It was almost a bad case of deja vu for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Just 11 days ago, the Thunder dominated the majority of Game 1 of the NBA Finals inside Paycom Center, only to give it away in the closing moments thanks to a game-winning elbow jumper by the Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton.
With the chance to move to within a single win of the team’s first NBA championship, the same formula appeared to be playing out in Game 5 on Monday night. The Thunder led by as many as 18 points but held just a 95-93 edge after Pascal Siakam, playing his latest terrific game in these playoffs for the Pacers, buried a 3-pointer with 8:30 remaining in regulation.
But rather than letting the game slip away, Oklahoma City — as it did in the fourth quarter of Game 4 — buckled down and delivered its latest knockout blow of these playoffs. With a series of frenetic defensive plays that have come to define this team, plus some remarkable shotmaking from Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, what could have been a second devastating loss on their home floor in this series instead became a 120-109 win over the Pacers and a 3-2 series lead.
The deciding moments of OKC’s win were played in the style that has led to the Thunder crafting one of the great seasons in NBA history. They forced one turnover after another, flying around and turning the Pacers’ offense into a confused mess. And, at the other end, their two leading scorers — Gilgeous-Alexander (31 points) and Williams (40) — made every big shot required down the stretch.
That was in stark contrast to what was happening at the other end. Haliburton, dealing with right calf tightness, missed all six field goals he took — and only attempted one in the second half. The Pacers wound up with 22 turnovers on the night for 32 Oklahoma City points, and the Thunder even outshot the Pacers from 3-point range, making 14 to Indiana’s 11.
Over the three games played in Oklahoma City, the Thunder have led for 141 of the 144 total minutes. It’s been the sort of control that had been widely expected from the heavily favored Thunder when the series began. Things have looked far different in the games in Indianapolis, where the series will shift for Thursday’s Game 6. And while Haliburton’s health will loom large, if Oklahoma City can come anywhere close to replicating its Game 5 performance, the team’s first Larry O’Brien Trophy could finally be in hand. — Tim Bontemps
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Dynamic duo: Williams and SGA lead Thunder offense
This might be remembered as the night that Williams solidified himself as a superstar.
Williams has elevated into that type of territory, earning third-team All-NBA and second-team All-Defense recognition in only his third season. Yet the doubts about the Thunder often focused on whether Williams could be the No. 2 scorer that a championship team needs.
Anyone still wondering if that’s the case? Williams poured in a playoff-career-high 40 points in Game 5 — none more important than the 3-pointer he drilled from the right wing with 8:06 remaining after the Pacers pulled to within two points. He was 14 of 25 from the floor, 3 of 5 from 3-point range and had 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal in a spectacular all-around outing.
It was the third straight game in which Williams, 24, had at least 25 points and five rebounds. The last player under 25 with that sort of a streak in the Finals: Shaquille O’Neal in 1995, according to ESPN Research.
Gilgeous-Alexander (31 points, 10 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals) had another MVP-caliber performance. But his sidekick shone even brighter to help put the Thunder on the brink of a title. — Tim MacMahon
Haliburton’s struggles stifle Pacers production
The Pacers did not get much production out of Haliburton, who went back to the locker room in the first quarter and played through a sore right calf. If they are going to come back in the series to win the championship, they’re going to need way more from their best player. Haliburton re-aggravated the same leg that bothered him after Game 2 when he limped away from his postgame news conference with ankle soreness.
Haliburton returned in the second quarter, wearing a wrap around his leg, and played the rest of the game, but his production was limited. He went scoreless in the first half for the first time in his playoff career and finished with four points — matching his playoff career low (Game 3 against the Cleveland Cavaliers) on 0-for-6 shooting. He also had six assists and seven rebounds, but it was the first time in his playoff career he was held without a field goal. — Jamal Collier
What to watch in Game 6
If Haliburton is as limited as he was Monday, there’s only so much Indiana will be able to do with the season on the line. The Pacers were outscored by 13 points in Haliburton’s 34 minutes of action and were only able to hang around into the fourth quarter of Game 5 by virtue of 18 points and four assists in 22 minutes from backup point guard T.J. McConnell.
Haliburton’s injury underscored how fragile the synergy of Indiana’s starting five really is. For Rick Carlisle to play McConnell with Haliburton to juice the offense – as he tried down double digits in the final minutes – it means taking the Pacers’ ace wing defensive duo of Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard off the court.
It’s possible, depending on how compromised Haliburton appears during Game 6, that sitting him in favor of McConnell might be the best option for Indiana. Although the Pacers won’t want to extend McConnell’s minutes to the point where he can’t play with the all-out energy that makes him effective, they can also shift Nembhard to point guard. That would mean more playing time for Bennedict Mathurin, whose rebounding made an impact on a night when his shots weren’t falling.
On the Thunder side, it will be interesting to see how hard Mark Daigneault pushes to close this series in Game 6. Again, Daigneault made clear that Alex Caruso is his most trusted fifth option alongside Oklahoma City’s four consistent starters, bringing him in for Isaiah Hartenstein less than a minute into the second half. That group was on the court for the 10-0 fourth-quarter run that sealed the Thunder’s victory.
Oklahoma City has lost consecutive games just twice all season and would have home-court advantage for Game 7, meaning the Thunder are in a commanding position either way. But Oklahoma City should approach Game 6 as a must-win to close out Indiana and avoid the risk of anything happening in what would be the first NBA Finals Game 7 since 2016, when the Cavaliers shocked the 73-win Golden State Warriors on the road. — Kevin Pelton
1:44
SGA after Game 4 win: ‘We played with desperation’
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander breaks down how the Thunder were able to take Game 4 from the Pacers and even up the NBA Finals.
The No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder have almost gone down 3-1 twice in these playoffs.
The first time was Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals, when the Thunder trailed by eight points on the road in Denver. Oklahoma City eventually rallied to tie the series, but needed seven games to outduel Nikola Jokic & Co.
On Friday night, the Thunder found themselves in nearly the same situation: down seven points to the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Once again, OKC survived. But in retrospect, it’s hard to figure out exactly how.
Oklahoma City, 3-for-17 from 3-point range, was outscored by 24 points from deep. The Thunder finished with more turnovers (13) than assists (10). MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a relative nonfactor for most of the game. Coach Mark Daigneault’s return to the two-big lineup didn’t work.
But then the Thunder summoned a remarkable run with their season on the line.
OKC shot 9-for-15 from the field in the fourth quarter, outscored the Pacers 31-17, committed a single turnover and had four offensive rebounds in the final 12 minutes alone. Gilgeous-Alexander, while failing to register a single assist in the game, hit the two biggest shots of his life on back-to-back possessions, banging a 3-pointer from the wing and a baseline jumper to put Oklahoma City in front for what turned out to be the remainder of the game with 2:23 to go.
For a rare time in these playoffs, the Pacers — the team whose identity is making late-game charges and wearing down opponents — did neither, eerily reminiscent of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks, when Indiana allowed Karl-Anthony Towns to match its 20 fourth-quarter points by himself, and New York came back to win the game.
The difference, however, was that the Pacers were up 2-0 in that series and got a chance to go up 3-1 in Game 4 at home — which they did.
This time, with a win Friday the Pacers would be heading to Oklahoma City for Game 5 with a chance to bring the Larry O’Brien Trophy to Indiana for the first time. Instead, a golden opportunity slipped through their grasp. And if Oklahoma City goes on to win the NBA title, a total of 24 minutes — those 12 in Denver, and these 12 Friday night — will be the reasons. — Tim Bontemps
SGA with a statement: He’s the MVP in this series
Nothing came easily for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder in Indiana. But they managed to pull Game 4 out of the mud, evening the series and regaining home-court advantage.
For much of the night, it was a chore for Gilgeous-Alexander just to get the ball, much less make something happen once he had it. Oklahoma City had been outscored by 16 points during Gilgeous-Alexander’s 29 minutes through three quarters. The Thunder trailed by seven entering the fourth, a frightening situation against an Indiana team that was 9-1 in clutch games this postseason.
But the MVP delivered when the Thunder needed it most, just like he did in Game 4 in Denver, when Oklahoma City evened that second-round series before winning in seven.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter. That included 11 in the final 2:58, none more important than his off-dribble baseline step-back jumper to give Oklahoma City the lead for good with 2:23 left. It was the type of tough, gritty performance that makes champions — and legacies. — Tim MacMahon
Counting on repeated clutch magic is not sustainable — especially against OKC
With 3:20 left in the fourth quarter, the Pacers went up 103-99 on a Tyrese Haliburton layup — and a team that has been so good in the clutch all postseason looked primed to seize control of this series.
But the Thunder’s historically stingy defense turned up when they needed it most, and it saved their season. The Pacers scored a single point the rest of the game. The Thunder contested 83% of shots in the fourth quarter, according to ESPN Research, and the Pacers were outscored in the period 31-17.
It spoiled what had been a brilliant defensive game for Indiana, which turned Oklahoma City into an iso-heavy offense for most of the way. The Pacers limited the Thunder to 3-for-17 shooting from 3 and made life extremely difficult for the league’s MVP, who was held without an assist.
Asked postgame how the team fought back, Gilgeous-Alexander said simply, “It starts with stops.” — Jamal Collier
What to watch for in Game 5
Game 5: Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
After returning to the starting lineup the Thunder used over the first three rounds of the playoffs, coach Mark Daigneault might be looking at another change for Game 5 despite evening the series.
Starting Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren together ultimately showed why Daigneault went away from that duo preemptively. Oklahoma City was outscored with its starters on the court in both halves, and Daigneault had a quick hook for the group in the third quarter. With the Thunder’s season on the line, he instead went to what has been their best lineup all season, with Alex Caruso in place of Hartenstein alongside the starters.
All Caruso did was score 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting with five steals. Oklahoma City was plus-14 in his 30 minutes of action. Daigneault hasn’t been shy about going to Caruso to start second halves, similar to his crucial games against the Denver Nuggets (Game 7) and Minnesota Timberwolves (Game 4). With a maximum of three games left in the series — and season — there’s no reason to save Caruso.
With two days off between games now, I suspect the Thunder can also do more to unlock Gilgeous-Alexander in an off-ball role with Andrew Nembhard relentlessly supplying pressure when he brings the ball upcourt. It took heroic shotmaking for Gilgeous-Alexander to win the game for Oklahoma City down the stretch. More off-ball screens to try to shake Nembhard off Gilgeous-Alexander, or dribble handoffs to get him the ball with a head of steam, could create easier opportunities.
It’s somewhat more challenging to find adjustments for the Pacers, who seemed to have their game plan dialed in much of the night. Flipping the script, it was Indiana that seemed to tire late in Game 4, when the team’s 3-pointers dried up. The Pacers missed all eight long-distance attempts in the fourth quarter after shooting 39% (11-of-28) over the first three quarters. And Bennedict Mathurin’s missed free throws in the final minute stalled Indiana’s hope of another late comeback.
Rick Carlisle made extensive use of his bench, as no starter played more than 36 minutes. It’s hard to chalk up the Pacers’ late-game drought to anything more than the elite level the Thunder can get to defensively and bad timing for a team that has been nearly perfect in that situation during the postseason. We’ll see whether Indiana can peak late again in Game 5. — Kevin Pelton
1:09
Mathurin tells SVP how he prepares from the bench
Bennedict Mathurin joins Scott Van Pelt to explain how he mentally prepares from the bench after he put up 27 points in the Pacers’ Game 3 win over OKC.
At halftime of Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, a longtime NBA scout texted one sentence:
“This is the first game that’s felt like a Finals game.”
Yes, the series arrived in the Hoosier State tied at a game apiece thanks to Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton’s brilliant moment at the end of Game 1. But the Oklahoma City Thunder had led for 94 of the first 96 minutes of the series and looked every bit the heavy favorite they were billed as when the series began.
Then Game 3 happened. And, after a sensational performance by the Pacers in front of their home fans, the result was a very deserved 116-107 victory — and, with it, a 2-1 lead.
As a result, for the first time, this NBA Finals truly feels like a series.
The Pacers took it to the Thunder in many ways. They got a sensational performance from Haliburton, who, after a pair of middling stat lines in Oklahoma City, put together a 22-point, 9-rebound, 11-assist masterpiece that saw all of his flair and showmanship return at the best possible time.
The Pacers, as they have throughout this playoff run, got sensational play from their bench. Bennedict Mathurin had 27 points — outscoring the Thunder’s second unit by himself — while T.J. McConnell had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals, including a pair of buckets in quick succession early in the fourth quarter, sandwiched around stealing a momentum-shifting inbounds pass.
The Pacers won this game without going wild from the 3-point line, which the conventional wisdom assumed they would need to do to win games in this series, and like they did in Game 1. The Thunder outshot them (10 makes to 9) from deep in Game 3.
This just became the latest example of Indiana imposing its will on its opponents. The Pacers had already gone through Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, a 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers team and a strong New York Knicks squad, with comebacks highlighting each of those series.
But what those series have also shown repeatedly is that when Indiana gets its opponents in a blender, teams have trouble keeping up. The Thunder, normally the best team at taking care of the ball, gave it away 19 times in Game 3, including six turnovers by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Pacers swarmed Thunder big man Chet Holmgren late, repeatedly causing him to drive blindly into the defense and creating a series of ugly Thunder possessions.
And, for the latest time in these playoffs, it was a furious finish from the Pacers — a 32-18 run in the fourth — that led to an Indiana win, bringing the franchise within two victories of its first NBA championship ahead of Friday’s Game 4. — Tim Bontemps
Pacers’ bench delivers big time on offense
The Pacers needed more juice on offense heading into Game 3, and they found it in an unexpected place: a 47-point outburst from their bench unit led by Mathurin and McConnell.
Indiana got improvements from its stars, especially Haliburton, who finished with 22 points and 10 assists, but the combined energy from the bench unit completely flipped the game during a 40-point second quarter, giving Indiana its first halftime lead of the series.
Even when the Thunder made a run to retake the lead in the third, it was the Pacers’ bench that continued to be a spark. Mathurin scored a team-high 25 points, the most off the bench in a Finals game since Jason Terry in 2011, while McConnell put up 10 points, 5 assists and 5 steals. — Jamal Collier
Holmgren struggles to find offensive flow
Holmgren dominated the first quarter, scoring 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting and snaring four rebounds. However, it was a flash and not something the 7-footer could sustain.
Holmgren scored only seven points on 2-of-10 shooting the rest of the game. On a late possession when Oklahoma City desperately needed a basket, Holmgren had a 3-pointer from the left wing stuffed by Pacers big man Myles Turner and was then denied again by Turner on a driving layup.
Holmgren was 1-of-5 in the fourth quarter, when the Thunder’s offense stalled, scoring only 18 points. Then again, MVP Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t any better in the final frame, generating only three shot attempts and hitting one.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault has mostly stayed away from the two-big lineup Oklahoma City started in every game during its run through the Western Conference. The hope was that Holmgren, a big man with some guard skills, would have the advantage when defended by a center. That has rarely been the case so far in the Finals. — Tim MacMahon
Coming into Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the obvious question was how this young Oklahoma City team would respond to its fourth-quarter collapse in Game 1. Would the Thunder respond with a blowout as they did following Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets? Or would they possibly follow the Cleveland Cavaliers’ and New York Knicks’ example, and allow the Indiana Pacers to steal yet another 2-0 lead on the road?
The final scoreboard read 123-107, but in reality, Sunday night’s Game 2 was decided far sooner. This was precisely the response you’d expect from a team that has now spent the past eight months establishing itself as a potentially all-time great squad.
The league’s Most Valuable Player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, looked like it in Game 2, bouncing back from a starring role in that Game 1 collapse with a stellar all-around performance. Chet Holmgren, who struggled in the series opener, immediately set the tone in the first quarter of Game 2, scoring nine quick points and making multiple impact plays defensively.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, who caught some predictable (if also misguided) criticism for changing his starting lineup in Game 1, stuck with it in Game 2 while also making some subtle — but effective — changes, including playing both big men, Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, on the court together and going away from the minutes for rookie guard Ajay Mitchell.
The Thunder once again throttled the high-octane Pacers offense, preventing any Indiana player from scoring 20 points for a second consecutive game. This was a commanding performance — one that should be expected from a team that won 68 games and outscored its opponents by 12.7 points per 100 possessions in the regular season.
But the Pacers have spent the entire postseason proving they cannot be counted out. Oklahoma City can have cold stretches shooting the ball, as it did in the second half of Game 1, and Indiana will certainly be boosted by hosting its first Finals games in a quarter century later this week.
But on Sunday night, the Thunder showed why they entered the Finals as decisive favorites. And, in this series’ biggest moment yet, this young group had an extremely mature response. — Bontemps
MVP SGA delivers for the Thunder’s offense
After Haliburton and the Pacers stole Game 1, Oklahoma City needed its MVP to answer. Gilgeous-Alexander delivered with the kind of calm, controlled dominance that has come to be expected of him.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points in the series opener, but he needed 30 shots to do it. His 34 points in Game 2 came with his routinely excellent efficiency: 11-of-21 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the line.
It was also a terrific passing performance by the superstar. Gilgeous-Alexander had eight assists and plenty of other smart passes out of double-teams that started beautiful sequences of ball movement which resulted in open looks for teammates.
It’s hard to beat the Thunder when Gilgeous-Alexander plays at this level. — MacMahon
Pacers need Haliburton to find his rhythm
The credit goes to the Thunder’s defense because Indiana’s offense struggled to find a rhythm for most of the game. The Pacers scored just 41 points in the first half and shot 35% from the field — one of their worst offensive performances of the postseason — putting them in a deep deficit they couldn’t climb out of this time. It’s no coincidence the Pacers were limited on offense on a quiet night from Haliburton, who scored 17 points with six assists after hitting a few baskets in the fourth quarter. He also committed five turnovers, his most in any game this season (regular or postseason).
Haliburton hit the clutch shot at the end of Game 1, but the Thunder have done a good job of limiting his production in the series while holding him to 31 points combined in two games. As the series shifts to Indiana, the Pacers will need to find more ways to keep Haliburton involved in their offense, which is crucial to that unit functioning at its highest potential. — Collier
For the first 47 minutes, 40 seconds of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander thoroughly outplayed Tyrese Haliburton in a matchup of star point guards.
But as Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after Indiana’s remarkable comeback to beat the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals: It’s a 48-minute game. And, in those final 20 seconds Thursday night, Haliburton and the Pacers changed the narrative … again.
First, it was Gilgeous-Alexander — who had 38 points but was 14-for-30 shooting — missing a clean midrange jumper, his specialty, that would’ve given the Thunder a three-point lead with 10 seconds left. And then, it was Haliburton again playing the role of road spoiler, hitting a circus shot that might not have been quite as spectacular as his high-bouncing miracle at Madison Square Garden on May 21. But, unlike that shot, this shot won the game for the Pacers in regulation.
As a result, Indiana — which never led until Haliburton’s shot from just inside the 3-point arc dropped through with 0.3 seconds left — somehow left the Paycom Center with a 111-110 victory over the heavily favored Thunder, and injected a massive amount of life into this series.
For much of Game 1, the Thunder were dictating the terms of engagement. They forced Indiana — typically great at taking care of the ball — into a team that was flinging the ball all over the place for 24 turnovers, compared to only six for Oklahoma City.
The Thunder took 16 more shots than the Pacers, but the Pacers hit 18 3-pointers — including 6-for-10 in the fourth quarter — and the Thunder, as they are prone to do, missed a whole bunch of them (11-for-30). That allowed Indiana — a team that has pulled off one remarkable comeback after another in these playoffs — to find itself in prime position again.
And, as he has so many times in these playoffs, Haliburton delivered.
There are still plenty of reasons to think Oklahoma City is the deserved favorite in this series. But the second half of Thursday’s game revealed a blueprint: The Pacers took far better care of the ball, and their high-octane offense took off. Oklahoma City, meanwhile, got into a rut offensively, and Gilgeous-Alexander had a couple of critical misses in the closing moments.
Because of it, as they did in both the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Eastern Conference finals in New York, the Pacers have claimed a Game 1 road victory.
And, as a result, we have ourselves a series. — Bontemps
The Thunder need 48 minutes of their NBA-best defense, not 24
The first half displayed the Thunder’s defensive fury at its finest, forcing 19 turnovers while holding the Pacers to 45 points. But it didn’t hold up in the second half.
Maybe it just took the Pacers a couple of quarters to adjust to the Thunder’s defensive pressure, but Indiana looked comfortable after halftime, putting up 66 points in the second half — 35 in the fourth quarter, punctuated by Haliburton’s winning shot — to pull off the upset.
Indiana also had only five turnovers in the second half, playing their style of fast-paced, under-control offense. — MacMahon
A new guide to another ridiculous Pacers comeback: cut the turnovers
If this postseason has taught us anything, it’s that the Pacers can never be counted out. After trailing by 15 points in the fourth quarter, Indiana stormed back to take Game 1 on yet another winning shot by Haliburton with 0.3 seconds remaining, the Pacers’ only lead.
It has become a series staple for the Pacers during this postseason run: a fourth-quarter Game 1 comeback that has demoralized each of their previous three opponents.
Indiana’s comeback this time was fueled by its usual suspects, some clutch 3-point shots from Myles Turner, Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith, and taking better care of the ball after record-setting 19 turnovers in the first half.
And then, of course, Haliburton hit another big shot to seal the deal. — Collier
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