A 2025 NBA Championship banner was not hanging in the rafters of. Still, for three hours and 13 minutes on Oct. 23, it was June all over again.
The only thing missing was the Larry O’Brien championship trophy.
In a brutal sequel to the 2025 NBA Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder outlasted the Indiana Pacers 141-135 in double overtime in the Pacers’ regular-season opener. The game, a rematch of a Finals series that ended only four months prior, carried the weight and intensity of a ‘Game 8,’ reopening fresh wounds for a Pacers team navigating a new reality.
“It feels like a playoff game in here,” said longtime Pacers fan Chris Karimu, who was in attendance for the multitude of postseason games last season. The energy from June had not dissipated even a little bit.
The Thunder (2-0) made history, becoming the first NBA team to open a season with back-to-back double-overtime games, winning them both. And for the second time, they leaned on the heroics of reigning 2025 NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who poured in a career-high 55 points with eight rebounds and five assists.
“I attack, I am always going downhill, that is probably No. 1 on my scouting report,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I was being aggressive. Having a lot of guys out, I know I had to put my aggressive foot forward, and I wanted to do so tonight, and I did enough.”
For the Pacers (0-1), the loss was a bitter pill, laced with a grim sense of déjà vu. The team embarks on the 2025-26 season without its heart and soul. All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton is out for the year after suffering a right Achilles tear during Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Thunder.
The Pacers’ backcourt woes deepened in the first half when starter Andrew Nembhard left the game with a suspected left shoulder soreness and did not return.
Despite being shorthanded, Indiana dueled the Thunder blow-for-blow, led by a valiant effort from Bennedict Mathurin (36 points, 11 rebounds) and Pascal Siakam (32 points, 15 rebounds).
“This group is (defined) by grit,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said after the loss. “Grit is what our makeup is going to have to be this year. There are going to be a lot of challenges and we have to be willing to take on these challenges on a long-term basis. We are going to have to have an attitude of loving the challenge of how difficult the NBA is when you are not whole.”
The game was a roller coaster, featuring 18 lead changes and 19 ties. Indiana led 113-111 with under 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, poised to exorcise their NBA Finals demons.
Siakam’s 21-foot jumper with less than seven seconds to go in the fourth quarter led to the Pacers’ first overtime of the season.
The first extra period ended in a 124-124 deadlock after Mathurin answered a Gilgeous-Alexander basket with one of his own. In the second overtime, the Thunder finally created separation.
Aaron Wiggins, who scored 23 points and hit five three-pointers, buried two crucial shots from yonder to give Oklahoma City a lead it would not relinquish.
Rookie Ajay Mitchell was also pivotal for the Thunder, providing 26 points off the bench, while Holmgren added 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Obi Toppin contributed 20 points for the Pacers, providing a spark throughout the contest.
In the end, it was a familiar script for the 17,274 fans in attendance in downtown Indianapolis, a sellout crowd that roared with every Pacers run and watched in agonizing silence as the Thunder, once again, closed the show. The dream of a championship may have slipped through Hoosier hands in June, but on opening night, the fight — and the heartbreak — felt very much the same.
The Pacers will look to secure their first win of the season against Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies on Oct. 25 in Tennessee.
Contact Multi-Media & Senior Sports Reporter Noral Parham at 317-762-7846 or via email at noralp@indyrecorder.com. Follow him on social media @HorsemenSportsMedia. For more Pacers coverage, click here.
Noral Parham is the multi-media & senior sports reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder, one of the oldest Black publications in the country. Parham has worked with various leagues to provide a diverse perspective in sports, including the Big Ten, Big East, IHSAA, IndyCar, MLB, NHRA, NFL, NBA, WNBA, WWE and the Olympics. Prior to joining the Recorder, Parham served as the community advocate of the MLK Center in Indianapolis and senior copywriter for an e-commerce and marketing firm in Denver.
