Game 7 Will Have Most 'Weight' to it of any Game in Thunder History

The stakes simply don't get bigger than what is going to take place on Sunday. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers will go head-to-head in a Game 7 to go for each franchise's first NBA Finals victory.

Oklahoma City wanted to get it done in six games, but Indiana came out firing on their home floor in a blowout win. While the Thunder get to return home in Game 7, the pressure and atmosphere will be unlike any of its players have ever experienced before — and the franchise itself.

Even by halftime, it was pretty obvious that Oklahoma City was going to drop Thursday night's contest. Despite that, All-Star Jalen Williams didn't put the situation into reality until the very end. Now, it is truly win and go home — for good.

"The human element didn't creep in for me until we got blown out," Williams said. "I didn't start thinking about Game 7 until we walked off the floor. Really like when the game was really out of reach."

In Game 6, the Thunder looked like an entirely different group of players. The effort and expectations for a game of that nature weren't close to being met, as the Pacers steamrolled through it for most of the four quarters of action.

As deep of playoff experience as Oklahoma City has gotten in this very run, the finals are a whole different level of preparation. Turns out, the preparation just wasn't there. That has to change in Game 7.

"Think we had the right mindset coming into it," Williams said. "I think there was different things we didn't do in the game well that hurt us. Closing out in the Finals is different than a playoff game because it's the end of the season ... you play for so long that it just has more weight to it. Obviously, you want to win a championship. You don't want to feel like it was all for nothing. That's been the biggest difference between closing out now as opposed to, like, a Denver series or Minnesota."

For Indiana, it was the same set of circumstances. If it lost, the championship hopes would be over, all while losing for the final appearance in Indianapolis. Given that, the Pacers just played gutsier and with more of a chip on their shoulders.

It's easy for the Thunder to lose hope, but it can't — not at this point. It'll remain confident heading into Game 7 and with the same intensity that it's displayed throughout the year. It's now or never.

"(Indiana) is going into Game 7 confident, and so are we," Williams said.