OKLAHOMA CITY – About an hour before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, John Haliburton – the father of Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton – offered an unsolicited prediction after walking into Paycom Center wearing his son’s jersey.
“You heard it from me first. Don’t forget that. Tonight is ours,” John Haliburton said.
Pops was shockingly right as his son nailed a stunning mid-range jumper with 0.3 seconds left against the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder to vault the Pacers to a memorable 111-110 comeback win. That game-winner also accounted for the Pacers’ first lead of this entire game in which they coughed up 25 turnovers and were down by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter.
But the Pacers also outpaced the Thunder and a 38-point performance by NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander by outscoring the home team 35-25 in the fourth.
When told of his father’s prediction, Tyrese Haliburton told Andscape: “Of course he said that.”
Based on the Pacers’ comebacks during the regular season and the playoffs, perhaps it’s time for the non-believers to have some faith in these Hoosier State underdogs.
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In the regular season, the Pacers came back from deficits of 22 points (LA Clippers on Feb. 6), 19 points (Washington on Feb. 12) and 27 points (a franchise-record comeback against the Cleveland Cavaliers on April 13) — all on the road — to win. In the playoffs, the Pacers rallied from a 20-point deficit against Milwaukee to win in the first round, from 20- and 19-point deficits against Cleveland in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and a 17-point deficit against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals. Thursday’s game was the Pacers’ fifth comeback victory from a deficit of 15 or more points in these playoffs, the most by a team in a single postseason since 1998.
All but one of those Indiana comebacks were on the road.
“I’d say the [comeback] belief came in the regular season,” Pacers guard Aaron Nesmith told Andscape. “We finished the regular season with a lot of close games and a lot of games we were down and put ourselves in bad position. Honestly, we just looked at it as practice – practice to prepare for these moments.”
In the Pacers’ miraculous comeback on Thursday, Haliburton made his fourth go-ahead or game-tying field goal in the final 5 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime in the playoffs this season. Since the 1998 playoffs, the only player with more field goals of that type is LeBron James (eight). Indiana also improved to 8-1 in “clutch” games in the 2025 playoffs (score within five points in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime).
When asked by Andscape what he was thinking as he hit his game-winner Thursday, Haliburton said: “Game! If I get to my right hand, I feel confident it’s going to go in.”
Said Nesmith on the Pacers’ fourth-quarter mentality: “Fight for one another. Give 1 percent more for the guy next to you. If we can do all do that, the results will show.”
While there was certainly pandemonium after Haliburton’s shot, about 20 minutes after the game the Pacers’ locker room was serious and business-like when it was opened to the media. Nothing celebratory. These Pacers are relishing their underdog role, playing without pressure and proving a point.
Why weren’t the Pacers in celebration mode after such a memorable ending to Game 1 of the NBA Finals?
“What’s the point?” Haliburton told Andscape. “Ain’t nobody expected us to win this [expletive] anyway. So, what’s the point of tripping? Not a person expected us to win not a single series we played in. So, what’s the point of tripping?
“We are playing with house money, really. We have been playing with house money all playoffs.”
Said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle: “I’ve been through too much of this over the years. We’ve just got to be very much present in the moment and know what this is all about. This is all about keeping poise and at the same time having a high level of aggression.”
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The way Haliburton sees it, the Pacers are motivated to prove wrong all their naysayers.
Haliburton noted that the Pacers made it to the Eastern Conference finals in 2024, but he feels that wasn’t respected because they were swept by the Boston Celtics. Haliburton also played the least of anyone on USA Basketball’s men’s basketball team’s roster en route to the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Pacers didn’t help their cause with a losing record (16-18) entering 2025.
An injury-plagued Haliburton averaged 17.8 points during the first half of the season and wasn’t named an NBA All-Star. The Pacers did have an All-Star in Pascal Siakam, but that came with little fanfare outside of Indiana. The Athletic released a poll of 90 NBA players on April 22 where Haliburton was voted the most overrated player in the league. Despite being the conference’s hottest team in the second half of the season, securing 50 wins and the East’s No. 4 playoff seed, the Pacers had little buzz entering the playoffs.
After disposing of East No. 1 seed Cleveland and No. 3 New York as underdogs in both series, the Pacers entered the NBA Finals as an underdog as well.
“If you have a run like last [season] and get swept in the Eastern Conference finals and all the conversation is about how you don’t belong there, how you lucked out to get there and it was a fluke, guys are going to be pissed//////////// off. They are going to spend the summer pissed/////////// off,” Haliburton said. “Then you come into [this season] hearing about how it all was a fluke. And then you’re unsuccessful the first couple months and that’s easy for everyone to clown you and talk about you in a negative way. And as a group, we take everything personal.
“It’s not just me. It’s everybody. That’s the DNA of this group. Our coaching staff does a great job of making us aware of what is being said. As players, we talk about it in the locker room. We talk about it on the plane. We’re a young team. We probably spend more time on social media than we should. We do a great job of taking things personal and it gives this group more confidence.”
Since joining the NBA from the ABA in 1976, the Pacers have not won an NBA title. Prior to this season, the only time Indiana has ever been in the NBA Finals was in 2000 when it lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers. “The Malice in the Palace” Pacers of the 2004-05 season appeared to have the talent to contend for an NBA title if that season wasn’t derailed by a fight in the stands with their players against fans in Detroit.
In the franchise’s first NBA Finals game since 2000, John Haliburton wisely predicted a Game 1 NBA Finals win. Pops also envisions much more in what would be a storybook season for Indiana.
“God’s hands are all over this team,” John Haliburton told Andscape after the Game 1 win. “Open your eyes world and see God’s blessings. No one can stop that. If God is for you, who can be [against] you?”