Morning Coffee: Stars, Pacers defy the odds with epic comeback wins

​Tyrese Haliburton’s choke taunt was a little premature.

All is forgiven after he channeled his inner Reggie Miller in the fourth quarter and overtime to lead the underdog Indiana Pacers to another epic comeback playoff win.

Allow me to paint a picture for you.

Prior to last night’s game, NBA teams that led by 14 or more points with 2:45 left to play in regulation were a combined 994-0 straight up in the play-by-play era.

Teams that led by nine or more points in the final minute of a fourth quarter or overtime of a playoff game were a combined 1,414-0 dating back to 1998.

Indiana was a +190 moneyline underdog for Game 1.

Per the FanDuel traders, the Pacers could be found as high as +5000 to win outright in the final frame.

For perspective, Indiana was +5000 to win the NBA title at FanDuel last summer.

The Pacers improved to 4-2 straight up this postseason when they have trailed by 15 points or more – the most such playoff wins for an NBA team over the last 20 years.

Indiana’s NBA title odds were cut from +700 to +500.

The Pacers to win the Eastern Conference Finals flipped from +122 to -168.

Only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has shorter odds to win NBA Finals MVP than Haliburton, who dropped 31 points and 11 assists in another clutch performance.

Sure, Haliburton hit the choke celebration before the refs could check the tape.

Still, Pacers fans will be talking about his performance in last night’s thrilling comeback win for years to come.

Haliburton is the biggest reason why basketball fans in Indiana are starting to feel like it’s 1994 all over again.

Only this time around, Pacers fans are hoping their team can finish the job with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.

This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday May 22^nd, 2025.

Stars, Pacers defy the odds with epic comeback wins

The Pacers stole the spotlight with a historic comeback victory at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

Unfortunately for Oilers Nation, it wasn’t the only comeback win we got in a conference finals game.

The Edmonton Oilers led the Dallas Stars 3-1 entering the third period in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

Per the FanDuel traders, the Stars could be found as high as +800 to win outright with 20 minutes left in regulation.

For perspective, that’s a longer number than the odds that any of the four remaining teams win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel this morning.

Miro Heiskanen cut the Dallas deficit to one just 32 seconds into the third, Mikael Granlund and Matt Duchene added two more before the six-minute mark, then Tyler Seguin and Esa Lindell iced it to cap off an offensive explosion that featured five third-period goals.

The Stars scored more goals in a 17-minute span than the Vegas Golden Knights scored in their final three games versus Edmonton in the second round.

Dallas is the first team in NHL history with multiple wins in regulation after trailing by multiple goals in the third period in a single postseason.

It was their fourth multi-goal comeback win so far in these Stanley Cup Playoffs – one off the NHL record.

While their top line did most of the heavy lifting in the first two rounds, 10 different Stars players recorded a point in the third period alone last night.

Dallas to advance moved from -102 to -195 at FanDuel.

The Stars to win the Stanley Cup, which could be found as high as +410 live entering the third period, is down to +195 as the second choice behind the Florida Panthers.

Dallas opened -120 to win Game 2 on Friday night.

Meanwhile, the Oilers are -102 to win Game 2 and +155 to win the Western Conference Finals this morning.

The bad news is that Stuart Skinner’s shutout streak was torched in one of his worst periods in recent memory.

The good news is that Edmonton dominated the first two periods of Game 1, owns a 5-3 series record when trailing 1-0 in a best-of-seven series since 2022, and rallied from a 2-0 series deficit just a couple of weeks ago versus the Los Angeles Kings in the first round.

In Wednesday morning’s column, I told you that this series would go six or seven games.

Last night’s result doesn’t change anything for me.

On the topic of last night’s result, we made it back-to-back Morning Coffee winners to start the conference finals before the Stars comeback even started.

Hopefully, we can make it three in a row this morning with a FanDuel Best Bet for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Florida Panthers to advance and to win the series in six games or less looks pretty good after a dominant 5-2 road win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1.

We cashed Sergei Bobrovsky over 25.5 saves in that one.

Bobrovsky is back on the case again for Game 2.

Florida’s veteran goaltender recorded 31 saves in the series opener.

For perspective, Bobrovsky 31+ saves was +310 at FanDuel, and I have the receipt to prove it.

While I’m back on Bobrovsky over 25.5 saves for Game 2, I’m going with a builder Same Game Parlay as a FanDuel Best Bet for Thursday night.

Give me Seth Jarvis 2+ shots on goal and Sebastian Aho 2+ shots on goal at -140 odds.

I understand the price isn’t ideal, but I believe this juice will be worth the squeeze.

I wrote about the importance of the Hurricanes top line stepping up for them to have any chance in the series.

In Game 1, Jarvis and Aho combined for three points and 10 shots on goal on 14 shot attempts.

Jarvis 2+ shots on goal has cashed in three straight games and all but two games so far this postseason.

Aho 2+ shots on goal hasn’t been as consistent this postseason, but he did register a team-high six shots on a team-high nine attempts in the series opener, so I’ll trust him to deliver again in a must-win Game 2 on home ice.

Taylor Hall 1+ shot on goal has cashed in all 11 playoff games for Carolina and moves the SGP outlined above from -140 to -105 odds as an option for those looking for a better price.

As for me, I’ll stick with Jarvis 2+ shots on goal and Aho 2+ shots on goal as an SGP at -140 odds as a FanDuel Best Bet for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

As always, I’ll post my full card @Domenic_Padula on X.

Let’s try to make it three winning days in a row to begin the conference finals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Have a great day, everyone!