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Posts tagged as “Pascal Siakam”

Pacers Blow Out Thunder to Force winner takes all Game 7

June 20, 2025

The Indiana Pacers routed the OKC Thunder to force a Game 7 in the 2025 NBA Finals. The Pacers had a slow start, being down 2–10, but then went on a 26–15 run to close the 1st quarter with a 28–25 lead. In the second quarter, the Pacers tightened their defense by limiting the Thunder to just 17 points while scoring 36. The quarter was punctuated by a Haliburton steal and a no-look pass to Siakam, who posterized Jalen Williams with a jam.

It was a total team effort for the Pacers, with six players scoring in double figures. Tyrese Haliburton, who was playing with a strained calf aggravated in Game 5, had 14 points and 5 assists. Obi Toppin scored a team-high 20 points, with 4-of-7 from the 3-point line off the bench. Despite having the tough assignment of guarding league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he was able to score 17 points and 4 assists. Pascal Siakam added 16 points and 13 rebounds.

The second half was no different from the first. The Pacers again limited OKC to just 18 points in the 3rd period while building a 30-point lead entering the 4th quarter. By the start of the 4th, OKC Head Coach Mark Daigneault took out most of his starting lineup. Even though they managed to score 31 points in the final period and limited the Pacers to just 18 points, the lead was too much for OKC to overcome.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led OKC with a modest 21 points, followed by Jalen Williams with 16 points, after scoring 40 points in Game 5.

Game Highlights

This will be the first Game 7 in the NBA Finals since 2016, and it will be in Oklahoma City this Sunday. History will be on OKC’s side, as home teams are 15-4 in Finals Game 7s, but the last team to win a Game 7 was the visiting team.

Oklahoma City Thunder win Game 5 of the 2025 NBA Finals (120 – 109)

June 17, 2025

The OKC Thunder are one win away from hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy, as they easily defeated an undermanned Indiana Pacers (120-109). OKC built a comfortable 18-point lead in the first half (56-38), but the Pacers slowly chipped away at the lead to trail by just two points (95-93) with 8:30 left in the game. However, the Pacers were not able to take the lead, as the Thunder went on a 25-16 run.

Jalen Williams scored a career playoff-high 40 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 points and 10 assists. OKC also got a lot of help from their bench players, with Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace adding 14 points and 11 points, respectively.

Tyrese Haliburton, who was playing with an ankle injury that he aggravated in the first quarter, was limited throughout the game. He failed to make a single field goal the whole game, with all of his 4 points coming from the free-throw line. Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists, while T.J. McConnell added 18 points and Aaron Nesmith had 14.

Game 6 will be in Indiana, and the Pacers will have one more chance to extend this to Game 7 and prevent OKC from celebrating on their home court.

Pascal Siakam bags the 2025 Eastern Conference Most Valuable Player

June 1, 2025

In the series, Siakam is averaging 24.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists with 1.3 steals and 2.5 blocks in the Eastern Conference Finals. His experience with the Raptors when they won the NBA Championship will be a big factor against a very young and talented OKC Thunder.

Indiana Pacers move on to the 2025 NBA Finals

June 1, 2025

The Indiana Pacers will advance to the NBA Finals as they defeat the NY Knicks to bag the 2025 Eastern Conference Champions. It was a close first half of the game, where the largest lead was just 6 points (33-39) by the Indiana Pacers.

Pascal Siakam, who was named 2025 Eastern Conference MVP, carried the scoring load for the Pacers in the first half, scoring a team-high 31 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists with a steal and 3 blocks. Tyrese Haliburton, who had just scored 7 points in the first half, added 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 13 assists. He also made 3 steals and a block.

As great as Siakam and Haliburton were, it was a total team effort for the Pacers. Seven Pacers scored in double digits, including seldom-used Thomas Bryant, who scored 11 points in just 13 minutes of playing time.

This will be the Pacers’ first trip to the NBA Finals in 25 years. The last time they won the Eastern Conference Finals was in 2000, where they also defeated the NY Knicks in 6 games.

The Indiana Pacers will face the waiting OKC Thunder, with the league MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals will be this Thursday.

Pacers eliminate Cavs to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals (114 – 105)

May 15, 2025

The Indiana Pacers have once again showed us that they’re one of the top franchise in the Eastern Conference, by eliminating the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers with a final score of 114-105 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semi-final series. This will be the second consecutive year the Pacers have advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, a feat they haven’t achieved in more than a decade.

Despite a strong start from the Cavaliers, the Pacers rallied from a 19-point deficit in the second quarter, took control in the third, and built a 12-point lead after halftime. Notably, the Pacers won all three games at Cleveland’s homecourt in the series.

Tyrese Haliburton led the charge for Indiana with 31 points, including five crucial three-pointers in the second quarter that sparked the Pacers’ comeback. Haliburton also grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out 8 assists. Pascal Siakam contrrbuted a solid 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.

Donovan Mitchell, playing through left ankle injury, led the Cavaliers with a game-high 35 points and 9 rebounds, while Evan Mobley added 24 points and 11 rebounds. However, the Cavaliers struggled with their shooting, particularly from beyond the arc, converting only 9 of their 35 three-point attempts. The Pacers’ defense tightened in the 3rd quater, limiting the Cavaliers’ to just 20 points against the Pacers’ 33 points.

The Pacers now await the winner of the other Eastern Conference semi-final matchup between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.

Embiid, Markkanen and Morant named as All-Star Starters replacements for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game

February 11, 2023

Here are some good news and bad news, well I guess that will depend on the player you’re rooting for. Good news for fans of Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen and Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, since all three All Star will move-up to be starters replacing injured and starters Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (left superior tib/fib sprain), Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (right knee MCL sprain) and New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (strained right hamstring), which is a bad new for the fans of the said injured players.

At the sametime, 3 new All Star Reserves was named by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver as injury replacements for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game namely; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox and Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam.

NBA All-Star Game will be played on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 8:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. MT at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.

The NBA All-Star Draft will take place hours before the game where Captains for each team will choose from the player pool to complete their team roster. For this year’s All Star Games Lebron James, of the LA Lakers and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks are named as the Team Captains.

Below are the complete list of player pool including the Injured/Will Not Play, as well as the replacements;

  • Bam Adebayo (Miami)
  • Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) – Starter and Team Captain
  • Jaylen Brown (Boston)
  • Stephen Curry (Golden State) – Starter, Injured and will not play
  • DeMar DeRozan (Chicago)
  • Luka Dončić (Dallas)
  • Kevin Durant (Phoenix) – Starter, Injured and will not play
  • Anthony Edwards (Minnesota) – Injury Replacement
  • Joel Embiid (Philadelphia) – Starter Replacement
  • De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento) – Injury Replacement
  • Paul George (LA Clippers)
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City)
  • Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana)
  • Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee)
  • Kyrie Irving (Dallas) – Starter
  • Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis)
  • LeBron James (L.A. Lakers) – Starter and Team Captain
  • Nikola Jokić (Denver) – Starter
  • Damian Lillard (Portland)
  • Lauri Markkanen (Utah) – Starter Replacement
  • Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland) – Starter
  • Ja Morant (Memphis) – Starter Replacement
  • Julius Randle (New York)
  • Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento)
  • Pascal Siakam (Toronto) – Injury Replacement
  • Jayson Tatum (Boston) – Starter
  • Zion Williamson (New Orleans) – Starter, Injured and will not play

Source: NBA