Throughout the 2025 NBA Playoffs, Tyrese Haliburton's clutch heroics for the Indiana Pacers have been on full display. On Thursday night, Haliburton once again delivered the goods for the Pacers, as he hit a go-ahead shot with 0.3 seconds left in Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, giving Indiana an early 1-0 lead in the series.
While the Pacers won, they were not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Haliburton's late shot gave them their only lead of the game, and they committed a mind-boggling 19 turnovers in the first half of this game. This is a spot Indiana has found themselves in on several occasions, though, and even with their ugly first half showing, Haliburton revealed after the game that there was never a sense of “disbelief” within the team.
“There was never a disbelief as a group, honestly,” Haliburton said per Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints. “You have a half like that where you're just throwing the ball to the other team, we like chaos, we like controlled chaos, but that was just chaos, ugly … As a group, we never think the game is over, ever. Honestly speaking, ever. That never creeps in.”
“When I got on the bus, when I put on my shoes. There was never a disbelief as a group honestly. You have a half like that where you’re just throwing the ball to the other team… That was just chaos, ugly… As a group, we never think the game is over. Ever. Honestly speaking,… pic.twitter.com/bCrezIpUwR
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 6, 2025
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers take control of 2025 NBA Finals in Game 1 vs. Thunder

The Pacers have managed to pull off absurd comebacks in all four of their postseason series this year, and there may not have been a bigger win than this one. Indiana entered this series as a massive underdog, but that's not exactly a role they are unfamiliar with. And now, they have taken control of their Finals series against the Thunder from seemingly out of nowhere.
After picking up this 111-110 victory, the Pacers now have taken home court advantage for themselves, but it may not even matter considering the fact that they are now 6-2 when playing on the road in these playoffs. For as wild of a victory as this was, Indiana still has a lot of work to do, and they will look to take a commanding 2-0 series lead when they take the court for Game 2 on Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET.