The Indiana Pacers are NBA Finals-bound for the first time in a whopping 25 years! You can just imagine the scenes in Indy – pure joy, right? Champagne wishes, championship dreams, the whole nine yards! But before Tyrese Haliburton and Co. could even fully soak in their Eastern Conference triumph, their journey to face the Oklahoma City Thunder for Game 1 took a wild, Hollywood-blockbuster turn. And yet, true to their gritty playoff form, the Pacers are already shaking it off and looking to get their fans even more amped for what’s next.

So, get this: the Pacers’ chartered plane, en route to Oklahoma City on Tuesday for the start of the Finals, had to make an unexpected detour. Why? A freaking tornado warning near OKC’s Will Rogers International Airport! According to team sources and reports from The Athletic, their flight was diverted to Tulsa, about 110 miles away, after a tornado was spotted tearing through the area around 5 p.m. local time.

Thankfully, the team landed safely in Tulsa, and after a short delay (they were reportedly taxiing to leave Tulsa around 5:45 p.m.), they eventually made it to Oklahoma City. But wow, talk about a stressful start to your Finals trip! The whole situation apparently complicated travel for a ton of media and vendors heading to OKC, too, with severe thunderstorms forecasted.

But the Pacers, ever resilient, aren’t letting a little thing like a tornado scare dampen their spirits or their plans to get their fanbase absolutely hyped. The team made an announcement via an Instagram story that’s got Pacers fans buzzing. They’re hosting a “Drive Thru Gear Grab” at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday, June 4, from 4 to 7 p.m. And the best part? They’re giving away free “Gold Out” t-shirts to the first 5,000 fans who roll through! The shirt looks awesome, featuring the Pacers’ “P” logo from the team’s City Edition uniforms with “Yes ‘Cers” emblazoned on it, alongside the all-important text: “Finals.” The rules are simple: you gotta be in a vehicle, and it’s one gear bag per car.

This “Gear Grab” is a super smart move, right? It’s all about keeping that insane home-court energy from their ECF clincher buzzing as they head into enemy territory for Games 1 and 2. Rick Carlisle, a dude who’s been to the NBA Finals six times as a player and coach and knows what it takes, isn’t taking this Thunder team lightly at all. He laid it out plain and simple: “This is no time to be popping champagne.”

He gets how huge this moment is, saying, “When you get to this point of the season, it’s two teams and it’s one goal. It becomes an all-or-nothing thing.” That’s the kind of laser-focused, respectful mindset you want from your coach when Tyrese Haliburton and the rest of the Pacers are gearing up to battle a truly scary OKC squad for that championship trophy.

Thunder struck by respect? Mark Daigneault knows Indy’s no joke

Okay, so the Pacers are in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000, but here’s a little something that should have every Pacers fan puffing their chest out a bit: the guy on the other sideline, OKC’s head coach Mark Daigneault, is showing some serious respect for what Indiana brings to the table. And trust me, in the high-stakes pre-Finals mind games, that’s a big deal.

Daigneault, who’s done an absolutely incredible job turning the Thunder into this young juggernaut, wasn’t just throwing out those generic, polite compliments you usually hear. He got straight to the point, starting with a classy, “First of all, congrats to Indiana for making the finals.” Okay, standard. But then he dropped this: “A lot of respect for their team. How they’ve done it and the run that they’re on right now, so obviously a tall task for us…” Hold up. The coach of a 68-win team, a squad that’s been defensively dominant all year, calling the Pacers a “tall task?” That isn’t just lip service, folks. That’s a coach who knows his team is in for a fight.

And why wouldn’t he? Think about what these Pacers have done. They battled through a tough Eastern Conference, took down some serious contenders, and they did it playing their own unique brand of basketball. You’ve got Tyrese Haliburton out there looking like a young Steve Nash with his insane court vision and that high-octane offense. You’ve got Pascal Siakam, your ECF MVP, bringing that championship experience and clutch scoring. And they’ve had guys up and down the roster stepping up big time.

What’s also pretty telling is how Daigneault is already thinking about the matchup. He mentioned that while the Thunder are, of course, focused on their own game—“Us, our fundamentals, the things that are going to be important… every game independent of opponent”—he also let slip, “We did some thematic things with Indiana today, but it’s a little too early, I think, to start getting, like, really deep into them. We’ll do that as we get closer to the game.” Translation? The Pacers are already on his whiteboard. He’s already scheming, looking for those “thematic things” that make Indiana so dangerous. He’s too smart to give away the game plan now, but the fact that the Pacers are already taking up that kind of brain space for the Thunder coach? That’s a clear sign of respect.

For a Pacers team that has absolutely thrived with that “us against the world,” chip-on-their-shoulder mentality all postseason, hearing this kind of genuine props from the opposing coach has to feel pretty good. It’s not going to make the actual games any easier – OKC is still a monster. But it’s a clear signal that the Thunder aren’t taking them lightly. And for the Pacers? That’s exactly the kind of “bulletin board material”—in the best way possible—that can add a little extra fuel to their championship fire. Game on!