The Deep Water

An inexplicable Game 7 in The NBA Finals. Who will fold between OKC and the Pacers?

Here’s All Hat, Some Cattle. A weekly sports column on DWWBYa in the vein of what you used to read on the back page of Sports Illustrated. It’s one of the many reasons I hope you’ll consider upgrading your subscription to a paid one. PS - I made this post free, please share if you like what you’re reading.

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I think about something a Wyoming Cowboys quarterback said in a postgame interview way too often. Not Josh Allen. But some other guy who will make a killing in insurance, cars or commercial real estate in Laramie.

This is not a commentary on the Red Raiders or the Craig Bohl Cowboys, but on how the words of a Mountain West quarterback have stuck with me. After upsetting Texas Tech in 2OT to start the 2023 season, Andrew Peasley gave an iconic quote to a sideline reporter: “For this game, it was just take 'em to the deep end of the pool and they're gonna fold.”¹

The action which occurs after a kickoff or the ball being thrown in the air often feels so perfunctory. A going through the motions before the inevitable result. One team is simply more talented than the other, better coached, more prepared and the outcome feels predetermined. Shoot, college football and the NBA have felt like that for much of my lifetime. You knew which handful of teams would be there at the end and the season was a slow march to get there. Alabama with Nick Saban, the Golden State Warriors with Kevin Durant and Steph Curry.

It’s how these NBA Finals felt going into them. The public tuned out because it was a small-market battle and even the hoops junkies collectively thought OKC in 5 was a foregone conclusion. But it’s been much closer to Nirvana on the hardwood. Despite the fact the Oklahoma City Thunder have seemed to have their foot upon the throats of the Pacers at multiple points throughout the series. Only to be pushed off time and time again by Rick Carlisle’s team using a form of Hoosier State sorcery or dark magic using the ghost of Norman Dale.

The Sporting News

The Finals have inexplicably reached a do-or-die Game 7. Perhaps OKC, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams are doing what kids do and playing with their food. Maybe it’s just the natural progression of how a team grows and the Thunder are simply feeling the pain in their growth plates right now.

Or they’re being dragged to the deep water by Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and company.

When does a team drown?

Usually when they’ve swum to a place they never expected to be. It’s why upsets in March Madness happen so often. The favorite looks around and notices they’re in a place where they’re not supposed to swim. They haven’t been in this water before, while the underdog can do an ugly survival float forever.

But the right result usually occurs in the NBA because seven-game series are long, leaving a lot of time for Cinderella to turn into a pumpkin. That’s why it’s shocking the series is even here, at a final game. Now who has the better future or the more promising assets doesn’t matter. An entire season funnels into 48 minutes. When the contest is reduced to one game and a collection of moments which decide a team’s future. Game 7s in the Finals are often a game of chicken, an ugly slog determined by who blinks and which obscure role players decide to etch their names in stone. It’s about who can withstand the fear, repel the panic and keep the water out of their lungs.

Not to throw a wet blanket on the Pacers’ incredible run, but I find a hard time believing they’ll be back in this position in some future June. One win away from holding the Larry O’Brien trophy, that is. They’re also a little older than this OKC team, so the stakes might be laid bare to them too. Meanwhile, the Thunder seem like a lock to return here perennially.

However, everyone (including me) thought the same thing about another Thunder team once upon a time. And they never returned.

It’s why it's so key not to fold once you’re in the deep end of the pool. You may not make it back.

1. Mixing poker and swimming? I’ll forgive Peasley for the mixed metaphor, who among us?