Pascal Siakam Joins NBA TV Crew, Talks Game 1 Win vs Thunder 🔥 2025 NBA Finals

0:02 5 seconds for the lead to go. Pacers by one. Hallebertton steps back and hits. Tyrese Hallebertton trying to take Cleveland's heart. He'll take it. He'll back a three for the win. And Got it. And the Haliverse made a trip to Oklahoma City. Down by 15 in the fourth quarter. Tyrese Hallebertton. Another game winner for the Indiana Pacers. They

0:48 end the game on a 12-2 run. It's the third consecutive playoff series. They've gone on the road to win game one. It's their fourth comeback. this postseason by 15 or more points. Welcome to game time live at the finals presented by YouTube TV. You know our championship crew, the Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, Isaiah Thomas and the twotime champion Kenny Smith. And we have to start with the star of this game, Tyrese Hallebertton did not light it up all game, but when you needed a bucket late, Shaq, he provided it. 14 points. But the two that mattered most, this team is resilient. They never panic. They keep fighting no matter what

1:35 the situation is. Nobody expected this. I did not expect this. I thought it should have been a blowout. Indiana did not play well at all. I thought even though Tyrese was 6 for 13, a little too passive for me. You know, I like people that step up to the challenge, but Obie Topphen played great. Nimhard hit a big step back three and they just kept fighting. You know, I said if you could kind of slow down JDub, you have a chance. He went six for 19. Shet had a horrible game. Two for nine for six points. But listen, Indiana, they definitely stole one. And uh nobody expected us. They played well. And I was sitting there on the floor and I was like, "Okay, they about to blow them out. Wait. Okay, about to blow them out again. Wait, they about to blow them out." And then it kept happen. And then

2:20 when it I think when it was like 102 to 98, they had two wide open threes that they missed. And I was like, man, and OKC couldn't, you know, score enough. You know, I think they went to Shay a lot. You know, JDub forced a couple shots and missed. But kudos to Indiana. They played some excellent basketball today. And it feels good. We all know this. When you don't have your best game and you can get a win, Yeah. that just raises your confidence. Yeah. Absolutely. Uh Indiana did not play their best basketball game, but you know, they found a way to win, and that's what they've been doing, you know, since the playoffs started. They find a way to win. They find a way to close games. And you know, they had six players in double figures tonight with 24 turnovers. And my man Seakam here, I told you he was going to get it started.

3:08 He came with the confidence. He came with the experience. And I thought his play in the first half was big for Indiana even though they had so many turnovers. You know, we have Pascal. Can you hear us? Yeah. First, congratulations on another great great comeback win. There's something about you guys when you're down 10 in a game that there's a switch that comes on. What is said, what is done to turn on that switch that wasn't there throughout three quarters of the game? Um, I think we we always we just always know we're in the game, you know? So, um, we never feel like we out of the game. Um, we just focus on the game plan, keep playing, keep playing. We made so many mistakes today. Um, so we just got to

3:54 keep keep getting better, but at the same time, we know we can't dwell on it. We just got to move on, you know. And I'll finish it up with the second part. Yeah. You said you can't dwell on the mistakes. You guys had 24 turnovers. They had, I think, six. So that's basically your guys said, "Okay, the first 18 possessions you guys score and we'll just play defense. You try to score an eight." You gave them 18 more possessions and were able to come back and win that game. Yeah, that is that is astounding. I mean, yeah, that's too many turnovers. You know, we know that's not us. Um, and we're going to get better at it. Pascal, let me ask you a question. Uh, you know, with your experience in championship play in a in a hostile arena. You won in Golden State, you know, with the Raptors. Now you come here and you win game one. What

4:41 was your message to the team before this series started? And did you come out intentionally in the first quarter to kind of set the tone a little bit scoring wise? Um, yeah. No, I think for me I was just telling my team, you know, it's a big moment. Um, we all excited to be here, but um, we just can't let that take over. Um, just playing simple basketball, the things that we know we can do. And so that was my message. And then for me, I just want to, you know, be aggressive, do what I can do. Um, but we have a team. We have such an amazing team. like so many guys that can contribute. Um so we just keep playing and um at the end of the day we know that we always have a chance. Mhm. A lot of teams when they go down deep double digits, I don't want to say they quit, but they kind of just blow it off to the next game. You guys have great resolve and you guys never panic. Where does that come from? Does it come from coach?

5:27 Does it come from you? I mean, does it come from TJ? I mean, because I've seen you guys in in really tough situations, but you never panic and you always seem to bounce back. Yeah. No, for We have an amazing coaching staff and they they do a good job just keeping us calm and for me I'm just trying to be that presence of um let's not panic. It's okay we make turnovers, get better. Um find a way to get better. Um so it's just a team thing but I know that coaches, you know, do a good job and I try to be that person also. There's one thing to start a series well when you have homec court advantage, but this is the third consecutive series you've gone on the road one game one. What is it about this group that's able to travel, go on the road in the playoffs and beat a team? Yeah, I mean we're a resilient group. We're together. Um and we always know, you know, no matter where we at, um we can always play pace of basketball, so that's what we try to focus on. You and

6:13 the last thing Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Last thing I wanted, every series it seems like that you have the offensive mismatch and some games like tonight, I think you probably I don't think you had 20 attempts. In other games, you go to 20. What is that meter? Because to win this series, there's going to have to be that night, those nights where you take advantage offensively when the guys don't really they don't seem like they call a play for you in the half court at times. Yeah. No, I mean I think again for me it's just being patient. Um I think as a as a guy for me like I know that I can always make a difference. You know, you can get antsy. I don't I don't get like that. I know that you know I trust our offense. I know that we're going to get in good positions and like I said, we have so many people that can contribute and um and it's all about team effort and like you said, there's

6:59 going to be some nights where there's going to be some big games and then some nights where I had to get a block or I got to get a rebound or I got to dive on the floor like I got to do whatever I can for us to win. How how comfortable were you at the end of the game when Hallebertton had the ball in his hands? Did you feel like, oh, we going to win this game? He's going to make this shot. Was there a certain confidence that came over you in those last couple of seconds when you looked up and you saw Hie with the ball? You was like, "We good." Yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. I mean, I think I got I got the rebound, you know. I was just trying to look for him, find him. Um, we we trust him in those in those situations to make the right play. Today was a shot and he made it, but he can also make the pass. He can do anything. So, um, I I had a 100% confidence in him and I Yeah, you know, you're sort of an old school player in the post. I love how you get it and you take your time and you try to survey the defense. They

7:46 kind of crowd the paint, active hands, a lot of fouls not being called. What adjustments are you going to make the next game so you can get your shot off a little bit more quickly? Yeah. Yeah. We got to find a way to be to be quicker, you know, like you said, they they they pack the paint and they have good hands. Um, so it's going to it's we're going to watch film, try to find, you know, quicker way to get to the paint cuz that's that's what we do, too. Pascal Seakum, champion with the Raptors in 2019, now three wins away from winning your second title. We appreciate you spending some time with us. Great game, brother. Thank you. Spicy. Yes, sir. Thank you, guys. Man, he's he froze. We're froze, but he froze the defense. He froze the defense. Tough cover. Tough cover. I don't think I've ever seen an NBA game like that.