The late Gene Hackman was invoked in the best way possible during the 2025 NBA Finals, and I think it might’ve created my favorite sports moment ever. In a game in which the underdog Indiana Pacers forced a Game 7 against the overwhelming favorite Oklahoma City Thunder, the arena queued up the iconic locker room scene from Hoosiers, and it received the best response possible from the crowd.
As an Indiana native, I can confirm that watching the classic sports underdog story Hoosiers is a rite of passage, along with watching Rudy as well. The former is based on the true story of the tiny Milan High School winning a nail-biter state title game against the heavily favored Muncie Central High School, and sports fans can’t help but draw comparisons between it and the current NBA Finals series.
best basketball and sports movies during the NBA Finals would be on brand no matter where you were, but playing it in the same city as where the iconic sports moment took place decades ago is absolutely poetic.
You can see how much it impacted the passionate crowd in attendance, as Pacers hall of famer Reggie Miller joined the crowd as they synced up the slow clap that followed the speech in the movie:
As an Indiana sports fan and a lover of entertainment, I can’t think of a better tribute to Gene Hackman in the year that he died than this. I’m not sure you’re going to find an arena of people more in love with that movie and that moment than this crowd. And the fact that it ended in the Pacers securing a chance to potentially make history with a Game 7 win on Sunday was the icing on the cake. Could we be witnessing the next Team of Destiny?
There’s going to be one more game on Sunday to determine a winner and cap off what has been an entertaining NBA playoffs filled with drama. This drama has involved the Indiana Pacers, who saw fan Pat McAfee feud with Ben Stiller and even Indiana-born singer John Mellencamp for a mid-game speech that ruffled some feathers.
The challenge for the Pacers to win Game 7 will be great, as they go up against an Oklahoma City Thunder team that is, statistically speaking, one of the greatest teams in NBA history. Many experts didn’t expect the series to last this long, with most expecting what’s known as a “gentlemen’s sweep,” in which the Pacers would win one game of the series before being eliminated in Game 5.
It’s a series that has been absolute cinema, and fortunately for those with a Netflix subscription, they’ll get to see the full story behind it. Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton and OKC star and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are both on the cast of Starting 5 Season 2, and crews followed both players for the entire season. I’m curious if there’s enough footage to create an entirely different documentary highlighting the finals between the two teams, and whether Netflix will pull the trigger on that, given how exciting this story has been.
Game 7 of the NBA Finals is on ABC on Sunday, June 22nd at 8:00 p.m. ET. Even those only casually interested in sports won’t want to miss this game, as it’s sure to be a great matchup with an exciting conclusion, as one team is guaranteed to win their first NBA title either way.