NBA world upset by visual presentation of Pacers-Thunder Game 1: ‘Looks like a regular season game’

The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder faced off in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, but some folks felt like it wasn’t obvious that it was such a high-stakes game solely based on the visual presentation of the product.

The court and TV broadcast felt plain to many, and the NBA world had some strong words about the aesthetic.

While the opening game of the championship series left a lot to be desired from an aesthetic standpoint, folks were still treated to a thrilling game.

As the Pacers have already done numerous times in these playoffs, they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, and now they’re only three wins away from winning their first championship in franchise history.

The Pacers were down nine heading into the fourth quarter (and in the final minutes), yet they won the contest by one point after a 35-point fourth quarter and massively clutch shot from star guard Tyrese Haliburton. He hit a jumper to give the Pacers a one-point lead with less than one second remaining in the fourth quarter.

Haliburton has been on an incredible run of huge moments, and he’s only adding to his reputation as a clutch performer as the playoffs continue.

The Pacers and Haliburton will now look to do exactly what they’ve already done twice this postseason and take both of the first two games of a series on the road. Game 2 between the Pacers and Thunder is scheduled for Sunday night before the series moves to Indiana for the following two contests.

The NBA should perhaps look to add some sparkle to the aesthetic of NBA Finals moving forward, but people’s main takeaway from Thursday’s game should not be that they were disappointed by the visual presentation. A similarly thrilling matchup in Game 2 would likely go a long way toward keeping fans satisfied.