Indiana Pacers pine for hostile home crowd Finals shift to Indy

INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time since 2000, the NBA Finals are headed to Indianapolis.

The Pacers are even with the Oklahoma City Thunder at 1-1 in the best-of-seven Finals as the series rolls into Indiana for Game 3 on June 11 (June 12, Singapore time).

“We got one. Get to go home and play in front of our fans at Gainbridge,” Pacers guard Aaron Nesmith said.

“They’ve been waiting for this for 25 years, it’s exciting to go back and see what the atmosphere will be like.”

The Pacers swiped the opening game of the series and went into the second with a 7-0 record in Games 1 and 2 this post-season, before the 123-107 loss that evened the Finals.

While Oklahoma City squandered a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter in Game 1, the Thunder defence was relentless in Game 2. Indiana have only 38 points in the paint in two games, an area Pascal Siakam believes the Pacers must address to reclaim the series lead.

“They swarm a lot. They do a good job of that. I mean, yeah, they use their hands a lot,” he said.

“I mean, we are not going to get into fouls or no fouls but whatever. I think they are just being aggressive, and we’ve got to be stronger with the ball. We can’t let that speed us up. We’ve still got to play under control... that’s what we’ve got to find a way to do.”

NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 36 points in the Finals and had 34 points and eight assists for the Thunder in Game 2.

He has 72 points in his first two Finals games, one better than the previous best ever two-game debut by Allen Iverson (71).

“I’m being myself. I don’t think I tried