Pacers fail to brush Games 1 and 2 in a chain for the primary time in playoffs

OKLAHOMA CITY — For the Indiana Pacers, an opportunity at being very best in Games 1 and 2 of those playoffs went awry.

They’ll need to accept a trifling cut up of the hole two video games within the NBA Finals as an alternative.

The Pacers’ bid to develop into the 5th workforce in NBA historical past to head 8-0 to open the 4 playoff rounds — sweeping Games 1 and 2 in all 4 sequence — was once stopped on Sunday night time through the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder took keep an eye on early and gained Game 2 123-107, tying the championship matchup at a sport apiece.

The Pacers have been attempting to sign up for the 1986 Boston Celtics, 1987 Los Angeles Lakers, 1996 Chicago Bulls and 2017 Golden State Warriors as groups that gained Games 1 and 2 in all 4 rounds of a unmarried postseason. All 4 went directly to win the NBA name.

Those groups all did it with home-court merit in each and every a type of sequence. The Pacers haven’t had domestic court docket since Round 1 — taking the primary two of that sequence in opposition to Milwaukee, then successful the primary two of Round 2 at Cleveland, the primary two of the Eastern Conference ultimate at New York, and Game 1 of the finals in Oklahoma City.

So, finally, the Pacers need to accept going 7-1, tying for the fifth-best document in Games 1 and 2 in one postseason. They additionally turned into the 3rd workforce to win 5 of the ones video games at the street in a playoff run.

Houston went 5-3 in Games 1 and 2 at the street on its technique to the name in 1995 and Miami went 5-3 in street video games over the primary two video games of sequence in 2023 on its technique to the NBA Finals. (The Heat have been 6-2 in “road” video games in Games 1 and 2 in their sequence within the 2020 bubble playoffs as smartly, however the ones video games have been all in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.)

“I’m not interested in talking about the past,” Pacers trainer Rick Carlisle stated. “Each day, as you are on a playoff run, is like a new day. I find that looking back is a dangerous thing. We’ve got to keep our eye firmly where it needs to be.”

If the Pacers had gained Sunday, they most likely would had been overwhelming favorites heading domestic with a 2-0 lead. Only two groups — the 1993 Chicago Bulls and 1995 Houston Rockets — gained the primary two video games of a finals at the street, and each went directly to win the NBA name in the ones seasons. And groups that open the finals with a 2-0 lead pass directly to win the sequence 86.5 in line with cent of the time (32 occasions in 37 probabilities).