- NBA Finals Game 7: Pacers at Thunder, 8 p.m., Sunday; TV: ABC
You can argue all you want if the Indiana Pacers have a superstar, but their superpower is their depth.
In Thursday’s Game 6 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Pacers had six players score in double figures, and that’s been a constant this season — and postseason.
In fact, the Pacers are the first team in NBA history with eight players to score at least 200 points in a single playoffs:
- Pascal Siakam (456)
- Tyrese Haliburton (390)
- Myles Turner (311)
- Aaron Nesmith (288)
- Andrew Nembhard (272)
- Bennedict Mathurin (219)
- Obi Toppin (216)
- T.J. McConnell (202)
In six NBA Finals games so far, the Pacers have had four players lead the team in scoring (Siakam in Games 1, 4 and 5, Haliburton in Game 2, Mathurin in Game 3 and Toppin in Game 6).
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“You’ve got a group of guys who all have all had a somewhat similar path of being overlooked,” Turner said after Game 6. “You have guys like Aaron Nesmith and Pascal getting traded and Tyrese getting traded and Nembhard is a second-round pick.
“I think we all carry a little bit of that weight with us. When you put a bunch of guys like that together, that starts to add up.”
All the right moves: How Pacers were built into an unlikely title contender
Here are some more stats:
∎ McConnell had 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals, becoming the first bench player to hit those numbers in an NBA Finals game since starters and bench players were first tracked in the 1970-71 season.
∎ McConnell is the first bench player in NBA history with 60+ points, 25+ assists and 15+ rebounds in an NBA Finals, per StatMuse.
∎ Per Statmuse, Obi Toppin is just the second bench player in NBA Finals history with 70+ points, 30+ rebounds and 12+ 3s made. The other? Big Shot Bob, Robert Horry.
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