Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said his team would need to “circle the wagons” to resurrect their NBA Finals campaign after stumbling to a 111-104 defeat against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
The Pacers looked poised to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series after surging 10 points clear late in the third quarter in front of a raucous home crowd in Indianapolis.
However, a sensational fourth quarter from the Thunder — who outscored the Pacers 31-17 in the final frame — left the series knotted at 2-2 heading into game five in Oklahoma City on Monday.
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“This is where we’re going to have to dig in and circle the wagons and come back stronger on Monday,” Carlisle said after the loss. “This is a big disappointment, but there’s three games left.”
“We’ve got to bounce back. I don’t need to motivate these guys. But this kind of a challenge is going to have extreme highs and extreme lows,” he said. “This is a low right now, and we’re going to have to bounce back from it.”
Carlisle, meanwhile, bemoaned the fact that the Pacers had been unable to build a bigger lead in the third quarter during a period of dominance that left the Thunder pinned against the ropes.
“We had some terrific opportunities that we did cash in on in the third quarter, and some late third quarter that we did not that would have made it tougher on them going into the fourth quarter,” said Carlisle, whose team led 87-80 heading into the final period.
“You’re up seven at home, you have to dig in and find a way,” Carlisle said. “We were unable to do it tonight.”
Pacers forward Pascal Siakam backed Indiana to shake off the disappointment over the final three games of the series, starting with Game 5 in Oklahoma City tomorrow.
“We’ve won some games on the road before,” Siakam said. “We’ve just got to go out there with our confidence.”
“It’s going to take a lot and it’s going to be hard, but I think we have the group capable of doing that,” he said.
Pacers Talisman Tyrese Haliburton said Indiana would be ready.
“We’ve got to be ready to go game five, going into a hostile environment,” Haliburton said. “We have to be ready to play. For us to win, we’re going to have to win one down there. We’ve got a couple days to sit on this, watch film and see where we can get better. I’m excited about the challenge.”
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