NBA Finals Series: Playoff game instead of champagne shower

So even after Thursday evening, it's still not finally clear what kind of champagne will be sprayed at the end of the NBA season. Yes, that's an issue. Spritzing champagne is the Americans' wheat beer shower, and because everything is marketed in this country, the New York Times recently published an exciting article about alcohol, and in particular champagne, sponsorship at major events: The long-standing official sponsor of the basketball league is Moët & Chandon, but there is no contractual obligation to use this champagne when the team wins the title. The Indiana Pacers, in fact, have a deal with Le Chemin du Roi, the brand owned by rapper 50 Cent. That would likely be their first choice for a potential shower in the locker room.

Indiana won 108-91 on Thursday night, forcing what US sports fans crave as much as a few drops of champagne: Game Seven – the decisive seventh game. After 82 regular season games and 22 playoff games for each team, it now comes down to this one game on Sunday local time (Monday, 2 a.m. CEST) in Oklahoma City. That's the kind of climax they love (and market as such) in this country.

Isaiah Hartenstein is the lynchpin of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He's a man who can become the second German NBA champion after Dirk Nowitzki—and who benefits from a clever plan.

A reliable prediction is impossible, as the course of the games so far shows: In three games, the eventual winners staged a comeback in the final quarter; twice it was the Pacers. The favorites from Oklahoma City dominated two games, which is why going into the sixth game it was clear that the Thunder would have a really tough time against the brave Pacers. Their coaching wizard Rick Carlisle, coach of the Dallas Mavericks during their 2011 triumph over the heavily favored Miami Heat, is adept at exploiting every weak phase of his opponents; he often deliberately fields players without big contracts, such as Aaron Nesmith, TJ McConnell, and Obi Toppin. But it was also true that if the Thunder are not forced into a major weak phase, they have a near-maximum probability of winning.

But now there are 303 seconds at the start of the second half on Thursday for analysis and predictions: Indiana had already led 64-42 because Oklahoma City had hit everything in the Indianapolis arena - just barely through the rim. Admittedly, we had seen wilder comebacks in this series, so nothing was decided yet. Only: Things got even worse for Oklahoma City. They didn't score a single point for more than five minutes. Center Isaiah Hartenstein, who scored a total of ten points, ended the drought with a thunderous dunk - but it was only the end of the scoreless period and not the start of the comeback. The score was 90-60 at the end of the third quarter, after which both coaches had their players gain some finals experience from the back of the bench.

We've seen what happens when the Thunder are on their way, and how they lose when they slump or barely score. What hasn't been seen yet: how they find a way to win a game when things aren't going well. The comeback in Game 4 in Indianapolis was more due to the Pacers' slump, because they weren't scoring anymore. "Champions find a way," the Americans say, referring to the fact that in sports it's not always the best who win, but often those who, despite all the nerves in extreme sporting situations, recognize a path to success – and then follow it.

They still have one game to prove they can do it – and it's quite possible that this will be required against the versatile Carlisle players. On Thursday, six Pacers players scored in double digits; they often looked not to their stars Pascal Siakam or the already injured Tyrese Haliburton for the finishing touch (the two combined for only 30 points), but to the player with the unerring touch in those minutes. They must find an answer to that in Oklahoma City, so that on Sunday, it's not the Pacers' champagne that flows in their home arena – but that of the league sponsor. The Thunder, as the Times also discovered, does not have a private champagne sponsor.