Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle comes to the defense of one of the more well-known officials in the league, Scott Foster.

Tyrese Haliburton says he and the Pacers are excited to rebound from heartbreaking NBA Finals Game 4 loss to Thunder on Monday

Up by 10, late in the third quarter. Up by seven, going into the fourth. The Indiana Pacers had a golden opportunity. And then, thud.

The result was only the second clutch game the Pacers lost this postseason, a 111-104 Thunder win that ties the series up at 2-2. What has been a highly entertaining, well-played Finals will see Game 5 Monday night in Oklahoma City. It also feels like a series that is going to go seven games.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came up clutch, finishing with 35 points in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 111-104 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday night, evening the series 2-2.

Indiana coach Rick Carlisle offered an impassioned and somewhat unprompted defense of referee Scott Foster on Sunday, evidently aware of the mountains of online criticism that came after Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

However, what won the 68 games and got them to the Finals was their defense, and the Pacers torched that for a long stretch of Game 3. Indiana took better shots and capitalized on them, finishing with a 116 offensive rating (9.5 points higher than the Thunder allowed on average during the playoffs coming into the game).

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) drives as Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith defends during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Friday, June 13, 2025, in Indianapolis.