Thunder, Pacers race for edge in Game 3 of NBA Finals

INDIANAPOLIS — Nothing is settled in the NBA Finals through two games with the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder trading wins as the series shifts to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Wednesday night.”Now the goal is to get to three games,” Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said Tuesday, a workout day at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “It’s first team to three. Kind of like it’s a blank slate, a scratch — 1-1, 0-0, and it’s first to three.”Gilgeous-Alexander drove the Thunder to victory in Game 2 after Tyrese Haliburton’s heart-stopping floater ended Game 1, his fourth game-winner of these playoffs. The MVP has 72 points through two games, the most ever in the first two games of a Finals debut.Haliburton limped through parts of Sunday’s loss, with Oklahoma City pressuring him with multiple defenders and trying to force the ball to Pascal Siakam or Indiana’s other offensive players.Haliburton said Tuesday he does have a “lower body thing” impacting him but plans to be on the floor when Indiana hosts an NBA Finals game for the first time since losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000.Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, going for his second NBA title as a head coach, has constantly reminded his young team not to unpack any of the good, bad or ugly from the first two games of the series as they embrace the home-floor opportunity.”Everything that’s already happened doesn’t matter, other than the score of the series,” Carlisle said. “We have to move forward.”The Pacers led for 0.3 seconds in Game 1 and a total of 1 minute, 56 seconds of a possible 96 minutes in the first two games of the series.They’re looking for a boost from being at home and answers for slowing down Gilgeous-Alexander, who grasps the notion he might see a new mix of defensive looks from the Pacers with two off days since Oklahoma City claimed a 123-107 win Sunday night.”A series is so tricky. It definitely is a feeling-out,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But there’s also so many adjustments made to where it’s almost hard to predict and try to determine what they’re going to do with you. You kind of just have to be ready for everything and just try to be as sharp as you can. That’s how I kind of see it.”The Pacers overcame a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter of Game 1 to steal one in Oklahoma City (111-110).Getting to the rim has been a tall order for Indiana. The Pacers have been outscored by 20 points in the paint. Resolve has been a major trait helping define the team’s success, and they’re 4-0 in the playoffs following a loss.To take control of the Finals, Carlisle is stressing the importance of tamping down turnovers without losing contact with the accelerator. Haliburton tied his playoff high with five in Game 2 and entered the fourth quarter with just five points.”You try to address those things as best as we can. Tyrese has been historically great with ball security,” Carlisle said. “This team that we’re playing now presents unprecedented challenges because they’ve been turning everybody over through the entire playoffs. We’re going to have to have really great spatial awareness with everything that we’re doing. You can’t play too careful against Oklahoma or otherwise you’ll never get a basket.”