To the finish

Well, of course.

Like this could end -- should end -- any other way?

And so Indiana 108, Oklahoma City 91 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, a beatdown straight out of the K-Tel Epic Beatdown collection or something, and on to Game 7 we go. First Game 7 the Finals have seen in nine years. A narrative even bat-blind seers like the Blob saw coming once the Pacers stole Game 1, because it took no special insight to understand that if the Thunder came to Indy with a chance to wrap it up, there was no way the Pacers weren't going to send the Thunder back to Oke City in sandwich bags.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 'n them hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy in howling, rocking Gainsbridge Fieldhouse? In front of that roiling sea of yellow shirts, all those Yes 'Cers we-birthed-this-damn-game Hoosiers?

Rrrrright. Pigs would land at LaGuardia first.

So Game 6 commenced, and pretty soon Pascal Siakam was rockin' a 16-13 double-double, and Tyrese Haliburton, strained calf or no, was dishin' dimes. He and Andrew Nembhard were droppin' threes. Obi Toppin (20 points, six boards) and T.J. McConnell (12, nine, six assists and four steals) were leading a 48-point assault from the Pacers' bench. 

And it was no contest. The Yes 'Cers led by 22 at the break, burying the Thunder 36-17 in the second quarter in a 64-point half. They led by 30 after three quarters. They led by 31 early in the fourth before taking their foot off the gas.

The 17-point final margin, as they say, was not reflective.

Now it's back to Oke City for a Game 7 that feels like destiny, and God only knows what happens next. Logic and the flow of the series says the best team in the league this seasons regains its footing and rolls the way Indiana rolled in Game 6. Heart and soul and every straining hope in our basketball state believes maybe, maybe, the Pacers find a way again.

As the Blob has been known to say: Onward. To the finish this time.