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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points, Alex Caruso added 20 off the bench and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 123-107 on Sunday night to tie the NBA Finals at one game apiece.
Jalen Williams scored 19, Aaron Wiggins had 18 and Chet Holmgren finished with 15 for the Thunder. It was the franchise’s first finals game win since the opener of the 2012 series against Miami.
“We did some things good tonight. We did some things bad,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’ve got to be able to get better and be ready for Game 3.”
Tyrese Haliburton scored 17 for Indiana, which erased a 15-point, fourth-quarter deficit in Game 1 but never made a push on Sunday. Myles Turner scored 16 and Pascal Siakam added 15 for the Pacers, the first team since Miami in 2013 to not have a 20-point scorer in the first two games of the finals.
Game 3 is Wednesday in the first finals game in Indianapolis in 25 years.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s first basket of the night was a history-maker: It gave him 3,000 points on the season, including the regular season and playoffs. And later in Game 2, he passed New York’s Jalen Brunson (514) as the leading overall scorer in these playoffs.
But the real milestone for the MVP came a couple hours later, when he and most everybody else on the Thunder got a finals win for the first time.
A 19-2 run in the second quarter turned what was a six-point game into a 23-point Thunder lead. It might have seemed wobbly a couple of times—an immediate 10-0 rebuttal by the Pacers made it 52-39, and Indiana was within 13 again after Andrew Nembhard’s layup with 7:09 left in the third—but the Thunder lead was never in serious doubt.
With the noise level in the building often topping 100 decibels—a chainsaw is 110 dB, for comparison purposes—the Thunder did what they’ve done pretty much all season. They came off a loss, this time a 111-110 defeat in Game 1, and blew somebody out as their response.
Including the NBA Cup title game, which doesn’t count in any standings, the Thunder are now 18-2 this season when coming off a loss. Of those 18 wins, 12 have been by double digits.
Oklahoma City 123, Indiana 107
INDIANA (107)
Nesmith 5-12 0-0 14, Siakam 3-11 8-9 15, Turner 6-12 3-4 16, Haliburton 7-13 0-0 17, Nembhard 4-8 2-4 11, Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Toppin 1-8 0-0 3, Bryant 0-1 1-2 1, Mathurin 4-7 5-7 14, Furphy 0-0 0-0 0, McConnell 5-7 0-0 11, Sheppard 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 37-82 19-26 107.
OKLAHOMA CITY (123)
Dort 1-3 0-0 3, Jal.Williams 5-14 8-9 19, Holmgren 6-11 2-2 15, Gilgeous-Alexander 11-21 11-12 34, Wallace 2-4 0-0 4, Dieng 0-0 0-0 0, Jay.Williams 1-1 0-0 3, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Hartenstein 1-2 1-2 3, K.Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Caruso 6-11 4-4 20, Joe 1-3 0-0 2, Mitchell 0-0 2-2 2, Wiggins 6-11 1-2 18. Totals 40-82 29-33 123.
Indiana 20 21 33 33 — 107
Oklahoma City 26 33 34 30 — 123
3-Point Goals_Indiana 14-40 (Nesmith 4-8, Haliburton 3-8, McConnell 1-1, Mathurin 1-2, Sheppard 1-2, Nembhard 1-4, Siakam 1-4, Toppin 1-5, Turner 1-5, Bryant 0-1), Oklahoma City 14-36 (Wiggins 5-8, Caruso 4-8, Jay.Williams 1-1, Dort 1-3, Holmgren 1-3, Gilgeous-Alexander 1-4, Jal.Williams 1-5, Joe 0-2, Wallace 0-2). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Indiana 35 (Siakam 7), Oklahoma City 43 (Hartenstein 8). Assists_Indiana 27 (Haliburton, McConnell 6), Oklahoma City 25 (Gilgeous-Alexander 8). Total Fouls_Indiana 25, Oklahoma City 20. A_18,203 (18,203)
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Their lack of rebounding against Thunder under the basket looks awful at least from my point of view. They also look hesitant in their shooting when they have the ball. Looks like too much ball handling and lost possessions. Just my opinion.
There’s an adage for basketball teams at any level that believe they can avoid physicality, shoot 3’s, don’t rebound or go to the basket, especially at the beginning of games. “Jump shootin’ fools’.
The Pacers have more spirited scrimmages than what they displayed last night. Frankly, the players and coaching staff should be ashamed of that tepid appearance. I turned it off 8 minutes into the game. They haven’t had a post presence to keep opponents from driving in for easy layups or rebounding, since Roy Hibbert. Disgraceful effort or lack thereof. Losing is okay if a team tries to play ‘the right way’. Last night was a prime example of not doing so. I lost a lot of respect for this club last night. They had more than enough time to rest and focus…maybe too long of a layoff. Here’s an 💡 idea….how about getting a lead in the fourth quarter so there’s no need for heroics!
I never thought they had a chance in this series. Still don’t. They got one which is one more than I thought they’d get. Still good season,