, including Aaron Nesmith, who was hidden behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Boston but has thrived as a do-it-all floor spacer and defender in Indiana.

A year later, the Pacers acquired versatile forward Obi Toppin from the New York Knicks. Toppin wasn’t doing much in New York while he was stuck behind Julius Randle. In Indiana, his rim-running ability and 3-point shooting are on full display.

As influential as Haliburton’s been, Indiana wouldn’t be where it is without its second-most significant in-season trade. That took place in January 2024, when the Pacers acquired multi-time All-Star and one-time NBA champion Pascal Siakam from a Toronto Raptors team eying a rebuild of its own.

Some of Indiana’s current players were already in place. Longtime center Myles Turner was drafted in 2015, and gritty guard T.J. McConnell was signed in free agency in 2019. But the Pacers’ series of trades the last three years mostly did the trick.

Indiana missed the playoffs the season it started its rebuild — head coach Rick Carlisle’s first back at the helm — and the season after that. Since, the Pacers have reached the Eastern Conference finals twice and, now, the NBA Finals for just the second time in franchise history.

Pacers, Thunder have entertained with winding playoff paths…

The Pacers’ ride to the NBA Finals started against the Milwaukee Bucks, whom Indiana defeated in five games.

Without a full-strength Damian Lillard to help throughout the series, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks were overmatched by the run-and-gun Pacers. An 8-0 run in overtime sealed the deal for Indiana in Game 5, which saw the Pacers force two turnovers in the final 29 seconds and then Haliburton lay in the game-winner with 1.3 seconds remaining.

While the Thunder coasted through the Western Conference this season, the Cavaliers did much of the same in the Eastern Conference. But Cleveland’s 64 regular-season wins were tainted by its conference semifinals performance versus the Pacers.

Indiana made quick work of the East’s No. 1 seed, once again advancing in five games. The Cavaliers were shorthanded, missing starters Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, plus key reserve DeAndre Hunter, at various points of the series. The Pacers stole two games on the road, the second featuring another chapter of Haliburton’s heroics: Indiana scored the game’s final eight points in 47.9 seconds, capped by a game-winning 3-pointer from Haliburton with 1.1 ticks left.

Haliburton, inexplicably, was voted the “most overrated” player in the league in an anonymous player poll earlier this season. The two-time All-Star has had the last laugh often this postseason, thanks to clutch shot after clutch shot. He delivered another in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks.

The Knicks led by 14 points with less than three minutes to go in regulation. Then Nesmith’s flurry of 3s brought the Pacers back from the dead, setting the stage for Haliburton’s game-tying 2-pointer that bounced up from the back of the rim and hung in the air for a couple of seconds before dropping in the net.

Haliburton mimicked Pacers Hall of Famer Reggie Miller’s famous choke signal, which Miller flashed to Spike Lee during a 1994 playoff comeback against the Knicks. Nembhard scored the go-ahead basket with 26 seconds left in overtime to give the Pacers a valuable 1-0 lead in the series.

In a 2-0 hole, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and the Knicks fought tooth and nail for wins in Games 3 and 5. But the Pacers closed the series in six games, using a monster third quarter to pull away in front of their fans in Indianapolis while booking their ticket to the Finals for the first time in 25 years.

The Thunder’s path was far more predictable. At its peak, however, it was just as entertaining.

Oklahoma City waltzed past the inferior Memphis Grizzlies in four games before nearly bowing out of the playoffs in the conference semifinals for the second year in a row.

This time, the Thunder had to get by a Denver Nuggets team still equipped with its core from a 2023 championship run. Under the leadership of then-interim head coach David Adelman, the Nuggets took the Thunder to seven games.

Denver pulled off a Game 1 stunner in Oklahoma City, complete with a game-winning 3-pointer from Aaron Gordon. The Thunder retaliated with a 149-point explosion in Game 2. Bouncing back from their 43-point loss, the Nuggets reclaimed the series lead in Game 3. Like the series opener, they trailed most of the contest but made their move at the right time, stringing together an 11-2 run in overtime.

The Thunder responded by winning a 92-87 rock fight in Game 4 before seizing a pivotal Game 5 back at home. Jamal Murray battled through illness and piloted Denver to a must-have victory in Game 6. In Game 7, though, Oklahoma City rolled in a 32-point rout — they did so while Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 and three-time MVP Nikola Jokić was held to just 20 points on five field goals.

Returning to their dominant ways, the Thunder took down the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games during the Western Conference finals. Gilgeous-Alexander poured in at least 30 points in each of those wins, sporting 38 points in Game 2 and 40 points in Game 4.

Showing its youth a bit, however, Oklahoma City laid an egg in Game 3, suffering a head-scratching 143-101 loss to the Timberwolves, who were making their second straight conference finals appearance.

Best NBA Finals moments so far…

Game 1: Pacers 111, Thunder 110

Haliburton’s cinematic saga continued in Game 1 of the Finals. His 21-foot jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining wrenched the series opener from the Thunder’s grasp.

The Pacers got away with 25 turnovers and were trailing by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter.

A deficit like that hadn’t stopped Indiana’s comebacks from spawning before, and it didn’t get in the way of a storybook finish on June 5, this time in Oklahoma City. That breathtaking triumph marked the largest fourth-quarter Finals comeback since Carlisle’s Dallas Mavericks came back from 15 against the Heat in 2011.

Game 2: Thunder 123, Pacers 107

The Thunder may be young, but they’ve already mastered the art of bouncing back from a loss. They’ve done that twice so far this series, starting with Game 2.

Sticky defender and timely 3-point shooter Alex Caruso supplied 20 points off the bench, and Gilgeous-Alexander sat on his throne atop the box score with 34 points of his own. A 19-2 run in the second quarter transformed a six-point Oklahoma City lead into an ultimately insurmountable 23-point advantage.

Game 3: Pacers 116, Thunder 107

Indiana knows a thing or two about responding to a loss, too. The Pacers flexed their resilience in Game 3, despite being on the road.

That toughness came in different forms, including in an unexpected 27 points off the bench from wing Bennedict Mathurin. He played a seismic part in the Pacers outscoring the Thunder 49-18 in bench points. Haliburton flirted with a triple-double, posting 22 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds.

Oklahoma City got 20-plus points from Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren, but they didn’t have enough in the tank to hold off Indiana in the fourth quarter.

Game 4: Thunder 111, Pacers 104

It looked like the Pacers were going to take the often-telling 3-1 lead.

The league’s MVP had other ideas. Gilgeous-Alexander erupted in the fourth quarter, pocketing 15 of his 35 points in the final 4:38. In other words, he scored all but one of the Thunder’s points during their 16-7, game-ending run.

Just like that, Indiana’s 10-point halftime lead — and seven-point cushion entering the final frame — vanished.

Game 5: Thunder 120, Pacers 109

Gilgeous-Alexander was similarly great in Game 5. His partner in crime was even better.

Williams upped his scoring total in each of the Finals’ first five games. His fifth performance twinkled, as he served up a 40-piece in a momentum-shifting victory. Indiana pushed and pushed, in part thanks to a persistent 18 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists from McConnell, yet never fully made up for its 10-point, first-quarter deficit.

Shooting 3 for 5 from deep and diving into his bag for an array of creative shots, Williams even garnered comparisons to legendary Chicago Bulls sidekick Scottie Pippen in the wake of a 3-2 series lead.

To make matters worse for the Pacers, Haliburton suffered a calf strain during the defeat. He tried to play through the pain, except he finished with only four points on 0-for-6 shooting from the field.

Game 6: Pacers 108, Thunder 91

With their backs against the wall at home, the Pacers’ season and NBA championship hopes were on the line in Game 6.

Haliburton was a game-time decision but played anyway and delivered 12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals in the first half. His supporting cast came through as well — notably, McConnell had another memorable showing, clocking out with 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.

Indiana staked itself to a 22-point lead by intermission. That lead grew to 30 in the third quarter, allowing Carlisle to rest his starters in the fourth. Daigneault did the same, as Game 7 loomed.

Sheppard hit the buzzer-beating 3 at the end of the third quarter, but a no-look Haliburton pass on the break and subsequent Siakam poster dunk over Williams just before halftime was the highlight of the night.

Now, it all comes down to Sunday’s Game 7. Which team will etch its name in NBA lore? Tune in to ABC at 8 p.m. ET.