The Oklahoma City Thunder arrived in Indianapolis prepared for a championship coronation, and the opening minutes of Game 6 looked like it was heading that way with their early 10-2 lead. Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams made superstar-quality drives to the basket and were each responsible for four of those 10 early points.

Pascal Siakam settled the Indiana Pacers down with a mid-range jumper and an and-1, followed by two quick Andrew Nembhard three-pointers and a layup. Obi Toppin made consecutive three-pointers while Tyrese Haliburton looked healthier than anticipated and was aggressive in searching for his own offense. Haliburton finally made a three-pointer and let out a visible sigh of relief.

The Pacers not only withstood the initial surge from the Thunder to start the game down eight, but they just as quickly built as much as a nine-point first-quarter lead. The early exchange exemplified what Haliburton has been consistent in his messaging throughout the series—that the Pacers need to "win in the margins." For Haliburton and the Pacers, this means turnovers and rebounding as well as which team plays with force.

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These are also the two deepest teams in the NBA. The apron era will be defined by the best teams losing the quality of their depth over time. This has happened to past winners such as the Bucks and Nuggets, while the Celtics are expected to join them with similar attrition this offseason. Through the first six games of the series, the team that has had the highest bench scoring output has won every game.

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The second quarter became another episode of the T.J. McConnell show as he scored Indiana's first eight points of the quarter before setting up Haliburton for a three-pointer for the Pacers to go up 39-33. The Pacers extended the lead to 12 after a sequence where Holmgren missed an easy alley-oop, followed by Haliburton finding Nesmith for a transition three-pointer. The moment felt inevitable—the Pacers weren't simply digging deeper in an elimination game; they were dismantling the Thunder systematically.

The quarter's crescendo belonged to Haliburton and Siakam. Haliburton drove into the paint for a left-handed floater with 1:26 remaining to extend the lead to 60-42, followed by a Haliburton steal and pass to Siakam for a highlight reel dunk. Siakam converted a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer to improbably make the score 64-42 at halftime.

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Twenty-two points represented more than a comfortable cushion for the Pacers, and the lead held firm when both teams went scoreless for nearly the first four minutes of the second half until Haliburton baited Holmgren into the air before a give-and-go bucket to Nesmith.

Oklahoma City went on a 9-0 run to bring the deficit back down to 20 at one point, but Ben Sheppard's buzzer-beater to end the third made it a 90-60 game. Andrew Nembhard's one-handed touch pass—threading a Thunder tip-out back to Sheppard—served as a microcosm of how everything was going right for the Pacers.

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This will be the 20th Game 7 in NBA Finals history. The most recent one in 2016 had the regular-season MVP losing at home as Stephen Curry and the Warriors lost to the Cavaliers. The one before that in 2013 had the regular-season MVP winning at home as LeBron James defeated the Spurs after the miraculous Ray Allen shot in Game 6. Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994 and Larry Bird in 1984 also won Game 7s at home after winning regular-season MVP. Now Shai will get his opportunity for his MVP double, but it will require beating a team that has proven its faith in both system and resilience.

Haliburton was able to sit the entire fourth quarter of Game 6 to rest his calf. With two full days of treatment, he'll return to Oklahoma City, where the Thunder have been unable to dictate terms the way they have during 11 of the 12 quarters in Indianapolis. Haliburton acknowledged Game 7 will likely be an ugly battle, as most Game 7s are—the type of grind-it-out win the Pacers were expected to need throughout this series instead of the comprehensive dismantling they delivered in Game 6.

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My eyes stayed with Haliburton on the assist to Siakam at the end of the second quarter as he exaggeratedly spun into his pass. Only upon replay did the full picture emerge: how closely Williams had come to contesting Siakam at the rim, and that what followed was a vicious poster dunk that punctuated the Pacers' dominance.

Jalen Williams stumbled upon landing after the Siakam dunk in a game he'd finish with a minus-40 after flawlessly scoring 40 points one game prior. This series has now tilted three separate times: the Pacers on the verge of going up 3-1 in Game 4, the Oklahoma City's fourth-quarter comeback in Game 4 and subsequent Game 5 win, and now the Pacers' commanding Game 6 victory. 

"If we are fortunate enough to go on and win this thing, I think that play will be remembered for a long time," said Haliburton.