2025 NBA Finals: Biggest takeaways from Thunder-Pacers Game 1

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(4) Indiana Pacers lead (1) Oklahoma City Thunder 1-0

Game 1: Pacers 111, Thunder 110

For the first 47 minutes and 40 seconds of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander thoroughly outplayed Tyrese Haliburton in the battle of star point guards.

But as Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after Indiana's remarkable comeback to beat the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, it is a 48-minute game. And, in those final 20 seconds -- for the latest time in these playoffs -- Haliburton and the Pacers turned the narrative.

First, it was Gilgeous-Alexander -- who had 38 points but went 14-for-30 from the field -- missing a clean mid-range jumper, his…