Thunder Journal: Hope in Indianapolis

ICYMI: The Thunder lost Game 3, and home court advantage with it, falling to 1-2 in the Finals on Wednesday in the first game in Indy.

Thunder fall behind Indy in lackluster Game 3 loss

IND 116 OKC 107 After hanging for the majority of a sloppy, nervy back-and-forth Game 3, the Thunder were flat outplayed by the Pacers down the stretch to drop into a 1-2 Finals hole on the road. Next up: Stay tuned for more Game 3 & NBA Finals coverage before OKC

Daily ThunderDaily Thunder Staff

BRANDON'S BOLTS

The best and worst Thunder action from @brandonrahbar's notebook.

Likely the last thing you want to read about right now is OKC’s Game 3 loss. So let’s put hoops talk off for a couple minutes and I’ll chew up some of my word count on my Indy road trip.

• I won’t pretend I’m any sort of food critic or travel blogger, but I have eaten about 40 years of burgers in my life. I think that qualifies me enough to say that if you ever find yourself within shouting distance of Rolla, Missouri, I highly recommend Scruff’s Grill. Great burger. Get it with the SG sauce.
• Just like any road trippers over the past 5 years, our carpool of OKC media members made a mandatory stop at Buc-ees. Ours was in Springfield, Missouri. These 7-11 on steroids are massive and you can find anything your hungry highway heart desires. I settled on the Honey Jalapeno beef jerky. Solid choice. Great taste and texture and just enough spice to make you wish you would’ve bought some Buc-ees milk about 15 miles or so down the road.
• Gotta admit, my personal experience with Pacers fans thus far has been great. Special shout out to the father and son who let me tagalong with them as they walked to the arena because I didn’t want to pay $40 for parking and didn’t know the best way to Gainbridge Fieldhouse from my free parking spot three quarters of a mile from the arena. Robert and Michael had nothing but praise for OKC, SGA and Sam Presti and were especially jealous of the Thunder’s future.
• The Pacers home crowd is as advertised. Very loud and passionate. But I have to say, the Indy crowd still comes in second place in terms of volume with OKC and Loud City still in the pole position of playoff atmospheres.
• It should also be noted this is the first time I’ve traveled all postseason.
• Hoops icons Oscar Robertson and Caitlin Clark and former Colts star running back Edgerrin James were in attendance. And the crowd went wild when former Colts punter turned superstar sports analyst Pat McAfee took the mic and challenged the Pacers fans: “Everybody's talking about the OKC fans are the loudest, OKC fans are the best in the league.”
• Pat, “everybody” is right, though.

Ugh, fine, I suppose I have to analyze the game a little bit.

• Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort started the game incredibly strong. Chet had 12 points in the first 7 minutes and Dort went 3-3 from deep. The duo gave OKC an early push but only combined for 11 points the rest of the way.
• Two biggest stories of the game: the turnover battle and the bench scoring.
• OKC uncharacteristically had 19 turnovers and only turned the Pacers over 14 times. That resulted in 7 more points off turnovers for Indy. Essentially the difference in the game.

Thanks to the support of our readers and the hustle of Daily Thunder contributors, we have a beat reporter covering each Finals game along with the swarm of national media. Watch for Brandon Rahbar on Twitter, DailyThunder.com, and as a guest for friends of the site. We are an independent, fan-fueled blog without the resources of a mega corporation at our back, and we sincerely thank you for supporting Daily Thunder. If you haven't before, please consider becoming a subscriber so that we can continue to cover the team and keep the lights on.