Pacers avoid 2nd straight home-court playoff exit, routing Thunder to force Game 7

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Pacers did not let another home-court opportunity slip away Thursday night.

Not with a raucous crowd on its feet almost from start to finish, not with Reggie Miller and nearly a dozen former Pacers cheering them on and certainly not with the first NBA title in franchise just two wins away.

So the Pacers dug down, fought through injuries and finally played their way. They knocked down 3-pointers, forced turnovers and had the heavily gold-clad crowd doing high-fives between the third and fourth quarters as Indiana extended its season with a 108-91 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The winner-take-all Game 7 is Sunday night in Oklahoma City.

“They rallied and got behind our group and here's a do or die game and as much as we didn't want to lose this game and see a celebration on our floor, our fans didn't want to see that either,” Tyrese Haliburton said after finishing with 14 points and five assists in 23 minutes on a strained right calf.

Haliburton saw it himself last year when he watched helplessly from the sidelines for the Games 3 and 4 of last season's Eastern Conference final sweep by eventual champion Boston. He was there again for Game 4 when the Pacers blew a seven-point, fourth quarter lead to blow the home-court edge they earned courtesy of Haliburton's last second shot to beat the Thunder in Game 1.

Those results made this more than a win-or-go-home scenario for the Pacers.

This time their boisterous crowd made sure it wasn't close.

“This is the loudest I've ever heard Gainbridge (Fieldhouse) or Conseco (Fieldhouse),” coach Rick Carlisle joked, referring to the only other time the finals were played in Indy in 2000. “The crowd was absolutely tremendous and we're playing the best team on the planet.”

The Pacers found inspiration everywhere they looked after suffering their first back-to-back losses since March 10.

First, Haliburton had to convince trainers he could play — and play effectively. Then after missing eight straight shots to open the game, Indiana made eight of its next 10 to take the lead. And then, as usual, it was off to the races though that's been far more difficult in this series.

The Pacers took control midway through the second quarter. By the time the third quarter ended, Indiana led 90-60 as the smattering of Oklahoma City fans inside the arena watched glumly as Pacers fans traded high-fives in the home finale.

“We came here with the energy we needed, and we had an amazing crowd,” Obi Toppin said after leading the Pacers with 20 points. “Amazing fans, best fans in the world who helped us throughout this game. We went out there and did what we had to do to get this win.”

Haliburton made it clear back in September the goal was not just to get back to the conference finals and not just to reach the finals. After winning an Olympic gold medal last summer, he wanted to give the city of Indianapolis the kind of celebration it would never forget. And now the Pacers are one win away from making it really happen.

“I don't even want to say, you know, celebrate this one,” Haliburton said. “We did our job to take care of home court, and we've got to be ready to do it again in Game 7.”

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Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, right, knocks the ball away from Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) as Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard defends during the first half of Game 6 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) shoots over Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith (23) during the first half of Game 6 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton celebrates a basket against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first half of Game 6 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) and Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam (43) reach for the ball during the second half of Game 6 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard (2) rebounds over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort during the second half of Game 6 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

BERLIN (AP) — European leaders are expected to cement support for Ukraine Monday as it faces Washington’s pressure to swiftly accept a U.S.-brokered peace deal.

After Sunday’s talks in Berlin between U.S. envoys and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian and European officials are set to continue a series of meetings in an effort to secure the continent’s peace and security in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia.

Zelenskyy sat down Sunday with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the German federal chancellery in the hopes of bringing the nearly four-year war to a close.

Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.

The U.S. government late Sunday said in a social media post on Witkoff’s account after the five-hour meeting that “a lot of progress was made.”

Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO if the U.S. and other Western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to NATO members. But Ukraine continued to reject the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia.

Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control among the key conditions for peace.

The Russian president also has cast Ukraine’s bid to join NATO as a major threat to Moscow’s security and a reason for launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine renounce the bid for alliance membership as part of any prospective peace settlement.

Zelenskyy emphasized that any Western security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the U.S. Congress.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that “the decades of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.”

“Pax Americana” refers to the U.S.’s postwar dominance as a superpower that has brought relative peace to the globe.

Merz warned that Putin’s aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.”

“If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop,” Merz warned during a party conference in Munich.

Macron, meanwhile, vowed Sunday on social platform X that “France is, and will remain, at Ukraine’s side to build a robust and lasting peace — one that can guarantee Ukraine’s security and sovereignty, and that of Europe, over the long term.”

Putin has denied plans to attack any European allies.

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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, leaves through a hotel garage for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,stands in his office in the chancellory in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)

Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

Jared Kushner, entrepreneur and former chief adviser to President Donald Trump, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, watches Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arriving at the chancellory in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)