Indiana Pacers pine for hostile home crowd, Finals shift to Indy

INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time since 2000, the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals are headed to Indianapolis.

The Pacers are even with the Oklahoma City Thunder at 1-1 in the best-of-seven series ahead of Game 3 on June 11 (June 12, Singapore time).

“We got one. Get to go home and play in front of our fans at Gainbridge (Fieldhouse),” said Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith.

“They’ve been waiting for this for 25 years, it’s exciting to go back and see what the atmosphere will be like.”

The Pacers swiped the opening game and went into the second with a 7-0 record in Games 1 and 2 this post-season, before the 123-107 loss on June 8 that evened the series.

While Oklahoma City squandered a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter in Game 1, their defence was relentless in Game 2.

Indiana have only 68 points in the paint in the two games, an area Pascal Siakam believes the Pacers must address to reclaim the series lead.

“They swarm a lot. They do a good job of that. I mean, yeah, they use their hands a lot,” he said.

“I mean, we are not going to get into fouls or no fouls but whatever. I think they are just being aggressive, and we’ve got to be stronger with the ball.

“We can’t let that speed us up. We’ve still got to play under control... that’s what we’ve got to find a way to do.”

NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 36 points in the Finals and had 34 points and eight assists for the Thunder in Game 2.

He has 72 points in his first two Finals games, one better than the previous best two-game debut by Allen Iverson (71).

“I’m being myself. I don’t think I tried to reinvent the wheel or step up to the plate with a different mindset,” he said.

“Just try to attack the game the right way. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that so far.

“Now, I would trade the points for two Ws, for sure. But this is where our feet are. This is where we are.

“You can’t go back in the past, you can only make the future better. That’s what I’m focused on.”

Meanwhile, Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star guard Darius Garland underwent surgery on his big toe and will be sidelined four to five months, the team announced on June 9.

However, the Cavs also said that Garland would “resume basketball activities by the start of training camp”, which generally begins in late September.

Garland, 25, was plagued with the sprained toe down the stretch of the regular season.

He played in just five of the Cavaliers’ nine play-off games. They lost in five games to the Pacers in the second round.

Garland earned his second All-Star nod this season, averaging 20.6 points and 6.7 assists to lead the Cavs to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference play-offs.

He averaged 18.9 points and 6.7 assists in 382 career games (378 starts) over his six seasons with the Cavaliers, who selected him No. 5 overall in the 2019 draft. AFP, REUTERS