The mood is heavy inside the Thunder locker room after Thursday night’s ugly 111-110 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but there’s a clear sense of perspective coming from the players.
“It sucks, but we have been here before,” Jalen Williams said, summing up the mood as the team absorbs another gut-wrenching finish, this time courtesy of Tyrese Haliburton’s mid-range dagger with 0.3 seconds left.
The Thunder led for most of the game, forcing 24 turnovers and holding a 10-point lead early in the fourth. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drops an unreal 38 points, and it looks like another dominant win in the making. But once again, the final seconds tell a different story.
“We played good enough to win that game, controlled it for the most part,” Alex Caruso said, reflecting on the team’s collapse. “There’s some similar stuff from that [Denver Game 1 loss]. I think moving forward, the mentality of this team is good.”
Coach Mark Daigneault reinforces the words of Alex Caruso. “The most important game of the series is always the next one,” he said. “Would’ve liked to get the game, but it needs to be a better game in Game 2.”
Gilgeous-Alexander added: “It’s not rocket science. We lost Game 1. We have to be better.”
Caruso sums it up best: “It counts the same as when we lost by 40 in Minnesota. It’s all worth one.”
Despite the heartbreak, the Thunder aren’t spiraling, they’re studying. The players know the difference between a fluke loss and one that exposes deeper issues, and Thursday night’s game feels like the former.
As Isaiah Hartenstein puts it, “It sounds weird, it wasn’t like they won the game, but I feel like we lost the game.” That self-awareness may be what fuels Oklahoma City’s response. They’ve seen this movie before, and last time, they rewrote the ending.
Game 2 is Sunday in Oklahoma City. The Thunder know what’s at stake, and they’ve walked this path before.
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