The Indiana Pacers mounted an incredible 15-point fourth-quarter comeback to edge the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of this season’s Finals. The night was capped by Tyrese Haliburton’s game-winning jump shot with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. But signs that OKC — including many of their star players — weren’t quite at their A-game were visible throughout.
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Despite dominating early, the Thunder let turnovers erase their advantage, turning a comfortable lead into a gut-wrenching home loss. They simply can’t afford a repeat, which is why Quentin Richardson wants Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren to step up.
Williams finished with 17 points, six assists, and four rebounds but shot just 31.8% from the field. That poor efficiency undercut his overall performance. Oklahoma City needed him to apply more consistent pressure on the Pacers, but his shaky shot selection and late-game passivity disrupted their rhythm.
“He plays too much of a role on this team to only have the output he had,” Richardson said on ESPN’s SportsCenter. He reminded fans that Williams is a Second-Team All-Defense player and urged him to channel that same grit into a more aggressive offense.
The Thunder can’t settle for empty numbers. They need Williams to assert himself as their second-best player and bring real force in Game 2.
Richardson further unloaded on Williams: “He needs to be far better than he was offensively. We need him to be more aggressive. We need him to put more of an imprint on the game… He wasn’t the Jay Dub they needed him to be during that first game, and they need him to show up in that All-Star fashion.”
Richardson then shifted his attention to Holmgren and didn’t sugarcoat his disappointment. “We need the big fella to do something! Six points, six rebounds!? That is so far below his standard.” The Thunder sat Holmgren for large stretches after his shaky play, and Indiana’s bigs took advantage.
“He didn’t have any blocking presence in the paint. Miles Turner and those guys had him off balance and taking a lot of awkward shots,” Richardson said.
Holmgren shot just 22.2% from the field and logged only 23 minutes. Richardson raised the question many are asking: Can Holmgren handle the pressure of the NBA Finals? Because in Game 1, he essentially vanished.
Richardson also blasted head coach Mark Daigneault’s decision to tinker with the starting lineup. He called for the Thunder to return to their regular five with Isaiah Hartenstein at power forward.
“I need them to go back to their regular starting lineup. I don’t know why Daigneault flinched before any game… That was the starting lineup that led them to the best record in the NBA this season, and they changed it before they even played Game 1. I felt like that troubled Chet Holmgren’s impact on the game because I feel he plays better with Hartenstein at the four.”
The former LA Clipper argued that the lineup change disrupted their chemistry and weakened both rebounding and interior defense. Bringing Hartenstein back, Richardson said, would give Holmgren the spacing and support he needs to bounce back from a quiet start. That adjustment could help them dominate the boards and slow Indiana’s late momentum.
The Thunder still hold home-court advantage in Game 2.
