It s not unfair. When the Pacers went from leading to losing, where did they lose? The three major defeats were exposed, and the biggest "sinner" was found

In the 2025 NBA Finals G4 field, the Indiana Pacers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-111 under the once-leading situation, losing a good game, and the total score was equalized to 2-2. The loss in this game exposed many problems of the Pacers.

Fault 1: The offense was silent in the last quarter and the key ball made a mistake. In the first three quarters of the game, the Pacers once mastered the rhythm of the game and achieved a 7-point lead with team cooperation and stable performance. However, entering the final quarter, the Pacers seemed to have changed their teams and the offensive end was completely trapped in a quagmire. The team only scored 17 points in this quarter, and suffered a three-point drought on the outside. They made no 7 attempts, setting a record of the worst three-point record in the finals in a single quarter. At the same time, the Thunder team was like an awakened beast, hitting a 31-17 offensive climax and completing an amazing reversal. Among them, the Pacers are a disaster in handling key balls. They did not hand over the ball to the core scorer Siakam at the critical moment, but instead let Halliburton and Nembhard challenge the Thunder's inside line. The offensive effect was extremely poor and they completely lost control of the game situation.

Fault 2: Free throws and fouls without the ball have become another key factor in the Pacers' defeat in this game. Especially Mathering, the player made a fatal mistake in the last 23 seconds of the game. He only hit 1 goal in four free throws, followed by two fouls without the ball, directly sending Alexanderan to score 4 points, instantly widening the score difference to 4 points, completely destroying the Pacers' hope of chasing points. Not only that, the Pacers' free throw percentage in the final quarter was only 50%, and they missed many opportunities to narrow the score difference, which undoubtedly gave the Thunder a "big gift" to the reversal.

Failure 3; from the perspective of tactical execution and rotation, there are also problems with Pacers. When leading the team was too conservative, they gave up their sharp fast break and three-point tactics in the first three quarters, and were suppressed by Alexander's singles and Caruso's steal counterattack. Although substitute Topin performed well in the first three quarters and contributed 17 points, he was in no state in the final quarter; and Halliburton, as the core of the team, also made key mistakes in the final quarter, such as three-point "air balloon" and passing mistakes, which seriously affected the team's morale and game direction.

Looking at the whole game, on the Pacers, Matherin has undoubtedly become the biggest sinner in the team's loss. He only scored 8 points in the game, played 14 minutes, made 1 of 2 shots, and his performance was sluggish. Especially in the final quarter of the game, the consecutive low-level mistakes and missed free throws became the turning point of the game, which directly led to the team being passive and was mercilessly called the "big sinner" by the media.

Now, the series has been equalized, and the two sides will fight to the death in the Battle of Tianwang Mountain, and the game will be moved to the Thunder home court. If the Pacers want to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the next game, they must make profound reflections and adjustments. For Mathering, it is also necessary to adjust his mentality as soon as possible, find his condition back, and avoid making mistakes at critical moments again. Otherwise, the Pacers' prospects in this final will become extremely bleak.