NBA Finals guide: When the games are, how to watch, what the odds are
When a game is on the line in these NBA playoffs, Tyrese Haliburton delivers.
The Indiana guard’s jumper with 0.3 seconds left gave the Pacers a 111-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. It was Indiana’s only lead of the game and capped a 15-point fourth quarter comeback.
Practices will resume Saturday. Game 2 is Sunday night in Oklahoma City.
Thursday’s Finals news
— Indiana wins Game 1 at the buzzer
— Tyrese Haliburton is the NBA’s ‘Mr. Clutch’ in the playoffs
— How the Game 1 comeback happened
— Commissioner Adam Silver talks parity, expansion, more
— The Thunder know they can regroup
— Things to know about these NBA Finals
Previous stories of note
— The series preview, on teams silencing doubters
— The series preview capsule
— The long, winding road for Rick Carlisle
— Could it be U.S. vs. the World in the All-Star Game?
— Thunder are big favorites, but …
— Players play for the trophy. Referees ref for the jacket
— Ashley Kerr wins a lot of titles. She’s Mark Daigneault’s wife
— The ratings might not be good. The NBA has 76 billion reasons not to worry
— In Seattle, the message is clear: ‘Go Pacers’
— Two teams, two paths, one destination
— Thunder have a home-court edge thanks to 18,000 teammates
— Haliburton. Gilgeous-Alexander took long roads to stardom
— There will be points. But what about defense?
— The Pacers are snakebitten no more
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (-350) remains a big favorite to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, but was at -700 before the Game 1 loss. Indiana’s odds are now +275; they had been +500.
The Thunder are an early 11.5-point favorite over Indiana for Game 2.
The Pacers have covered in 12 of their first 17 games of these playoffs. The Thunder — favored in every game so far — have covered seven out of 17 times to this point.
NBA Finals schedule
All games of the NBA Finals will be aired on ABC.
Thursday — Game 1, Indiana 111, Oklahoma City 110
Sunday — Game 2, Indiana at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m. EDT
June 11 — Game 3, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 13 — Game 4, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 16 — Game 5, Indiana at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 19 — Game 6, Oklahoma City at Indiana, if necessary, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 22 — Game 7, Indiana at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8 p.m. EDT
(And good news: No NBA Finals games conflict with Stanley Cup Final dates!)
Key upcoming events
June 25 — NBA draft, first round.
June 26 — NBA draft, second round.
SGA is the MVP
A recap of Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s winning of the NBA MVP award.
The story: Gilgeous-Alexander tops Jokic for MVP award
The reaction: SGA tears up when talking about his wife
Steve Nash speaks: Canada’s 1st MVP thrilled to see SGA follow him
The notebook: Jokic finishes top-2 again, Giannis’ streak ends, LeBron gets votes
Stats of the day
— Tyrese Haliburton hit the game-winner with 0.3 seconds left for Indiana in Game 1. It was the latest game-winner in a finals game since Michael Jordan lifted Chicago past Utah with no time left in Game 1 of the 1997 finals.
— The Thunder were 29-1 in the regular season against Eastern Conference teams. They’re 0-2 against the East this season in title settings; the NBA Cup championship game against Milwaukee, which didn’t count in the season record, and now Game 1 of the finals against Indiana.
— Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points in his NBA Finals debut. The only players with more points in their first finals games are Allen Iverson (48 in 2001) and George Mikan (42 in 1949).
— Since December 2023, the Thunder are 24-2 at home against teams from the East. Both losses are to Indiana.
Quote of the day
“He just keeps finding a way and we keep putting the ball in the right positions and the rest is history.” — Pacers forward Myles Turner, on Tyrese Haliburton.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
By The Associated Press
