Pacers Force Game 7 vs. Thunder amid Tyrese Haliburton Injury, Thrill NBA Fans

The Indiana Pacers haven't quit all postseason with a number of impressive comebacks and wins as overlooked challengers.

So they weren't about to quit with their championship aspirations hanging in the balance.

Indiana handled the Oklahoma City Thunder with ease in a 108-91 victory in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. It forced a decisive Game 7 as a result, and a champion will be determined Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Tyrese Haliburton fought through a calf injury to tally 14 points and five assists as part of a balanced effort. Pascal Siakam (16 points and 13 rebounds), Andrew Nembhard (17 points and three steals), Obi Toppin (20 points and six rebounds) and T.J. McConnell (12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals) also played well.

League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 21 points, but the Pacers also turned him over eight times as part of a dominant defensive effort.

Social media had nothing but love for the Eastern Conference representative:

The biggest storyline from Indiana's perspective coming into Thursday's contest was the health of Haliburton, who was limited by a right calf strain during the team's Game 5 loss. ESPN's Shams Charania reported the guard "would be missing multiple weeks" if it was the regular season.

That put other players in a position where they needed to elevate their game if the Pacers were going to extend their season, and they certainly did just that.

Indiana built an astounding 64-42 halftime advantage with Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and Toppin draining three-pointers, McConnell stuffing the stat sheet as an energizer who did a little bit of everything, and Siakam adding an exclamation mark with a monster dunk and buzzer-beater going into intermission.

As if the excellent play from the role players wasn't enough to fire up the raucous home crowd, Haliburton settled into the game with an array of three-pointers, crisp passes and even a left-handed floater in the lane.

It wasn't just the offense, as the Pacers stole a page from the Thunder's book with stifling defense. The visitors turned it over 12 times in the first half alone with five of them coming from Gilgeous-Alexander as Nembhard used his physicality to provide some defensive pressure.

That defense went nowhere during intermission, as OKC didn't even score its first point of the second half until more than five minutes of game action unfolded.

Such strong defense also allowed the Pacers to easily survive a cold stretch of their own, and the game was all but decided by the time Siakam, Toppin and Ben Sheppard connected on three-pointers in a flurry to end the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was a formality, and Indiana was able to rest Haliburton as all eyes turn toward Sunday's Game 7.