Oklahoma City - For better or worse, the Oklahoma City Thunder had a very familiar feeling when they fired up the final buzzer Thursday night.

The Indiana Pacers won their first NBA Finals game, taking the first lead of the night with 0.3 seconds on Tyrese Haliburton's 21-foot-high pullover. The Thunder led the fourth quarter of 111-110 household losses with 15 points.

This is just Oklahoma City's second playoff loss, which is very similar to the Thunder's previous failure at the Paycom Center. In this case, the Denver Nuggets rose from a 13-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter to win the Western Conference Semi-Final Series Opening, leading by 2.8 seconds in Aaron Gordon’s 3 points.

"Okay, it's sucking," Thunder forward Jalen Williams said, summing up the stinging that made the final opener slip away. "But we've been here before."

Oklahoma City, which has its second-year finals lineup in NBA history, can point to its collapse with the Nuggets to prove that the team can bounce back from incredible season opening setbacks. The Thunder responded by defeating the Nuggets for 43 points in Game 2 and winning the series in seven games.

According to ESPN Research, Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said: "Your failure doesn't matter." Obviously terrible - the last second, the energy on the stage and something like that. But we lost at the end of the day. We lost the first game.

"We lost the first game before. On the other hand, we have achieved a better team. That's our goal."

After losing the game in the playoffs, the Thunder were 4-0, winning an average of 20.5 points in the next game. Oklahoma City lost two consecutive games in the regular season with 68 wins.

Oklahoma City coach Mark Digneault challenged his team to “make yourself to zero,” a Thunder term because the emotions of the game are not allowed to continue, win or lose.

"The playoffs bring you to the limit," said Diniat. "They put your back against the wall - in the game, tandem. If you do that, you have to endure it. It provides you with a wealth of experience. You can draw on it. The biggest experience we have is to understand the new game for each game. The most important game in the series is always the next game, and no matter what the result, we will win the game like tonight.

In Game 1, the Thunder knew nothing about the Pacers’ comeback ability.

This is the fifth time Indiana has stood out from a deficit of at least 15 points. ESPN Research said it was the most team in any postseason since 1998.

“You put a hat on them,” Diniat said. "They made the game. They've done all the playoffs. It's part of their identity. They have a lot of faith. They never think they're not there, so even on the back of the back against the wall.

Thursday's game also marks a continuation of one of the most spectacular personal clutches in NBA history. Halliburton sank his fourth game or shot put in the last five seconds of these playoffs. He hit the photo against Oklahoma City defender Cason Wallace, who earned the reputation of an elite team defender.

"You don't want to live and die with the best players on another team," said Oklahoma City's oldest player and the only player to win the NBA title. "You want to try to control the game's decline so you don't fall into it."

Thunder failed to do this in the final opener.

Oklahoma City's highest-ranked defense dominated the first half, reaching 45 points while forcing the Pacers to force 20 turnovers. But Thunder converted those turnovers to nine points, keeping Indiana within a staggering distance.

After halftime, Indiana found an offensive comfort zone. The Pacers better protected the ball, with only five turnovers in the second half when they scored 66 points while shooting 51.1% from the floor, including 20 of the 3-point range.

But the Thunder still have enough chances to finish the game. Oklahoma City missed the last three shots after the Pacers played it out. These included several wrong shots from Gilgeous-Alexander - the traffic left with 1:07 left failed to make a layup, while the mid-fade fade was not in the middle, not falling into it before the Haliburton game winner.

"The series isn't the first; it's the first to four," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "We have four games left; they have three games. That's where we are. We have to understand that, if we want to win an NBA title, we have to get four games to get three.

"It's simple. It's not Rockets science. We lost the first game. We have to get better."