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A desperate Indiana Pacers squad got the better of a complacent Oklahoma City Thunder team in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, forcing a winner-take-all Game 7 for the right to hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy this Sunday.
Former Gonzaga standout Chet Holmgren helped his squad jump out to an early lead, as OKC pounced on a 10-2 advantage within the first 4 minutes, before Holmgren's college teammate, Andrew Nembhard, engineered a counterpunch from Indiana to flip the momentum pendulum for good.
The Pacers kept their foot on the gas pedal of a 22-point halftime lead going into the third quarter, expanding the margin to 31 points at one point in the second half. Nembhard stepped up with another brilliant elimination game performance, finishing with 17 points, four assists and three steals while shooting an efficient 5-of-7 from the field.
Holmgren, conversely, didn't have his most productive night on the offensive end. The 7-footer had four points on 2-of-8 shooting from the floor to go with six rebounds, posting the second-worst box plus/minus (-11) ratio of his young playoff career.
Here's what Holmgren had to say regarding OKC's lackluster night and what they'll need to do to be better in Game 7 on Sunday (5 p.m. PST, ABC).
On what got OKC off track early on
"I don't think it was one factor. But no matter what it is, we have to be better at kind of course correcting, getting ourselves back on the right track. I personally could be better trying to help us get things going in the right way, so we're going to watch the film and see where we can be better, and at the end of the day, we still have a great opportunity with Game 7. We have to come out and execute."
"I don't think it's a one sentence answer or one word answer, but at the end of the day, there really is no explanation, there's no excuse. We have to be better. We have to execute better from top to bottom, myself included, and I'm gonna look to see where I can be better and do my best to execute in Game 7."
On balancing disappointment with knowing there's one more game to play
"Just trying to cut the emotion out of it. Obviously, that's frustrating. It's not fun. Nobody's happy right now, but you can't let the emotions kind of sidetrack you from what we need to do, leading up to and during the game, coming up. We've had wins and losses throughout the playoffs, so it's kind of a similar mentality; turn the page, don't forget what just happened, but see where you can do better and then try and apply it going forward."
On the value of having Game 7 at home
"Obviously it's a great opportunity. You could ask every team in the NBA; every team would take this opportunity to take this chance. And we're no different, and it's on us to go out there and make the most of it."
On learning how difficult it is to close out a Finals series
"I'd say it's very similar to a close out game in any series. No team is just going to roll over and go home — it's going to be really physical, there's not going to be any favors from the officiating. You have to make it happen. It's not going to happen by accident. So we have to learn the lesson from tonight and come back and do better."
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